Mike wrote in yesterday, alerting me to the existence of the new Bosch DDS181A 18V compact cordless drill. His email wasn’t exactly about the new DDS181A, but rather what it did or did not represent:
Much like you, I’m a huge fan of Bosch. I find myself surfing the web at least twice a week in hopes of coming across some news of a possible new brushless impact driver (their IDH182 hybrid impact tool is just too impractical for my work due to the socket ready feature)
While I’ve had no luck, I came across this new version of the DDS181 and couldn’t help but feel just a little let down. It doesn’t seem like Bosch is really trying to work on anything new as far as brushless 18 volt goes in NA [North America]. Do you think they’ll expand their brushless lineup, any time soon or could this be a sign that they’re giving up on it?
Well, Bosch does make a brushless drill, DDS182, and I believe they will soon bring relatively new impact driver models, or perhaps newly designed ones, to the USA market.
Why haven’t they yet? I don’t know.
And while other brands are busy releasing brushless this and brushless that, Bosch’s cordless innovations have been mainly tied to their battery tech. I’m talking about their wireless battery charging system.
Bosch is are working on what seems to be a Milwaukee One-Key-like Bluetooth-based tool customization system, but they haven’t shared any concrete details yet.
Here is a look at the DDS183, which is definitely different from their DDS182, which looks like this:
It’s the EC on the side of the tool that indicates it’s engineered with a brushless motor.
I had been looking around for news about the DDS183, to see if there was a new brushless drill listed at European or USA dealers, and the sole image of the drill kit came up. Apparently there was a Bosch social media post that had been cached before being deleted.
If you refer back to yesterday’s post about the new brushed motor DDS181A, you should notice a few design similarities. The drill housings are a little different, but seem to have a common overall shape, and both drills have very similar concentric circle overmold grip styling.
The chuck of the DDS183 appears to be metal, perhaps the same one as the DDS181A, whereas both the brushless DDS182 and brushed motor DDS181 had plastic chucks.
We know nothing about the DDS183, aside from good reason to believe in existence (seeing is believing). I would think that it’ll at least match the DDS181A’s 600 in-lb torque level, but that’s not guaranteed.
Meanwhile, we’re also still left waiting for Bosch to step up their game.
Bosch has come out with some new 18V cordless tools recently, a new impact wrench, grinders, compact reciprocating saw (Europe), and a metal-cutting saw. That’s about it for the past 6 months. Going back a year, there’s also a wireless charging dock, Bluetooth radio, LED worklight (Europe), and that’s about it.
There might have been another release or two, but if I generally don’t skip preview posts.
So to answer Mike’s question, Do you think they’ll expand their brushless lineup, any time soon or could this be a sign that they’re giving up on it?:
I hope they will expand their 18V brushless lineup and am not quite sure what could be holding them back. Perhaps they’re waiting to perfect their tool customization technology. Or maybe they’re just not interested in expanding their premium brushless tool lineup.
I don’t think the DDS181A is a sign they’re giving up, and the image of a somewhat matching compact brushless DDS183 helps to support this. It’s also a sign that they’re gearing up for revised tool styling, which could indicate a new generation of brushless drills and drivers beyond just the compact model.
Let’s wait and see what happens. Bosch has had plenty of time to analyze and respond to competitors’ brushless tech, and so they might just surprise us with a big push. I certainly hope so, competition is good for everyone.