Bosch BAT181 BlueCore, All 18-volt nicads are..

Overall Rating1.671.671.671.671.67

All 18-volt nicads are shortlived…but at least this is a good price.

I’ve had 8 or 9 of these batteries in the last few years. Expect to get about 2 years at most of good power than cells start to die. Used to be that the Bosch ones were always about 80 bucks and it was better to have them rebuilt at a battery shop for about 50 bucks…now Amazon’s got them new for about the same price. Great!

The Blue core is only slightly better. Not much. Just more insulation. The cells overheat and die and voltage drops off per cell (about 1.5 each). Check with voltage tester….you’ll see older batteries even after recharging will be quite a bit less than new ones. (around 19 volts for new)
Rules, Don’t overwork the batteries, when power starts to full off recharge and replace with new immediately. Don’t run ‘em down. Heat kills ‘em. Keep charged batteries always nearby. I love the tools esp. the jig saw and planer and skill saw. I find the Dewalt tools also good and their batteries seem slightly more powerful but my Bosch never fail…but the batteries aren’t so good buy I think that’s with all 18 volts. The old Makita 9 volts lasted longer by far. Bigger means less longevity. (Lithion-ion has some problems in cold on my little bosch 10.8 tools)

finally a price about what it should be…

Update (5/18/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Bosch BAT181 BlueCore 18-Volt 2-2/5-Amp Hour NiCad Pod Style Battery Tools & Hardware, was written by datadave.

The average rating for this item is 1.7 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.

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Reviews (3)

J. Hill

March 5th, 2010 at 9:37 pm    


Overall Rating11111

Great Product but AMAZON is WAY overpriced on this
Hi,

I regret I purchased this last week from Amazon. It is available for 20% less from other online retailers. I am surprised because Amazon is usually competitively priced.


datadave

April 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 am    


Overall Rating33333

All 18-volt nicads are shortlived…but at least this is a good price.
Rated 3 stars.


Krylos

April 3rd, 2010 at 6:44 am    


Overall Rating11111

German engineered and Chinese built? Lacks quality.
I have been entirely disappointed with the battery performance of my Bosch combo set from day one. They indeed should issue a retrofit for these tools if only just to save their reputation!! if they even care, which I think they don’t, because they issued lithiums only in an incompatible footprint which makes NO SENSE. I won’t buy the new Bosch combo set just for the lithium. So I am debating now whether to just trash the whole Bosch combo and get a Ryobi combo with the Lithiums, or spend almost the same money to replace 2 lackluster batteries with Blue Core lackluster batteries and of course my 1-hr charger just died after only 4 years and the radio charger is too bulky to carry with me most of the time.

The most ironic part? My old 9.6V Ryobi has been handed down and still working fine with the original battery after 8 years! My new 12v Ryobi Drill (not a combo set) batteries sucked, but my GF got me a set of 18v with another charger on sale for christmas ‘08 (like $55) and I carved up those puppies to make them compatible with my 12v Drill and a 12v flashlight (which I got for free laying around in a junk yard. ha!) and those tools work great now!! No problems at all with the upgraded power supply, just MORE POWER and longer life!!
Also I have inherited (literally) a 15 year old DeWalt 12v Drill…charger still works, 1 of the 2 batteries still going strong!!

Long-story-short, some companies know how to make batteries and some don’t. Sorry to say, Bosch doesn’t have a clue about batteries or the needs of the customer for Lithium replacements. I have to recommend, Don’t waste your time with these guys at all.


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