Robert Bosch GmbH is a very large German engineering company that manufactures a wide variety of products. Its actually surprising how many things Bosch have either worked on or created that make our daily lives a lot easier and safer. Anti Lock Brakes is a good example of this. ABS originally came into development in the 1930s as a co-operation between Mercedes and Bosch. However due to the poor quality of the electronics back the idea was never really practical till, it was finally released on the S-Class in the late seventies.



What we are really going to be focusing on in this article, however, is powertools. Especially Bosch power tools. Robert Bosch has five main brands for its powertool range, which include Bosch Blue, Bosch Green, Dremel, Skil and RotoZip.

The majority of people view Bosch Blue as high end professional tools and Bosch Green as more of a domestic product. That's not to say, however, that Bosch Green is an inferior product to say for example Makita.

Over the years German engineers have built up the reputation of crafting high quality reliable equipment, and Bosch power tools are no different. Not to mention ground breaking. In 1975 Bosch created the Special Direct System (SDS) chuck which revolutionized the world of drills and hammers. Before SDS, hammer drills would often shake there tool lose if it was not correctly tightened. With SDS this can't happen. Quickly becoming the industry standard for rotary hammers, SDS is now used by most power tool manufacturers.

Bosch is well renowned for its jigsaws too. The legendary GST 85 has been replaced with the GST135 Jigsaw. The new GST135 is regarded all over the world as one of the best in the business. Fitted with Bosch's newly developed SDS, it's so easy to change blades on the GST135 you can do it with one hand.

What about circular saws? A Bosch Circular saw is the best handheld power tool you could use to make a long cut in a piece of material.

Where I think Bosch really score at the moment is with screw/drill drivers, Their small PSR 200 in this writers opinion is a great little machine for lots of different DIY jobs.

A word of warning, many people with a passion for powertools often rush out and buy as many tools as possible and they end up gathering dust in your toolbox. My suggestion would be to buy just what you need. For example lots of people will own both a drill driver and a combi drill. I think unless your using the drill every day as a job, the majority of people would only need the combi drill as the extra weight it carries is not really an issue.

A basic toolkit of a combi drill, jigsaw and circular saw, are what I'd recommend to start out. Then add to your basic kit as and when you need the tool.

I'd defiantly recommend any Bosch tool as they are both reliable, powerful and best of all great to use.