Bosch AdvancedImpact 18 Cordless Drill Review

As a self-builder, renovator or home improver, if you own only one cordless tool, it should almost certainly be a cordless drill. Available in multiple configurations, most cordless drills not only drill holes of various sizes but have a clutch that helps to quickly drive screws too without damaging the material surface. 

Here we review the Bosch AdvancedImpact 18 Cordless Drill.

(MORE: Best Cordless Drills)

What's Included When You Buy the Bosch AdvancedImpact 18?

Thanks to its brushless motor, the Bosch AdvancedImpact 18 is a lightweight, compact cordless drill and impact driver that feels comfortable and well-balanced in the hand.

It comes with an 18V 2.5 Ah battery, a charger, and a carrying case. Supporting interchangeable chucks, it is supplied with a drill chuck capable of using drill bits from 1.5mm to 13mm in size, a screw holder with a magnetic cap, and a single 25mm PZ2 bit. There are also two other chucks available as accessories or in different kit combinations; an off-set angle adapter and an angle screw adapter.

• 22/36 Nm torque 
• 18V, 2.5 Ah Lithium-Ion battery 
• No-load speed: 0 – 450/1500 rpm 
• Maximum Impact rate: 22500bpm 
• Drill chuck: 13 mm keyless chuck 
• Weight (with battery): 1.1kg 
• Screw diameter: 10mm 
• Drilling diameter in steel: 13mm 
• Drilling diameter in wood: 35mm 
• Drilling diameter in masonry: 11mm 

Modes and Speeds

Selecting screw-driving, drilling, or impact modes is achieved by shifting the adjustment ring from one clear icon to another. For both drilling and impact drilling, the manual suggests moving the torque presetting ring to MAX, with 20 individual torque settings reserved for screw-driving. For larger drilling diameters, it’s best to use the screw-driving mode to keep in the low-speed range.

It’s only a minor issue, but it’s easy to catch your thumb on the hard, plastic sides of the mode adjustment ring. Rounding these edges slightly would have been an easy design choice to avoid this.

Forward and reverse are easily selected by pushing down an electronic switch on either side of the drill body. This is easy to do with your thumb while holding the drill whether you are right or left-handed, and LED arrows on the top show which direction is selected. After 30 seconds of inactivity, it also automatically resets to forward direction.

Additional Features

A light press on the trigger will illuminate an LED on the front of the drill and show the battery charge status. The LED light stays on whilst in use and for a brief time afterwards. An indicator on the battery itself would have been better.

Removing the drill chuck reveals the tool holder that take industry-standard 1/4” bits. The screw holder with magnetic cap can be fitted over the tool holder, and although there is a lot of wobble, it doesn’t seem to affect operation.

Pop a screw on to the bit in the tool holder, and the magnetic cap will hold it in position regardless of the angle of the drill. The screw holder works well and moves back as the screw head enters the workpiece, allowing use with a counterbore of at least 5mm depth with standard 25mm bits. This is a great feature that isn’t common on the competitor’s offerings.

How Did the Bosch AdvancedImpact 18 Perform in our Tests?

Test Procedure

• Drilling in steel and aluminium 
• Drilling in woods of various densities 
• Drilling in masonry comprising standard bricks, high and low-density blocks, concrete, and engineering bricks 
• Driving screws of various diameters and lengths into woods of various densities 
• Various tasks around the home and in the workshop including building outdoor planters, assembling furniture, and putting up shelving 

Drilling into steel, wood, and masonry at the specified diameters posed no problems when the correct drill bits were used. On masonry, drilling into standard bricks and low and high-density blocks with multi-material drill bits worked well, but you would probably want to move up to a hammer or SDS drill for harder materials such as engineering bricks. Runout was barely noticeable.

The battery supplied is compatible with all products within the green Bosch Home and Garden 18V system and Bosch unlimited vacuum cleaners. Although at 2.5Ah it has a lesser capacity than most, the smaller size and lower weight suits the drill. A full charge is easily achieved within 60 minutes, with 80% in around 40 minutes.