Ed W
Member
Sam,
I have both the Bosch 36V compact and the Bosch 18V. I use both regularly for digging, mostly capping but also for placing bolts (both for pitches and securing scaffolding to rock). Both have put up with some severe abuse in terms of bashing around, dropping and getting plastered in wet mud on a regular basis. I have not noticed a great deal of difference in the performance, in terms of numbers of holes per battery or speed of drilling. I have 3 x 1.3Ah batteries for the 36V and 4 x 3Ah for the 18V. There is also not a lot of difference in weight/ bulk between the two of them either, though the 18V 3Ah batteries are noticeably more compact than the 36V 1.3Ah, so in practice I can usually carry an extra battery for the 18V compared to the 36V for a similar weight / volume.
I did totally wreck the hammer mechanism on my 36V a few years ago (after about 3 years of use, twice a week on average), but I managed to find a knackered one on Ebay whose electronics had packed up. It was easy enough to swap the internal electronics from my original drill and install them into the mechanically decent one, and this has run without problems for the last few years, though it has been run less frequently as I had bought the 18V one in the meantime.
The 36V compact is much smaller and lighter than the big Bosch 36V, but it has noticeably much less grunt than its big brother. I know several other people who are using this drill and are very happy with it. Including one who keeps the drill stored underground at his dig so he only has to transport batteries in and out (its a long way from the surface, the drill is packed in a suitable container with loads of silica gel). I bought both of my drill on special offers, the 36V was ?300 with two batteries and the 18V was ?265 with two batteries (I got two more later, again on special offer).
I have been very happy with both these drill, but I have to say that if I had to replace them tomorrow, I would have a long hard look at the Makita 18V.
Hope this is useful,
Ed
I have both the Bosch 36V compact and the Bosch 18V. I use both regularly for digging, mostly capping but also for placing bolts (both for pitches and securing scaffolding to rock). Both have put up with some severe abuse in terms of bashing around, dropping and getting plastered in wet mud on a regular basis. I have not noticed a great deal of difference in the performance, in terms of numbers of holes per battery or speed of drilling. I have 3 x 1.3Ah batteries for the 36V and 4 x 3Ah for the 18V. There is also not a lot of difference in weight/ bulk between the two of them either, though the 18V 3Ah batteries are noticeably more compact than the 36V 1.3Ah, so in practice I can usually carry an extra battery for the 18V compared to the 36V for a similar weight / volume.
I did totally wreck the hammer mechanism on my 36V a few years ago (after about 3 years of use, twice a week on average), but I managed to find a knackered one on Ebay whose electronics had packed up. It was easy enough to swap the internal electronics from my original drill and install them into the mechanically decent one, and this has run without problems for the last few years, though it has been run less frequently as I had bought the 18V one in the meantime.
The 36V compact is much smaller and lighter than the big Bosch 36V, but it has noticeably much less grunt than its big brother. I know several other people who are using this drill and are very happy with it. Including one who keeps the drill stored underground at his dig so he only has to transport batteries in and out (its a long way from the surface, the drill is packed in a suitable container with loads of silica gel). I bought both of my drill on special offers, the 36V was ?300 with two batteries and the 18V was ?265 with two batteries (I got two more later, again on special offer).
I have been very happy with both these drill, but I have to say that if I had to replace them tomorrow, I would have a long hard look at the Makita 18V.
Hope this is useful,
Ed
