5 Bosch Power Tools Users Say You Should Steer Clear Of

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Bosch is one of the more prominent tool brands that you're likely to find at your local hardware store. Founded in 1886 by Robert Bosch, the manufacturer has been making tools for over a century and is widely regarded as a high-end professional brand that's known for the durability and performance of its tools. Bosch has since grown into a world market leader for power tools and accessories, launching over 100 new tools every single year. That's quite an impressive output, but you might find that not every tool the company releases is a winner.

While Bosch is widely regarded as one of the best power tool brands on the market, and it has certainly earned an impressive reputation for customer satisfaction over the decades, it isn't always wise to blindly assume that every tool from a good brand is of equal quality. Even the best power tool manufacturers have been known to miss the mark now and then.

There are a handful of tools that the company has made that have left customers less than satisfied due to issues regarding build quality, features, and performance. Some of these issues may be relatively minor, while others can be outright dealbreakers for some people. Most Bosch tools are highly regarded by users, but even so, it's worth taking a look at the tools that have been less well-received. That way, potential buyers can get a better idea about which of these tools are best avoided.

If you're trying to decide between a rotary drill and a hammer drill, you should know that a rotary drill just won't cut it when you're working with a substance like concrete, brick, or stone; you'll need a good hammer drill. So it makes sense to turn to a professional-grade brand like Bosch to get one. The Bosch 1191VSRK Professional Hammer Drill is light, weighing in at just 4.1 lbs, while still managing to boast a 7.0 Amp motor that can produce up to 4,800 BPM. It also has a 360-degree locking auxiliary handle, a keyed ½-inch three-jaw chuck, a variable speed trigger, reverse gear operation, Pro+Guard dust collection, and two operational modes, offering both rotation-only and hammer drilling. This seems like it should be an easy home run, but customers have encountered a few issues.

This drill has a 3 out of 5 on Bosch's own website, a 3.9 on Home Depot, a 3.4 on Lowe's, and a 3.2 on Acme Tools. Most of the issues reported in low reviews are related to the tool's durability and long-term reliability–particularly in regard to the motor and the switch. "Used this drill for less than 2 hours in total and the switch is kapoot!" one Lowe's reviewer said, "Very disappointed." There are a good deal of similar reports about drills suddenly burning out or ceasing to function as well. Others have working tools, but aren't overly impressed with the drill's performance. "Bought this a few months ago to drill three holes into concrete for anchor bolts," another Lowe's user stated. "The handle is plastic and wouldn't tighten down enough to use. The drill itself had a hard time drilling into the concrete. After about an hour of drilling, I finally got all three holes drilled. This drill just couldn't handle the job," said yet another review on Lowe's. 

A random orbit sander is the go-to tool for sanding and polishing wood, metal, fiberglass, and all manner of other materials. The random rotation means it makes fewer marks than a regular orbit sander. Bosch makes a few different models, with the GEX33-6N 6-inch Multi-Hole Corded Random Orbit Sander serving as one of the more affordable corded options that the company produces. As the name implies, it has a multi-hole design in the pad that makes it compatible with a wide range of different sanding disks from various manufacturers. The pad also has a built-in dampening system that's designed to further prevent swirl marks by helping the user to maintain even pressure. Additionally, the tool has a microfilter dust system that can capture debris as small as a ½ micron, an aluminum gear housing, a variable speed dial, and a soft grip that's designed to be held from multiple different positions for convenience and comfort. Sounds good so far, right?

The sander has a 2.7 out of 5 on the Bosch site, a 2.5 on Home Depot, and a 3.0 on Acme Tools. The problems once again seem to stem mainly from durability issues. Several customers reported that the tool would lose parts or simply cease to function, with some stating that this would happen after just a few hours of use. "My GEX33-6 sander stopped orbiting at exactly the one-year mark," one Acme Tools reviewer claimed. "Motor runs, but no sanding motion. Had very easy household use, probably 10 hours in all. Very disappointed in this product." The other main issue that people seemed to encounter regarded the dust collection system. Several users claimed that the included dust collection box was difficult to attach and didn't fit the tool very well.

If you're tiling, installing drywall, or even just hanging a collection of framed photos, it's nice to have a laser level. These hands-free tools give you a perfectly level line that stays in place and is generally much more accurate than the standard bubble level. The Bosch GLL50 50-foot Professional Self-Leveling Cross Line Laser is designed to be completely self-leveling via a smart pendulum system, and it has three different lighting modes. You can use it to project a vertical or horizontal line on its own, or you can combine them and project a cross. It utilizes Bosch's patented VisiMax technology, which promises clear visibility. It also has a BM3 positioning device, has IP54 dust and water protection, an overmold for impact protection, and a pendulum locking system that keeps the laser safe during transport.

This laser level has a 2.8 out of 5 on Bosch's site, a 4.2 on Home Depot, and a 4.2 at Lowe's. There are a few reports that the laser's self-leveling system isn't entirely accurate, with some stating that it's as much as 15 degrees off plumb. This is compounded by the fact that the laser isn't designed to be adjustable, so there is no way to correct this. Others have stated that it can't be angled at all, so you need a tripod with a wide range of adjustability. But the bigger issue is that many customers have reported the laser failing, particularly on the horizontal line. "Used a couple of times and the horizontal laser is no longer working," one user stated on Bosch's site. "Product should be recalled given the number of complaints describing the same issue." A few have even had the entire unit abruptly stop functioning within just a few hours.

Next up is yet another laser level, but this one is quite different from the GLL 50. The Bosch GLL 1 P 16-foot Red Line Generator Laser Level is a small, affordable, handheld laser level that is meant to be mounted directly onto surfaces rather than being pointed at them. It promises a point range of 65 feet and a line range of 16 feet. It comes with a mounting accessory that can be connected to walls or a tripod, while also having built-in magnets for easy attachment to metal surfaces. The tool has two built-in bubble levels, adding extra levels of functionality, while also making it easy to verify accuracy. Additionally, the laser level is pocket-sized and is powered by two AA batteries.

This tool no longer appears to have a listing on the Bosch website, but it can be found at Home Depot, where it has a 3.9 out of 5 review score with only 72% of customers claiming that they would recommend it, and at Lowe's, where it has a 4.3. Like with the other laser, several users have encountered issues with accuracy–particularly when attempting to cast lines across longer distances. The problem seems to stem from inconsistencies in the built-in bubble levels, which are used for ensuring that the laser itself is level. There are multiple complaints about these not being mounted correctly, resulting in the laser being difficult to mount accurately. "Both bubbles are way off," said one Home Depot reviewer. "[This is] the most inaccurate level I ever had. The laser is weak too, only visible in [a] dimly lit small room." Another reviewer stated that they had purchased three of these levels, and that one of them was significantly less accurate than the other two.

It seems like just about every power tool brand has at least one vacuum that just isn't a winner. According to customers, the Bosch model that might be best avoided is the GAS18V-02N Professional Cordless 0.5 Gallon 1 Horsepower Vacuum Cleaner. This 18V tool promises 21.2 CFM of suction and a runtime of seven minutes per amp-hour of the battery you choose to use with it, so a 5 Ah battery would last about 35 minutes. The tool is compact, lightweight, and comes with a variety of attachments so that it can work as a handvac, an upright vac, or a hosed vacuum. Unfortunately, while these specs might sound impressive on paper, customers haven't been overly fond of how they translate to real-life applications.

The tool has a 3.3 out of 5 on Bosch's site, a 3.7 on Lowe's, a 4.0 on Amazon, and a 3.6 on Acme Tools. There are very mixed reviews regarding the tool's power. Several customers have complained that the vacuum doesn't produce nearly enough suction to do anything other than the lightest of jobs. "Very loud and very poor suction, barely will pick up dog hair," one reviewer said on Acme Tools' site. "Very unimpressed with the suction power," stated another on Amazon. "It can pick up small pieces of dust, that's all it's good for. I've been using a new 4Ah battery and still can't pick up small pieces of debris. If all you use it for is construction dust, it's ok, but not for anything slightly heavier." There are several positive reviews citing the vacuum's compact size, light weight, and versatility, but you might want to avoid it if you really need power.

I've been using and collecting power tools for decades and own several Bosch products. This knowledge and experience helped me to break down what these tools are and why customers might be disappointed with their performance.

In making this list, I started by taking a look at the lowest-scoring Bosch power tools on the Bosch website, as well as third-party retail sites with aggregate customer rating systems, such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Amazon, and Acme Tools. Bosch is widely acknowledged as a premium power tool brand, and the vast majority of its products are very highly regarded among consumers, so there were very few tools that had less-than-stellar ratings, making it easy to narrow down the list to the most problematic products. Once I had a few picked out, I dove into the actual reviews to see what it was that customers didn't like about these products, searching for repeated complaints regarding build quality, features, and performance, as seeing multiple complaints about the same issues suggests that they aren't simply single-instance failures. I then broke down what these tools are and what it is that customers didn't like about them so that prospective buyers would have as much information as possible before committing to a purchase.