TESTED: Bosch GLF 18V cordless router

Review and photos: Raf Nathan

Let’s face it, corded tools are pretty well finished. New battery power allows cordless tools to cope with most building demands. The issue is that once you start with one brand of battery and charger you need to stay with it, as batteries are not interchangeable. However, you can buy adaptors that let you run compatible voltage batteries on different branded tools. I can’t vouch for them but at around $56 they will let you run, for example, Makita batteries in Bosch tools.

Which brings us to this Bosch 1/4" collet router based on the well known and respected ‘Colt’ trim routers. These were a simple but very popular tool that sold well. I’ve had two over the years.

This cordless tool has an 18 volt brushless motor and adequate power for pretty well all the work you will throw at it. There is a good deal of tech here with variable speed of 10–30,000rpm, soft start, an LED that lights the work area well, and drop detection that shuts the tool down if it hits the floor, meaning if it goes into freefall it will stop quickly.

The lower mounting dust shroud is excellent for catching dust when profile cutting.

The metal and plastic body all seem quite solid and very well detailed. The rise and fall is a simple but adequate rack and pinion style system. To raise the motor body, there’s a thumbwheel which locks with a knob.

It comes with a good kit of accessories, including a pressed steel fence and a robust flush trim guide for running edges without a bearing guided cutter.

Two dust shrouds are standard. One clips to the top of the base for cutting from above and does not work that well. The lower shroud is lightweight but excellent if you are routing edge profiles as it will catch nearly all the waste.

I trialled the router with a 16mm diameter straight cutter and ran a groove 4mm deep in a medium-hardwood. There was no problem with power to achieve multiple passes with this. There is a motor protect cut-out sensor, and I noticed on an Australian hardwood the motor would occasionally stop. Lowering the speed on the dial avoided this however and made sense as a large diameter cutter running at a full speed of 30,000rpm could see the actual cutting tips spinning at 40,000. The latter is way too fast for safety; dropping the speed makes it more efficient.

Showing the simple but effective rise and fall mechanism. The red button is the spring-loaded collet lock pin which enables one-handed cutter changes.

It does chug through the power though. On a small chamfer job I was surprised how quickly the battery dropped in reserve. The 4 amp battery used is a good size as a larger 8 amp battery would extend runtime but make it heavier. As a skin it is 1.5kg.

You will need two batteries for larger jobs. My estimate is about 10 minutes work time with a 4 amp battery but this depends on the size of the cutter and depth of cut. For some cutters dialling back the speed helps save the battery.

Noise levels are high, and given you may be leaning in towards the tool in use, keep your earmuffs on as my cheap noise meter registered more than 96db at the source. The clear base seems the only issue for me. While it is a good 5.5mm thick, it has a small footprint and you need to focus to keep it flat in use – plus it is not actually flat. All corners were ever so slightly high from the central area so it tended to drag a little.

I had an aftermarket base on hand which I drilled and fitted to the Bosch. This has a flat base, and importantly is larger, meaning there is plenty of base contact on a workpiece to make it more stable in use. This made the little router an absolute winner for most of my work.

With a different base, the tool became a different animal. Running the tool with the original base I noticed myself gripping it tight for support. With a stable base I was more relaxed. You won’t be able to use the lower dust shroud with a different base unless you modify it however.

It is not a low price for a power tool although the six-year warranty and overall quality certainly help. Cordless is king and a very well designed small router like the Bosch offers immense potential in all workshops. I liked it a lot.

First published in Australian Wood Review #125, September 2024

Raf Nathan @treeman777 is a Brisbane based woodworker and AWR contributor.