Bosch Reviews

This a hefty little beast and to me a great basic router and should give me many years of use. My only problem is finding a decent edge guide for it. Anyone have any suggestions?

The tool performs well, good torque when you need it and fast enough on the high speed. I was somewhat surprised that the batteries do not maintain charge. So, I learned to keep one always charging. That works well.

I bought this sander a couple of weeks ago and I have used it nearly everyday since. I've been building an end table and a couple of different mantle clocks and have given this sander a pretty good workout. The motor is plenty powerful and I haven't noticed any swirl marks even with the 80 grit paper. I have noticed that it is not entirely dustless since it will get some light dust gathering on the base of the tool but nothing floating in the air. For $40 I don't think you can go wrong with this tool.

Mike in Tennessee

If you're look for an alternative to Sawzall specialty blade 48-00-1301, this blade rocks! I attached to my Supersawzall and cut down a three story pine tree in half a day! The thicker part of the trunk was the only time I felt that a chainsaw would have been better because this blaze is only 9". I wish they made a longer version of this bad boy.

This case has an angled slot which holds the saw securely. It's not quite centered, which means that it is a little off balance when only carrying the saw. There is a compartment on the right, with a door, to hold blades, and it's balanced well enough with a few blades in there. (Cut some thin cardboard to separate the blades.) A slot in the case also holds the blade wrench.

The only two things I don't like about the case are (1) it's awfully big for what it's carrying and (2) it's plastic rather than metal. However, given the size of this puppy, that may be a blessing. Recommended.

I have 3 Dremels. 1 cordless and 2 corded including this one. There are only 2 reasons I keep using Dremel.

1. The long warrnty.
2. It does the job I use it for.

This Dremel was sent in for repair shortly after I got it because it wouldn't hold a bit and it just stopped working. The other cordless was sent in TWICE for repair. And the cordless was sent in THREE times for repair, once for catching on fire. However, each time the tools were repaired and returned quickly.

The other reason I keep using Dremel is because I have not found another tool that can remove grout as well as the Dremel. Of course, I break a lot of bits in the process. But is does the job.

Even though grout removal is not a small job. I've found that the Dremel works best on small crafts and detail work.

Okay...again this is not a review, but when I see items coming soon. I would like to know what Soon is PRIOR to the order. In this case it is min. 1 month...maybe 2. Luckily, I'm in no rush for this.

Also reading thru these reviews, I have seen a few people complaining that they get sent the wrong item (77 piece) and the supplier maybe mislabeling items.

This is a great product, and you can get it, along with any other products on Amazon up to $500 Free! Participate in a special promotion and get a free $500 Amazon Gift Card at this web site: nocost4u.info/amazon

I bought this saw and it came with a badly warped base. Unfortunately I didn't discover this in time to return it to amazon for a full refund. I sent it to Freud for repair/replacement and got the same base back, only slightly less warped. It won't follow a saw guide because of "drift", in other words the edge of the guide is not parallel to the blade. Basically the engineering on this saw is very ambitious but the manufacturing craftsmanship is terrible.

Addendum: Freud eventually made good by shipping me a new base. If I were to rate the saw now that it has been repaired, it deserves at least three stars. It has a nice powerful motor with variable speed, but maybe it's more powerful than it needs to be. It is fairly heavy, and the motor has a lot of inertia so it keeps on running for several seconds after the trigger is released. The dust collection attachment is somewhat cumbersome, but without it the cutting line is quickly obscured by sawdust. If I had it to do over again I would go for a lighter weight saw with a dust blower like the Black and Decker JS600K, and just be prepared to return it promptly if the base didn't line up just right.

This is an excellent little Jig Saw. Although(when I bought it), it was advertised as being able to use both types of jig saw blades. The regular blades do not hold at all. Would recommend.

This is a top of the line tool that has no comparison. This is
a product I have wished for years to buy, but could never justify paying the retail price; until I saw the product advertised in your magazine at such an affordable price. It performs far beyoond my expectations. I am very happy with the purchase. The precision with which it cuts and performs is remarkable. My wood working friends are shocked when I tell them where and how much I payed for my jig saw.
Thank you!

I purchased this Hitachi saw 2 years ago while building my house. When I first started with the saw I wasn't happy. It has no problem with light material but easily bogs down on hardwood and pressure treated. My biggest complaint with it is the use of plastic on the blade height adjustment. The crank has stripped and I see no easy way to repair it. It is also very difficult to set the fence square. The saw will only accept a 3/8" dado. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that had any serious work to do. I learned that you get what you pay for.

First off, don't believe Amazon's "list price." This saw would NEVER go for more than $300. And justifiably so, because it's not worth even that.
At first it seemed like a well-built saw for the money, but as is usually the case with power tools, you get what you pay for. The 10RA2 has a decent, but not great motor, and it's very loud. You also play hell getting an accurate cut on it because of arbor flex and difficulties fine tuning blade alignment. It can be done, but you have to be careful. But my biggest complaint is the miter slots are non-standard. They require a weird inverted T design that no other saws use, anywhere. That means that if you want to upgrade from the cheap stock miter gauge or, as happened to me, you misplace it, you're screwed. NO aftermarket miter gauges will fit the slots and Hitachi doesn't sell their design as an accessory. So you're forced to go through the parts diagram and order each screw, washer, handle, and everything piece-meal to rebuild a substandard tool to begin with.
Either that, or make your own. Pain in the arse.
But other than that, the dust collection is great. And the on/off switch works flawlessly.
Overall, with the benefit of hindsight, I'd have gone with a different saw. Even for the money, this saw has given me more frustration than satisfaction.

I'm a professional trim carpenter, and I've been very happy with my Hitachi saw. Some of the reviews I've read have been negative on the Hitachi because they're comparing the Hitachi with $1000 and up table saws. The Hitachi is good for those who have a larger table saw and want something to use on-site, and it's fine for the average homeowner. The saw is great because it's portable, light, no-frills... It also has a nice motor as well. It's the best $300 tabel saw you can buy, and I like it more than the Bosch, which I also own and is much heavier.

There are 3 grits of narrow extender paper that I have found:
SDNR060, SDNR080 and SDNR120. Try www.toolsforless.com and
search on any of these 3 SKU numbers.

All the best.

this little unit is really a gem. The only down side was finding sanding pads ...found the b&d mouse pads fit it though...haha..so i have been using those for the triangle and then cutting the scap to make profile pads...they work great and HD sells them for about 4.50 a box.....enjoy...oh and no issues with unit that others had noted...I used it for stairs, a wood ceiling and a couple pieces of old funiture i wanted to prep for refinish and even using it for 6-7 hours no problems...though i will say i wish it had a dust bag...the hose option is a bit clumsy...

We are building a sailboat and had avoided buying a detail sander for three years, because the ones we'd seen had little power and were flimsy. When we needed to get into corners, we used a Dremel tool with a sanding drum. We burned out one Dremel tool, and then went through five of the (returnable) hardware-store brand. One day, a friend brought over her Bosch detail sander and we were astonished. We went out and bought one right away, and several months of hard use later we're still very happy with it. We've worn out the triangle sanding pad (esp. its corners) so we'll be replacing that, but we've been extremely happy with the tool itself. We should have bought one when we started the boat! It's as good as our Porter-Cable random-orbital, and that's saying something!

I got this router a couple of months ago and at the beginning I was very happy with its performance. My only complaint started when I mounted the fixed base to my home-made router table. When routing mortises by increasing gradually the bit height I noticed that the cuts did not aligned between height adjustments. I thought that maybe the fence was not at right angle with the route table but this was not the problem. As reported here and in another forum [...]
I found that the bit move out of the vertical a little when it is raised. Although you can still get an acceptable mortise a little wider (1/64"-1/32") by using a chisel or moving the fence (when the bit is at full height), the lack of precision is my main concern.
Still for the price is a good router, power is excellent, and the fixed and plunge bases look solid and well made, I have used this router in some of my projects and I am happy with the results.

I bought this router about 6 months ago. It has worked fine for many jobs. I have one complaint- the sidefence attachment (not included) does not attach well. I couldn't tighten the screws enough to keep the sidefence from sliding around. I ended up breaking one of the screws off in the fixed base. If I were to do it again I would have purchased a better (more expensive) router.

For the price and the weekend wood worker the Skil 1825 can't be beat. As several others have noted this router does have a few irksome quirks. The trigger lock takes a little playing with to get it set, but as I only use this when the router is mounted in a table, I need only to set it once and then I control the on/off of the router with the table switch. The over size chuck wrench is cumbersome for reaching in to tighten the collet while with the other hand you are holding in the spindle lock. The height adjustment control takes a little working with and does not operate as smoothly as one might hope.

The base plates and the plunge work great. With these excellent options one can use the 1825 as both a hand held plunge or fixed base router or remove the base plate from the fix base and mount it into a router table. This allows one to use this one router in all three different ways. Visibility is very good with the led lights providing light right where one needs it most. The variable speed control is great and the 2.25 hp motor provides all the power one needs for most applications. And with the money one saves compared to similar and more expensive routers from other companies, you can invest the savings into quality jigs and good high end bits (this is where the wood meets the road) which makes the most difference in the quality of the cut that a router delivers. This is not a contractor's router, but for light jobs around the house (shelves & bookcases) and the weekend wood worker, I have not found a better deal for the price.