Professional Tool Reviews for Pros
The Bosch 18V Flexiclick Drill/Driver (the Chameleon) presents a big dilemma for those Pros that are heavily invested in or partial to a different platform. With the recent addition of the SDS-Plus attachment, the Bosch GSR18V-535FCB15 doesn’t just excel at cabinetry, casework, and all other tight-spot drilling and driving, but also at light masonry tasks, too. Here’s a closer look.
The standard Bosch 18V Flexiclick Drill/Driver kit (GSR18V-535FCB15) boasts four ways to drill or drive with its 1/4-inch hex bit holder (on the bare tool). It also includes three attachments.
As you might expect from Bosch, the attachment points use a heavy-duty metal design that creates a tight fit. Fit the attachment to the drill and with a slight turn, they’ll stay until you remove them. Also, the Bosch 18V Chameleon FlexiClick puts out 535 in-lbs of torque. That puts it in the compact 18V class and gives this tool enough power for its varied drill+driver duties.
The right angle drill attachment locks into any of 16 different positions to get the angle of attack you need. We used it to drill out recessed screw holes in cabinetry. The right angle drill head let us position the tool perfectly square to the attachment point for our hinge. It gave us more room to apply the proper amount of guidance and pressure to the tool. Given the space requirements, even a smaller 12V drill would have been unable to fit the space.
We did notice another change from the smaller 12V version. You can no longer put other attachments on top of the right angle head. Bosch made the 18V Flexiclick “nonstackable”.
Like the right angle drill attachment, you get the same 16-point rotation to help you get exactly the position needed to drive a fastener. Most will use the extreme left, right, or top positions to extend the bit to its furthest possible point. Still, options help—and you never know where you may need to place the tool to reach a stubborn fastener.
For us, the right angle and offset attachments really make the Bosch 18V Flexiclick Drill/Driver shine. For cabinetry, casework, between studs, up against a wall/ceiling/floor—these two attachments solve the headaches of real-world drilling and driving. It’s an elegant solution to have them combined in the Flexiclick.
The metal keyless chuck attachment turns the Bosch 18V chameleon driver into a standard two-speed drill.
The Bosch 18V Flexiclick SDS-Plus attachment for light masonry is the newest option. It’s sold separately as an option. After seeing its performance, we highly recommend it if you need to drill masonry.
Quite often a custom cabinetry job requires a 9- or 12-inch box when the room won’t accommodate a full-sized one. This happened with a recent job. Here’s where the Bosch Flexiclick Drill/Driver strutted its stuff. We wanted this narrower cabinet to draw tight against its neighbor. We also needed to hit the stud behind it.
By pre-drilling the back from behind, we can then used the offset attachment to drive a screw square to the back of the cabinet from inside. With a standard driver, the screw head would inevitably stick out slightly because of the angle. However, using the right angle attachment, we could both drill and drive the screws needed to secure the cabinet to its neighbor.
With these attachments, this powerful 18V drill effectively worked better than a smaller 12V drill!
The SDS-Plus attachment is just icing on the Bosch Flexiclick Drill/Driver cake. We no longer need an additional tool if we want to secure our cabinetry to a masonry wall. Of course, the utility of the attachment is much greater than that.
Reviewer’s note: put the Bosch Flexiclick Drill/Driver in speed 2 for best results with the SDS-Plus attachment.
When you work with concrete and masonry, you tend to encounter dust. The Bosch Chameleon also works with the HDC200 dust collection hood for OSHA-approved silica dust control on the job site.
The Bosch 18V FlexiClick integrates Kickback Control into the system. It’s a sensor that stops the motor if it senses a bind up to reduce the chances you’ll wrench your wrist or elbow.
You can also add a Bosch GCY42 Connectivity Module to the drill. After downloading the Bosch Toolbox App, you will have access to getting tool feedback and customizing your settings. There’s no word yet how much control you’ll have over the tool, but Bosch seems to keep expanding functionality in this area. Learn more about that here.
‘From our experience, we did notice one small potential issue when using the Flexiclick on a ladder. It might not even apply to your work, but it does if you work at height. Normally, we may have two or even three drill/drivers slung on our belt with different attachments. While holding the ladder with one hand, we can grab another tool. You can’t really do this with the Bosch Flexiclick drill/driver. You need two hands to change attachments. That means letting go of the ladder—which is, of course, unsafe.
Aside from this, the Flexiclick with the new SDS-Plus attachment is brilliant through and through!
It’s difficult to make comparisons with the competition for a league-of-its-own tool like the Bosch Flexiclick Drill/Driver (model GSR18V-535FCB15). You can pick it up without the $99 SDS-Plus attachment (model GFA18-H) for $299.
The only direct competition for the Bosch 18V FlexiClick is its 12V compact brother ($199) and Festool’s PDC 18/4 or T 18+3. Both Festool sets will set you back $660 to get a kit with two batteries and the full range of attachments.
For its quality and capabilities, we think Bosch priced this tool right in the sweet spot.
The Bosch Chameleon Flexiclick Drill/Driver offers a convenient, money- and space-saving tool combination. Even better, it succeeds in tight places and tough angles where other drills and driver systems will fail. For cabinetry, casework, framing—and now light masonry with the new SDS-Plus attachment—you’ll be able to do better work with it at a lower cost than assembling dedicated tools. We find that hard to beat.
Luis De León and Rita DeLioni started Quality Management and Building Services (QMBS) in 2000. Today, QMBS offers a wide range of services including custom construction, historic restoration, remodeling, maintenance, and landscaping.
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Not sure why in NA they right-angle attachment has a jacobs chuck affixed to it, instead of a socket to mount another chuck like the 12v flexiclick. Its worth noting that the Euro version of this drill comes with the socket-right-angle chuck and not this one. So much more useful. Do yourself a favor and order the euro right-angle chuck online if you get this drill.
I have the 12v FlexiClick & I love it. It’s my go-to tool of choice, unless it just doesn’t have the ooomph to do the job. I was looking at the recently released brushless model, but then thought maybe the 18v would be a good investment instead. However, since I have Dewalt 20v tools already, no Bosch 18v, I don’t think I can really justify it. What I’d really like is an impact driver option for the 12v – I think that would be awesome – any thoughts on that?
Bummer, no C18 (Festool) style body. Also a bummer, the right angle chuck wasn’t designed like the 12V chucks — stackable. Far more useful than an SDS option (at least to me). Nice price though.
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Professional Tool Reviews for Pros