Bosch Combo Kit – CLPK40-180 Review

We are excited to bring you a power tool review of the Bosch 18V Lithium combo kit.  For as much as we love Bosch power tools, this is only our second Bosch tool review.  Our first review was the Bosch Bulldog.  For this review the Bosch 18V Lithium model number is CLPK40-180.  There are a lot of power tool manufacturers on the market, there are a few good ones and even less professional grade tool manufacturers.  Bosch is one of the top professional grade power tool companies around.  While most companies will market to professionals as well as the home owner, Bosch tends to market a lot more to the professional. Most of their tools are designed for professionals that will use and abuse on an everyday occurrence.  When you look at their full line up of tools, you will understand what we mean by professional grade power tools.

Bosch Combo Kit CLPK40-180 Overview

This kit comes with four main power tools.  The Drill, Trim Saw, Reciprocating Saw and Flashlight.  So yes you can say three power tools and a light.  The kit also comes with a 30 minute charger and 2 FatPack batteries, which are the 2.6Ah batteries.  Some of the extras Bosch throws in are a Carbide circular saw blade, 2 reciprocating blades, bit holder, the side handle, Phillips bit and a very nice carrying case.  If you have been following us for a while, you know we always look at balance of a tool first.  Well this review is not different.  As we noted Bosch is designed for the professional and is designed to be used very hard all day long, so you better believe Bosch takes balance and the fatigue factor very seriously.  The first thing you will notice when you pick up the drill or either saw is how nice they feel in your hand.  These are so well balanced, they make some of the other power tools balance feel like a joke.  Now we know how an outlaw in the old west must have felt with a Smith and Wesson six shooter when they were spinning and firing their guns.

We are going to go into each power tool and a couple other items in greater detail in the following reviews, but we wanted to give you a quick overview.  The drill that comes in this package is powerful.  This is one of the drills that just feels right in your hand.  While the balance is great, it just feels solid in your hand, but without the normal weight of a drill you would expect.  This drill has fast speeds and great torque. In the up coming review you will learn just how fast and strong this drill is and how durable this is made.

The circular saw is awesome.  One of the best things is the size.  Bosch gave this a 6.5″ inch blade instead of a smaller blade that some of these other manufactures gravitated towards.  Believe it or not, the extra inch does make a huge difference.  The reciprocating saw is not different.  The compact design and low weight make this a great saw to own.  We could handle this very easily and it feels well built.  The stroke length is 1-1/8″ which is great for an 18V cordless.  One of the best features which we will cover in great detail during our Bosch reciprocating review is the Lock-Jaw, which makes changing and holding a blade one of the best on the markets.

Now the flashlight is nice, but if we had to pick on one thing it would be the light.  As some will love this style and it has many uses, some people might still like the other common style with a handle and finger switch.  Again we will get more into this for our review, but just something to note.  The last item is the contractor bag.  Up until this point we like the Makita contractor bag the best.  After seeing the Bosch bag, we are now torn.   Yes it is only a bag, but this is what protects your investment when the power tools are being stored.

Final Thoughts on the Bosch Combo Kit CLPK40-180

Before we even started this review, we were a little bias because we know and understand how well Bosch is built.  We understand who they are made for. While some companies are struggling to find a niche in the market place, Bosch knows who their customer is and what they do.  We are very excited about trying each of these tools and showing you them in action.  Overall for a four piece combo set, these are hard to beat, but stay tuned as we are going to go over each tool.