Over in Europe, Bosch has just announced two new 10.8V/12V Max cordless tools for the UK and EU market – a new 10 LED pivoting worklight, and a compact vacuum.
Bosch also came out with a slew of other new 12V cordless power tools for the UK and EU market last December, but those tools have yet to be announced or released in the USA.
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The LED worklight looks particularly useful, and offers multiple convenient attachment points. There’s a sturdy 200° pivoting base for positioning the light on a table or the floor, a loop for hanging it from nails, screws, or rope, a carabiner, and it’s magnetic. It also has a 1/4″ thread for attaching the light to tripods and other types of fixtures.
Brightness is rated at about 350 lumens, and runtime is 6 hours on the brightest setting with a 2.0Ah battery pack.
Bosch is calling this the GLI DeciLED in Europe, and FL12 in the USA. It has 10 LEDs arranged in 2 rows of 5. There are two brightness settings to ensure you get the right amount of light for the job.
Price: $59 for the bare tool.
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Bosch is calling the new VAC120 hand vac a dust extractor, but it looks more like a cordless vacuum for quick cleanup tasks. I typically think of tool-attached vacuums as dust extractors, and cleanup tools as vacuums. Regardless of how it’s described, the new 10.8V/12V Max vacuum looks like a great addition to Bosch’s compact cordless tool lineup.
It features 45 mbar of max suction power and a max flow rate of 15 liters/second. The storage container is 350ml in size, which is pretty large for a handheld tool, and the vac comes with a removable crevice tool.
The vacuum is fitted with a microfilter with performance rating of “almost 100%,” and it is built to collect dust produced from work on wood, metal, plastic, and tile materials.
Runtime is up to 15 minutes when powered by a 2.0Ah battery pack.
Price: $69 for the bare tool
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First Thoughts
Both new products look thoughtfully designed, and they’re also somewhat unique. The new LED worklight and hand vac don’t really resemble any of Bosch’s competitors’ offerings. This is always good to see.
Bosch still hasn’t announced the USA release of tools that were announced internationally last December, including a new 12V circular saw, jigsaw, and rotary tool. Maybe Bosch will announce all five new tools for the USA market at once, but at this point there’s nothing to do but wait and see.
Update: As mentioned, both products have been announced for release in the USA.
Adam
I love my Bosch 12v impact, but deal absolutely no love for new tools in the USA. I love the feel, but with no new offerings except brushless, I plan on jumping over to the m12 line up.
Slightly surprised they do that push their tools more. Their blades did awesome in your independent test, and i feel the tools are of similar quality. Even if they don’t show up in a store, at least offer online. Can’t see any drawbacks from offering more, unless increased sales is a bad thing.
Dennis
I love the design of the light. I have some Bosch 12v (or 10.8v is what mine say) , but I switched over to Milwaukee because they had a deeper line, and I didn’t want to carry around multiple chargers. While Milwaukee has a deeper line some of these Bosch designs are just gorgeous. This light looks far more useful than Milwaukee’s lighting offerings. The jigsaw and circular saw in the other post also look fantastic. I might have to become a two 12v system user, which is what I was hoping to avoid.
I once again vote for universal batteries!
Jim Felt
I literally cannot understand why the originator of the entire 12v category would allow itself to fall behind Milwaukie and others.
It seems like a willful failure. But why?
And yes I am POed.
And what’s with the stupid plastic boxes? I don’t store mini tools two to a box. I place 6 or 8 in a tote to actually use!
Criminy.
Ktash
I hate plastic molded boxes. Hate, hate, hate! It’s a struggle to get things back into them, for one thing and they just take up space. Oddly shaped and sized and you know they add extra cost to the tool. Out the door they go immediately.
However, I disagree if you meant the L-Boxxes. these are on par with festool systainers, or come close. I got some free with drills and a jigsaw and though I keep the drills in a tote, these smaller boxes are perfect for fasteners and other items I don’t want to store in a tote. Or the less-used multitool that has various attachments. Useful for organizing stuff and less used tools. I plan to buy a few more over the holidays if there are good bargains on them. It’s worth it to make a cabinet for them with sliding drawers. Or just stack them. One of the things I like about Bosch tools.
fred
We had a love-hate (mostly hate) feeling for tool cases. There was a time when portable power tools came in metal boxes which had room for accessories. They were typically rectangular and somewhat stackable. Then came the ubiquitous blow-molded cases which were much less useful – had little interior storage for anything else. The newer systainer type boxes are now better – but still only useful in some situations.
In our shops – we hardly ever stored tools that we regularly used in boxes. More often they were in cabinets, shelves or hung above work stations. In our trucks we often grouped a set of small power tools (with batteries, chargers etc.) that we used together in metal toolboxes or for larger jobsites in Knaack Boxes that we customized with plywood dividers and/or tote boxes. More often than not the original cases just got scrapped.
Toolfreak
When reading the title, I thought Bosch had come out with an LED worklight that somehow had a tiny vacuum in it.
Bizarre that Bosch didn’t come out with an LED light for the 12V line a loooooong time ago – those lights make great fillers for tool bundles, or as a free extra when you buy a tool set.
A little strange that at 350 lumens, it only lasts 6 hours on a 12V 2.0Ah battery.
I do agree, Bosch really needs to step up the production and distribution of it’s power tools. There’s really no reason for this stuff not to be available in the U.S. and worldwide – almost all the tools are made in China, and they ship it anywhere.
Hang Fire
Even more bizarre is they still offer an incandescent flashlight for their 18V Lithium line and seem to have zero momentum for doing anything about it.
tool lvr
Bosch U.S. tools are just a victim of poor business leadership. Their bosses have just made too many poor decisions when it comes to their distribution/sales plan. They seem to make good tools, just don’t know how to go to market effectively.
Right now, I’d place Bosch in “The Bad” category below…need help fast to avoid “The Ugly”
Business leadership is critical to success:
The Good: Apple, Samsung, Nike, Ford, Boeing, Facebook, Under Armour, Google
The Bad: Microsoft, GM, Chrysler, Motorola, Sears, Yahoo, Adidas/Reebok, Dell, Gap
The Ugly: Nokia, BlackBerry, Radio Shack, Blockbuster, MySpace, Converse (shoes), JC Penney, Red Lobster
Larson
Ha those are great analogies
Peter
The light seems to be a hot item, they all go for over €60 on ebay.de.
I got some Bosch 18V led light which I really like but it looks like the 12v could be brighter, guess another item on my shopping list next time I am over there.
Ktash
Good post. I love the quality of Bosch tools. But they don’t seem to be doing as well as other brands that aren’t so well made. At least not in the U.S.
Larson
The light looks great! Very compact, I’m just wondering if the base is metal or plastic
Monte
The grey parts are made out of metal
joe
I sold my stud finder
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bosch-Digital-Wall-Scanner-GMS120/202850662
for 25 dollars when I bought it for 80 at HD…That thing is crap….I could not return it because I didn’t use it for a while…when I did, it was too late to return.
I’m surpriced there is not a recall for such item.
Had better acuracy using ear sonar lol (knocking on wall) or a magnet than with this thing to find studs…
Just not good etiquette to jump on any of their items imo.
360 lumnes sound too good to be true at 6hrs run time to me.
John S
I will agree that that is by no means a great stud finder, but I wouldn’t write of Bosch tools just because of that experience. They make several top notch tools (572 jigsaw, axial glide miter saw, ROS65 sander, the new impact driver/wrench combo)
joe
That maybe so…but how do I get my money back and why do others keep buying this item when is poop and you know it is?
Is like watching somone buy a defected item and not complain but rather tell them….yes, spend your 80 dollars but they make other great tools.
That is not acceptable in my book….I even felt bad selling it for 25 dollars….The guy asked me “does it work good” I kind of felt bad to lie to him and say yes…i’m pretty sure he is now regretting speding 25 bucks on it while i spent 80 on it…this thing should be taken off the market ASAP! Goes to show their “intentions”…
Reflector
It just appeared on the US Bosch website. Ironically this is after I imported the GST 10.8 and GRO 10.8 tools…
Now to hope for a PS42.
Reflector
Sorry, forgot to list the model: It should be the FL12.
Johnny
Hurry up with the portable vacuum already. I have been waiting and waiting for this. Nothing is more annoying when finishing a job than have to drag out my giant show vac to clean a small mess. I’d probably pick up the battery powered rototool right away when it launches in Canada.
victor serpa
Is bosch ever going to introduce their top of the line drill {HDH181-01} the “BRUTE” in “brushless” form. I know a few of their “reps” and prior to leaving some home depot stores {milwaukee – bigger contract} they seemed to information-wise to be cut-off from corporate……….THX………victor.