Factory-Reconditioned Bosch 93618HDCRF-RT 18 Volt Brute Tough Combo Kit with Bonus Jigsaw and Carrying Bag

by Bosch

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

This is a reconditioned power tool. Reconditioned generally means that the tool has been returned to the manufacturer, who brings the tool back to like-new condition. Some tools may contain cosmetic blemishes. Bosch 1/2" 18V Brute Tough Hammer Drill/Driver with Durashield housing, full metal collar, unibody powertrain construction and over 475 in./lbs.of torque. 6-1/2" Circular Saw 0-3600 RPM, rear depth adjustment. Recip Saw 0-2300 RPM, Dual Stroke, 1-1/4" stroke for fast aggressive cuts, 3/4" stroke for precise cuts and plunge cuts and a tool less blade change system. Flashlight with 2 position pivoting head. Bonus- Jigsaw with One-Touch Blade Change System, Large die cast aluminum foot, Foot cover protects finish surfaces, Variable speed trigger and 0-2,000 SPM. Kit also includes 2 18V batteries, a 1 Hour charger, Side Handle, Magnetic bit insert holder, Insert bit, Snap Hook, Circ Saw Blade, Rip Fence, 2 Bi-Metal Recip Blades and a carrying bag.

Product Description

This is a factory reconditioned power tool combo pack. Reconditioned generally means that the power tool combo pack has been returned to the manufacturer, who brings the power tool combo pack back to like new condition. Some power tool combo packs may contain cosmetic blemishes. Includes 18 Volt Cordless 5-Tool Combo Kit - 93618HDCRF-J-RT, 18 Volt Cordless Brute Tough Hammer Drill/Driver - 13618, 18 Volt Cordless 6-1/2" Circular Saw Kit - 1662K-24, 18 Volt Cordless Reciprocating Saw Kit - 1644K-24, 18 Volt Cordless Jigsaw Kit - 52318, Flashlight - 3453, (2) 2.4 Ah Batteries - BAT026, 9.6-24 Volt 1-Hour Charger - BC004, Magnetic Bit Holder - 2 610 917 319, Side Handle - 2 602 025 126, 18-Tooth Carbide Blade - 2 610 997 480, Rip Fence - 2 610 347 119, Double-Ended Bit, No-Mar Overshoe - 2 608 000 184, Carrying Bag - 2 610 920 089

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 37.8 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0000A14SU
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 93618HDCRF-RT
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,126 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars B93618HDCRF-J Bosch 18V cordless combo kit, July 20, 2004

By 

StevieQ (Castro Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Factory-Reconditioned Bosch 93618HDCRF-RT 18 Volt Brute Tough Combo Kit with Bonus Jigsaw and Carrying Bag (Tools & Home Improvement)

I bought this kit because of the free battery offer back in June. The kit also includes a free jigsaw. I'll give my impression of each piece below:

Hammer drill/driver - Very powerful at 475 in-lbs. in drilling mode, although both the 18V Ridgid and the Hitachi 18V are even more powerful. I think the Hitachi is at 550 in-lbs. There is a 15 step torque setting for screw driving, plus one setting for drillling, and one setting for hammer drill action. This is a powerful driver in that even setting 1 is somewhat too strong for the most delicate screws. The drill is generally well balanced, but not as well balanced as Makita's T-handled drills. Whereas the Makitas have the weight exactly balanced and centered in the middle of the hand, so that there is no tilting force either forward or backward, the Bosch hammerdrill tilts slightly forward. This results in the drill feeling heavier in the hand than a Makita of the same weight because you need to grip the Bosch tighter to counteract the tilting torque. It just feels more tiresome to hold because of the extra force needed. The least well thought out part of the drill is the auxilliary handle bar. It grips by the friction of a neoprene-like rubber band underneath a metal band. There are no grooves or notches or anything to keep the rubber band aligned on and secured to the drill. No matter how hard I clamp it, the aux. handle just wants to rotate out of alignment and come off when I have heavy duty drilling sessions because the rubber just yields under force. Those aux handles that rely on notches or grooves, such as the one on the Ridgid and Makita drills, work better and more securely. Also the speed setting slider switch is touchy at times. To change from high to low gear or vice versa, the slider switch doesn't work cripsly 100% of the time. About 1 out of 10 times or so, it doesn't engage crisply and completely. If you operate the drill when this happens you can possibly strip the gears by spinning both the high and the low gears at the same time. When it doesn't engage completely, you should slide the switch back to the previous gear and press the power trigger to rotate the gear a tiny bit and then try sliding the gear slider to the new position again. This usually fixes the hesitant gear switch problem - that is until you switch gear again. No problem like this ever happens with my Makita drill, which switches speeds crisply 100% of the time. Other than these slight annoyances, the Bosch drill works very well. It has a 1/2" chuck with carbide teeth in the grip and I like the hammer drill feature. It does feel very heavy at 6 lbs. 10 oz.

Circular saw - The saw rocks when the battery is fresh and when the blade is new and sharp, but alas the battery doesn't last too long on the circular saw. You absolutely should use a freshly charged battery as well as very sharp blade with the circular saw so that your saw doesn't stall in the middle of a cut and ruin your cut and possibly ruin the work piece as well. To that end, you should also recharge the battery before it fully dies out when using the circular saw. I had an almost fully charged battery to try to see how many 2x4 or 2x8 douglas firs I could crosscut. I think I counted around 10 to 12 2x4 crosscuts on dense douglas firs before the saw stalled. My opinion is the saw is good for remote locations where you either don't have AC power or just dread dragging that dang power cord. For general repair work, etc, where you may need to cut only a few 2x4's etc. it's okay, but I wouldn't replace the corded version with it for any serious construction work.

Reciprocating saw - it works okay, again it eats up a whole lot of battery juice in a hurry. Surprisingly it takes almost twice as long to crosscut 2x douglas firs with the recip. saw than with the jigsaw with a Progressor blade in maximum orbital mode. For most cutting works, I still prefer either the jigsaw or the circular saw because they just work faster than the recip. saw. Also, the heavy vibration of the recip. saw just gets to you after a while, but then again there are situations where only a recip. saw can do that neither a jigsaw nor a circular saw can. It does have its place under the sun.

Jigsaw - this jigsaw is absolutely the gem in this combo set. It works extremely well, cutting very powerfully. In the maximum orbital setting, it zips through 2x douglas firs in crosscut mode with a Progressor blade. The cut is very clean and very fast compared to using a recip. saw. It also can plunge cut very well, but you do so at risk of snapping a blade. The tool-less blade change is extremely quick. The short battery life also affects the jigsaw but not as badly as when using the circular or recip. saw.

Light - The light works best as a handheld flashlight, but I look at this light as free lighting if you have an extra battery anyway. Overall, it works okay, but I still prefer a quality headlamp with bright LEDs over any flashlight for hand free lighting. I paid $65 for a very fancy expedition-style backpacking headlamp at REI and it works better than any flashlight because of its nimbleness and versatility.

Charger - It's a 1-hr. charger that comes with the kit. I immediately shelled out $70 to buy an extra 15-minute charger with the fuzzy control. One hour is too long at the rate the circular saw and the recip. saw drain batteries. The fuzzy control 15-min charger will also make the batteries last through many more recharge cycles because it's gentler on the batteries, or so it claims. The drawback with the 15-min charger is that you must remove the battery as soon as it's done at around 15 mins because it's not THAT smart, as it claims. It will keep on trickle charging at a high rate once the full charge is complete. Once the 15 mins is up, the battery heats up quite dramatically rather quickly. It's this high heat near the full charge that kills batteries. So advice with the 15-min charger is to stand ready at near 15 mins to listen for the ringing buzzer that signals when the charge is full. It's a weak buzzer. If you remove the battery as soon as the buzzer sounds, the battery will be only barely warm to the touch. If you wait a few more minutes after the buzzer, the battery will heat up a lot quite quickly. Also the 1-hr. charger doens't have a ready buzzer the 15-min charger does. The 1-hr. charger only has a blinking ready light, but has no buzzer. That's another reason to get the 15-minute charger.

Nylon bag - Some folks hate the bag and would rather have a hard case, whereas some like the bag. I have mixed feelings about the bag. It's much more convenient to carry around than a hard case, but it doesn't protect your tools the way a molded hard case does. With the bag, you just lump all the tools together such that they may scratch or dent one another during transport. Because both the case and the bag have their own strong points, I ended up buying a Bosch hard case for $40 extra. It's molded to fit the circular saw, drill, light, recip. saw, fence, and charger. There is no room for the jigsaw in the case, whereas the jigsaw can fit in the nylon bag just fine.

Planer - This is not normally included in this kit, but I bought my combo set somewhere else where the merchant threw in an 18v Bosch cordless planer "for free". It's the first time I ever used a power planer and I loved it. It has a chip chute and bag that collects the shavings. There is a slight learning curve with using planers, but once mastered it gives very flat faces and edges.

Overall I love this set in spite of some minor complaints I pointed out above. I give it 4 to 4.5 stars overall. If the battery life were much better and if it included a 15-min charger and if the drill's aux. handle worked better, I'd give it 5 stars, but as it is now, it merits only 4 to 4.5 stars.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and well built, March 17, 2004

By 

"atoolenthusiast" (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Factory-Reconditioned Bosch 93618HDCRF-RT 18 Volt Brute Tough Combo Kit with Bonus Jigsaw and Carrying Bag (Tools & Home Improvement)

I purchased the Bosch tool set in late December. I am a contractor who needs durable and reliable tools. When I started my search, I researched the Porter Cable, Milwaukee and Dewalt cordless sets. I have all three brands in corded/pneumatic tools and have been satisfied with their performance. I limited my search to these brands until I saw the Bosch.

Hands down, the build of Bosch was superior to the other three. And their attention to little things makes me very glad I made the purchase. For example:
1. The drill with its hook is invaluable, especially when hanging sheetrock. It is heavier than the others, but sturdier in the hand.
2. The reciprocating saw has an adjustable foot and varying blade stroke. Both features are used often by me. My job has me cutting pipe, 2 by's, sheetrock, etc. and these features have made the job easier.
3. The circular saw comes with and exhaust port to attach to my portable vac. I can cut inside now with limited dust. Additionally the depth gage is handy
4. The jig saw with the blow port helps keep the line open to the eye and the ability to change the orbital action is great when stepping up the cut. (the saw works the best with bosch t-blades)
5. Ok - the light is the worst - Dewalts is much better.

The kicker in making the decision to purchase the Bosch was the 3 year warranty. I have had to use it once already. The head on the recip saw broke. I was sent a new one in a few days and was up and running. I get the feeling that the head has been an issue. The new one I received was made different.

The bag is a bit of a pain, but it does allow me to carry the charger, and three cases containing recip saw blades, jigsaw blades and drill bits.

For the money, the Bosch Cordless set is a very good choice.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good set of tools, January 21, 2004

By 

J. Kuchan "jozhica" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Factory-Reconditioned Bosch 93618HDCRF-RT 18 Volt Brute Tough Combo Kit with Bonus Jigsaw and Carrying Bag (Tools & Home Improvement)

PRO - more bang for your buck
CON - the darn bag
I was debating with myself should I go with DEWALT, MILWAUKE or BOSCH and after buying Bosch tools I couldn't be happier. The hammerdrill has great power although I haven't used it in a hammer mode.The feature that I like on it is that you can hold the nose of the chuck to steady the drill and it won't burn your fingers. Jigsaw cuts with great power, and ease, and the circular saw cuts the 2x material as if it's butter. I still haven't tried the reciprocating saw but it seeems strong and tough enough. The only con is the bag. It is great by itself but I would like to see this combo in a hard case. The whole combo is worth more than I paid for. If it helps anyone, HD and JS-made in Switzerland, RS-made in Mexico, CS-assembled in Mexico, Flashlight-made in China, Battery- made in Japan.
P.S. I'm thinking of buying a planer too.

Update 2006

Yes! After 2 years of owning the combo I finaly bought the planer. The tools are in a great working condition and all of the are performing admirably. My friends allways want to borrow them:)