Norman and Matt wrote in recently – thank you both!! – with tips that new Bosch 12V Max cordless power tools have popped up on Amazon. Some are available for preorder, others are immediately available.
Here’s the deal: two of those tools are coming to North America. The others seem to be international versions. Buying an international tool from a USA reseller, or a seller willing to ship to the USA, can be risky. We talked about this recently.
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Coming June 1st, 2018
The shipping ETA is subject to change.
Bosch 12V Max Cordless Planer, previewed here (shown above)
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Bosch 12V Max Cordless Trim Router, previewed here
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New Batteries
While I had already known about the planer and router coming to the USA, Matt showed me something I was unaware of – listings for new 12V Max battery packs.
They’re priced higher than current 2.0Ah and 4.0Ah battery packs, but reasonably so. Compared to the 4.0Ah battery pack, the 6.0Ah ($89) is priced ~29% higher for 50% greater capacity, and compared to the 2.0Ah compact battery, the 3.0Ah compact battery is priced ~51% higher for 50% greater capacity.
Umm… Resold Tools?
There are several tools that don’t look to be USA or North American releases. My guess is that resellers bought a bunch of the tools from overseas and are selling the tools here. Some might simply be drop-shipping the tools.
Some of the listings are Fulfilled by Amazon, meaning there’s local inventory. But the others – there’s no telling if they actually have the tools in-hand or not. In theory, the seller could order the tools directly to your house.
I don’t think that any of these tools are slated for USA release, at least not in the immediate future. If they were, then 1) they would be sold by Amazon.com directly, and 2) their prices wouldn’t be so inflated.
For example, the visual IR thermometer is EUR 293 via Amazon.de. After the removal of ~16% VAT, adding shipping, and currency conversion, it comes out to $328, shipped. Compare that to a $438 3rd party Amazon.com listing.
As if the pricing wasn’t a good enough clue, Bosch has not used 10.8V branding here in the USA, at least not for a very long time. The temperature range is only described in Celsius, a comma is used in place of a decimal point, and in the product description it says “colour.” New Bosch listings are often properly regionalized, and not simply copy-pasted from existing overseas listings.
You can still order these tools from Amazon.com 3rd party sellers, but you will often save more money ordering directly from Amazon.uk or Amazon.de, where possible. I can’t tell you which is better; will you get better customer service from Amazon overseas, or a reseller here? There’s always a risk when you buy tools not officially released here, and I simply don’t know if ordering via an Amazon.com reseller will lower that risk at all.
Long story short, the new Bosch 12V Max brushless planer and edge router are both being released in the USA, and you can place your order for them now if you’d like. Right now, they’re only listed as bare tool versions. There are other listings of Bosch 12V Max tools released in Europe, and that’s a whole other topic I recently discussed separately.
Thanks to Matt and Norman for the heads-up!
Nathan
The battery thing is the niftiest part.
Jim Felt
I love searching out the odd 12v Bosch tool in Europe and Asia. eBay for Asia and AmazonUK for, well, the UK. Never had a problem.
That said I’m buying these for my “hobby” use. Not for work where I want a US warrantee. Which Bosch provides with great speed and so far competence.
So far my only goofy observation is the Amazon algorithm allows me to answer U.K. based questions and I sometimes have to say/think I’ve no idea because I’m over here. Not in the U.K.
alex
Great!! But I would love the 12v green laser (Gcl250cg 12 V) to be released on this side of the pound before investing in this system. Only reason why I’m still keeping my Dewalt 12v batteries…
David
I have been thinking about going to the Bosch 12 Volt as DeWalt has drop the 12 volt ball. Also i found that Mastercraft at Menards has some of these as re branded tools. one I found was the shear. i am curious to weather the batteries are cross compatible.
David
Correction Masterforce.
Joe
Love Bosch 12v Tools, i have m12 also but prefer Bosch….no problems yet with amazon.uk…for me….
Mark
Question: Are the batteries, and/or the chargers interchangeable w/Milwaukee 12v Max?
Corey
Almost certainly not
Chris
Darn no mini chainsaw 🙁
Wayne Gribble
I live in medellin colombia..these tools are everywhere..they are CHINESE JUNK..
BEWARE!!!
Stuart
I don’t think I had ever heard anyone call Bosch cordless power tools “junk” before.
fred
Maybe Wayne can be more specific?
Are they experiencing a lot of early failures? Or are folks just seing their limited abilities?
I can see that both a small router and small planer would not be fit for all uses. I might see the router being used in inlay work or hobbyist trimming – maybe for the luthiers out there.
Planing a batch of shutters or those damnable bi-fold doors – might be just the task for the small planer – but it might choke on thick oak or purpleheart doors.
Roger
They’re a little to late. I’ve made up my mind to move away from Bosch. They had the advantage 3 years ago in compact 12V and didn’t take it.
alex
By the way, according to another site. Bosch is releasing their track saw in north america !!!
David Zeller
Are you allowed to name other sites here? Sometimes I just need a… a… fix… when toolguyd is going through a slow spell. I have withdrawals. I’ve never found a good supplement to this site that didn’t stop posting years ago.
Thanks,
David
alex
It was announced at JLC Live 2018. You can find pictures on instagram 🙂
Stuart
Usually, yes, with only a few exceptions.
In a pinch, you can always start up a conversation on the forum – https://discuss.toolguyd.com/. =)
Julian
I’ve converted a bunch of Mikwaukee 12v tools to use my Bosch batteries. You have to trim off about 3/8” from the Milwaukee battery compartment and open up the tool and reverse the polarity and slight tweak the contacts together. Have been doing so for years and have converted:
– M12 radio
– M12 halogen flashlight
– M12 power supply
– M12 jacket battery holder
– M12 soldering gun
– M12 hacksaw
– M12 LED flashlight
Not for the faint of heart, but the resulting lack of warranty doesn’t really concern me.
Julian
I’ve had Bosch 12v tools from
The very start and would’ve dumped the system if not for the very best little system led carabiner light they make. Other than that light, the drills and impacts have stupidly fat grips with no belt clips, the power of them isn’t great, the early batteries were total crap, lost quite a few who knows why, and have had countless of them both 10.8 labeled and 12max labeled have their battery retaining clips break off. Not too mention the chargervtajes like 40-50min to charge the battery!
But that light is simply the best designed wotklight I’ve used. It puts to shame Dewalt’s reduculous flex-head 20v max light and is almost as bright as the Makita large-style work light.
I’ve recently bought the flexiclick system and though handy, it’s got a few major fails too: the drill chuck is near useless – can barely tighten a drill bit tight enough as the ribs are too smooth and the plastic is too slippery. But more important is that the click-lock feature is not very secure. Can’t tell how many times I’ve had one of the chucks simply fall off because it had inadvertently been unlatched. Definitely needs a more positive system.
Patrick Ellis
I picked up the Flexiclick system months ago and like it but also experience the attached head loosening and coming of from time to time… no problem with the drill chuck though. Overall, a nice little tool with small imperfections that need addressing. I gave up on DeWalt’s 12 volt after years of neglect and now use a combination of Bosch and Milwaukee for 12 volt tools
Julian
Stuart – why is there no way to edit posts? Feel like an idiot due to typos that cannot be fixed…
Stuart
Because our software doesn’t natively support that functionality, and the plugins I’ve seen are not secure.
I can’t give you the ability to edit posts without switching to a 3rd party system, and that would have it’s own issues, such as cross-site tracking.
I can sometimes fix typos if they’re pointed out.