Review, GSB 19-2 RE hammer drill

[skeetstar]

Recently bought a Bosch power drill, thought I would give it a review in case anyone else was contemplating acquiring one. I wanted something more powerful to replace my 650w Black and Decker. (Don't laugh, it may not have been a professional quality tool, but I definetely got my money's worth out of it).

The Bosch tool specs are here:

http://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/en ... 335-ocs-p/

First off you get a decent sized case with some spare space for bits, plugs etc. Case seems pretty sturdy.

Out of the box, this Russian (yes Russian!) made drill is pretty heavy, but I like that, cos it feels quality, you definately feel that you are getting something worth having.
Starting from the front: The chuck is very easy to use though the alloy sleeve does feel a little lightweight, that said it is metal and it could have been plastic, so I shouldn't complain about it.. The gearbox housing is metal, it feels like steel rather than alloy and looks as if it will take years of site abuse in its stride. The gearbox selector on the left hand side is pretty positive in its action, but the hammer selector slider on top has some play in it. It works well enough, but it doesn't feel hugely robust.
At the back end of tool is the plastic body and handle. Again this feels robust and the handle is well shaped for my hand at least. The forward/reverse switch is seriously meaty and very positive in operation. You don't need to take your hands from the tool handles to operate the switch. The power on/off trigger is one and a half fingers deep.. it needs to be either one finger or two finger operation. The trigger is good, but the speed selection wheel on the trigger, feels cheap. It works, but one gets the feeling it may not last as long as the rest of the tool.

The auxilliary front handle locks onto the front of the tool well and can be fixed in a variety of orientations..as with tools from just about any other manufacturer. Plainly the drill will opearate without the aux handle, but its size and weight mean that this drill is not one hand operation. The removable depth stop mounts in the aux handle, and again is a quality piece of metal, though it has no measurement scale marked on it.

I've not measured the power cord, but it looks to be about 3 metres, a worthwhile length.

Pros... Feels heavy and exudes a sense of quality. It is powerful! It feels much more than just 30% more powerful than my old B&D. Running at full power there was no discernable vibration. I am a DIYer and handyman, - not found a job yet that is too big for this tool.

Cons.. Slightly let down by some of the switches. Would have liked a measurement scale on the depth stop.

I'm happy with it, 3 years warranty, I paid £150, I could have got it cheaper but I prefer to use a local trader cos of his after sales service.

[big-all]

heeelllooo and welcome skeetstar

thanks for taking the time to review and post your thoughts

[Job and Knock]

I bought a GSB21-RE about 16 or 17 months back. Basically very similar to the OP's machine but with another 250watts of go in the motor (1100 watts instead of 850 ). Mine was made in Slovenia (I think, not sure). The more powerful machine is almost identical in size but has a slightly different knob arrangement - ultimately one selects high-low speed ratio, the other selects impact/non-impact and forward/reverse is selected using a little finger switch just above the on-off/speed button in the handle. Both models allow you to lock the motor in the "ON" position - uesful if you want to mount the drill in a drill press or 43mm Euro collar and use something like a wire brush in the chuck. At least the OP got the speed selection wheel - that shower of cheapskates at SFX sold me one without (they are handy) but at least they offered to discount it for the inconvenience they'd put me to (three trips to the local SFX) A good reason for choosing an independanty IMHO. I have to agree with the OP - large (same size as a 2kg SDS), heavy, therefore 2-handed use only, but seems reasonably well nailed together. I don't know how good it is in impact mode (I have 2kg and 3kg SDS drills, so why bother?), but it will happily drive a 150mm hole saw through 30mm steel/wood composite sheet without noticeable slowing. Good for smaller cores (rated to 62mm, although mine has happily run 90mm thin wall diamond cores without a murmer - and the clutch was up to it). Not sure it would go much bigger, though. Also good for drilling steels - done a number of 16 to 20mm holes for bolts through building RSJs (and that's where the speed wheel would be really handy)

Just posted so that there would be aa comparative note on the next drill up in the range

[big-all]

thanks for taking the time jxk will be handy for comparison