I always try and buy reasonable quality tools. I've always felt Bosch fulfilled the criteria mid-high range.

However recently I've had the following fail:

Bosch 600W Angle grinder. Pretty heavy 'car build' use. Switch and brushes ok... one of the tiny wires inside has snapped. Will be very difficult to fix so I suppose it's scrap.

Bosch 750W jigsaw. 4 years old or so but literally barely used it. Certainly no more than 10 times. I can't identify the source of the problem. If I bang it it'll start again for a couple of seconds then die- neither my electronics engineer father or I can find a loose wire/dry joint.

Bosch 1300W circular saw. Again, hardly used. Came to use it last night and found a mechanical problem with the ribing(sp?) knife adjuster has failed, lever bent and rivet dropped out.

I bought more powerful tools than I needed thinking with my light use they'd last... it seems not.





Moral of story being buy Makita in future? My 18v drill is used several times a week for 5 years and appears to still be going strong!


Cheers,
James

James, interestingly enough I'm progressively switching my electric tools to Makita and some of those have already had pretty hard use without failing.
I suspect the problem with Bosch is that they've switched manufacture from Switzerland/ USA to cheaper sources and/or engineered down to a price in the face of fierce competition from cheaper brands.
Pity as I used to buy Bosch exclusively.
Cheers, Pewe10

Makita certainly have Bosch beaten by a country mile, I've been buying 110 volt kit, as it needs additional current to compensate for lower voltage, the internal wiring is heavier.

Sealey kit isn't bad either, but expensive.

All the Bosch power tools I've have been crap. Hitachi are miles better.

the "cheap and nasty" stuff at lidl usually has a 3 year warranty and the stuff i have had from them has been excelent....and cheap

I've heard that a lot of consumer level kit only has like 5-6 hours life in it, if that.

Idea being that if you use a drill to stick a few shelves up twice a year it'll last you ages, but obviously, if you're like us lot, they'll die after a week.

Had a lot of good results with makita toys though.

Saying that, I've always found B&Q's return policy fairly forgiving, have on occasion bought one of their cheapy tools, burned it out the same day and got a refund, because it's not fit for purpose.

+1 for B&Q. Buying from them is like a lifetime guarantee!

I've killed a few angle grinders so I bought Metabo this time and they are expensive but tough. I have a Bosch SDS+ drill that has lasted years but it is big so for the shed I bought an Aldi 850 watt corded drill for tuppence three farthing (well it was under £10) and it does anything I need with plenty of power spare. Saws I have, circular and jig, are both Black and Wrecker and are years old. The jig saw is antique and I've never seen another like it with pendulum and speed adjustment so slow you can count the strokes.

P.S. it's a riving knife

[Edited on 25/3/13 by Peteff]

I use battery drills day in day out and even the likes of Hitachi and Dewalt will fail within a year. I have a loft full of faulty drills and spare batteries. Aldi tools fare better than some top brands and are cheap enought to be throw away. Sadly quality is a rare thing today.

Can't comment on the change of quality as I haven't bought Bosch recently. This due to the fact my 20 year
old Bosch grinder is still going despite very, very heavy use and the similarly aged cordless drill is also still
going although one battery is now poor.

Bought a Makita cordless drill five years ago, motor replaced under warranty, chuck exploded at 18mths and one
battery died after three years. Vowed never to buy Makita again.

DeWalt is overpriced Black & Decker.

TBH, I don't know what make I'd go for in future.

Hi Guys
I work for the Lawn and Garden division of Bosch powertools in the product development dept. And all I can say is that our quality targets within product development has not changed in all the years that I've worked for them. We certainly do loads and loads of testing before a product is launched. Sure materials have changed and products are designed with a price point in mind (to match the competition) and yes, some products are now manufactured in low cost countries (but hey, even the UK is also classed as a LLC!).

So I would recommend that you contact the service / consumer care dept and see if they can help you out as we do not want dissatisfied customers.

Rich

I would remind everyone that THE LAW states that electrical goods in the UK are covered by The Sale of Goods Act and that you can claim for up to six years after the purchase date. This applies to power tools as well as TVs.
So if Bosch or anyone else, give you the run around, get in touch with your friendly neighbouhood Trading Standards Officer and stick it to 'em.

Remember kiddies, don't get mad . . . get even.

[Edited on 25/3/13 by Confused but excited.]

quote:

---

Originally posted by whitestu
All the Bosch power tools I've have been crap. Hitachi are miles better.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Minicooper

quote:

---

Originally posted by whitestu
All the Bosch power tools I've have been crap. Hitachi are miles better.

---

All the Bosch tools I've have been brilliant, don't know other makes as they are still working perfectly

---

Had a few issues with Bosch stuff too recently. First was the jigsaw, but to be fair it was a mech failure and I had clipped the ground with it by accident. New part is £6.

My big gripe though is my drill. Hand locking chuck on a hammer drill some times it locks on, but most of the time 5 seconds hammer action undoes the chuck widening the hole and bending the bit. Bloody infuriating.

Im going to put a vote in for Wickes own brand, i have a mains hammer drill that i use with a paddle for mixing floor screed, and have been abusing it for around 4 years now, it has not missed a beat............................oh and it cost £40

Depends which of the Bosch ones you buy, the green ones aren't great but the blue professional ones are much better. We use a lot of Ryobi kit at work, that seems very good value and takes a hammering