The same battery and charger set you get with this cordless drill will work in a range of cordless tools from trusted tool brands including Flymo and Gardena. It’s something I’d like to see more tool brands get involved with, in my opinion. One of the big power tool brands, especially in the UK, Bosch have a decent slice of the market with their two broad levels of equipment. Their “blue” professional tools and “green” DIY tools vary massively in their capabilities as well as cost. I think it’s fair to say that the PSB 1800 fits squarely in the green DIY camp. These clever Power for All batteries can push the business end of the drill to a maximum drilling speed of 1,350 rpm. It’s not class-leading but it’s fast enough for most jobs. In hammer mode, you get a maximum of 20,250 bpm, which is the slowest of all the combi drills I’ve tested and reviewed. The 38 Newton metres of torque it puts out isn’t beating any of the bigger name brands on the list either.

The overall feeling I got from this cordless drill is that it’s all a bit underwhelming. The design is unremarkable, and the grip isn’t the best. There are a couple of little features like the direction indicator that look good but don’t add to the performance. The drill isn’t very responsive, and the uninspiring drilling speed makes for slow work. If anything, the grip is a little on the small side. I’ve got large hands, and the bottom of my palm started rubbing on the battery release button surround almost immediately. I don’t know how comfortable this will be over time, and I don’t think it would be great to use with gloves on.When not in use, NiCd batteries lose 1% of their charge per day. After three and a half months, the battery is completely discharged, damaging the battery. It’s great that Bosch have included a charge level indicator on the base of this drill. It takes the guesswork out of knowing how much juice is left. It’s something that Ryobi could take on board. Right in front of the indicator is the LED work light. It’s reasonably powerful but turns off as soon as you let go of the trigger. You can, just about, run the light without turning the drill on as well, which is nice. There’s plenty of control when it comes to torque settings on this cordless drill. Bosch have called it ScrewControl, but it’s the same principle. You get 20 different settings that control how much power you can put into a screw, to help save the surface of delicate materials you’re working on. If you’ve used Bosch tools before, you’ll know they come in two different levels. There are the blue Professional-level tools and the green DIY tools. The PSB 1800 fits into the DIY level, which means it’s a capable drill but not designed for heavy everyday use.

UK Top Tool Battery Store> Power Tool Batteries> Replacement Batteries for Bosch Cordless Tool> Bosch PSB 1800 LI-2 Battery Replacement Battery for Bosch PSB 1800 LI-2The Bosch PSB 1800 LI-2 runs on a Bosch 18v PowerForAll lithium-ion battery, meaning it shares battery compatibility not only with other Bosch 18v Home & Garden (Green) cordless tools, but also with other tools from other manufacturers who have recently become part of the Power For All 18v Alliance, including Gardena, Wagner and Rapid. Ni-Cad batteries cannot be fully discharged (voltage below 1 V per cell). This damages the battery.