Bosch’s 18V DDB181 drill/driver is a strange cookie. It’s described as a basic-duty model, but its geometries also make it a super-compact model. So it’s lauded as being ultra-compact and basic-duty.
Ordinarily, the basic-duty part would bug me. This drill delivers up to 350 in-lbs of torque (more specs in my preview), which isn’t bad, but isn’t quite what a professional-quality 18V drill/driver should offer. This drill is still quite powerful, and certainly enough for many if not most light and medium-duty drilling and driving tasks. But from a comparative standpoint, 350 in-lbs is somewhat low for an 18V drill.
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The basic-duty part doesn’t really bug me about this drill because the ultra-compact properties stand out more. This really is as small and light of an 18V drill as Bosch’s marketing language boasts.
I’m working on a 2015 update to our Best Cordless Drills guide, and can tell you right now that the compactness of the DDB181 will probably place it as either “Best Compact 18V” or “Best Budget 18V” position. I’m still testing out a couple of other models, but nothing really comes close.
I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but I also think that the DDB181 is an excellent choice for women and younger users. The pistol grip handle is narrow and easier for smaller hands to grip.
Back to the point of this post – I just noticed that the DDB181 kit is back in stock on Amazon and priced at $99.
For $99, you get the 18V drill/driver, (2) 1.5Ah batteries, a charger, and kit bag. $99 is a great price for what you get, and in my opinion this pits the DDB181 kit in tight competition with Bosch’s aging PS31 12V drill/driver kit which is normally priced at $99 to $110.
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It’s difficult to predict whether this kit will remain in stock, at least at this price. It was $120-140 before the winter holiday season, and it looks like $120 is the regular MSRP price. What I’m thinking is that the price will jump back up once the holiday stock is completely sold out.
Gary T.
I got this drill when Lowes had it on sale for $99. It’s lighter and slightly smaller than my Milwaukee fuel 12V hammer/drill. It’s only slightly bigger and a little heavier than my Makita 12V drill. I think this drill would be a good alternative to get instead of going to a 12V drill and still have a lighter and smaller drill. Plus, if you did need a more powerful drill you could always get one of the other Bosch 18V drills and already have batteries and a charger.
Dmitriy
Amazon description said that kit comes with two of 2.0Ah Slimpack Batteries
Stuart
That description seems to be wrong. I have a DDb181 kit in-hand, and it came with 1.5Ah batteries. Others have reported the same.
Eric
Can you use the same battery charger to charge 1.5Ah batteries as you would use to charge 2.0Ah batteries?
Stuart
Absolutely, at least with Bosch and many other brands. There might be some brands’ batteries where this isn’t true.