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Almost everything built in Singapore is reinforced concrete. Not timber frame, not brick cavity — concrete, with rebar in it, and often a lot of rebar. That single fact decides which drill you should own, and it is why the cheap impact drill that works fine overseas disappoints people here.

This is our honest guide to the Bosch rotary hammer range. The short version is that most people buy too much machine, and almost nobody buys enough dust control.

The one decision that matters: SDS-plus or SDS-max

Everything else is detail. SDS-plus is the 10mm shank system, and it covers roughly up to 30mm holes — anchors, rawl plugs, conduit, pipe hangers, cable tray brackets, false ceiling supports. That is the overwhelming majority of real work.

SDS-max is the 18mm shank system. It exists for 30mm and above, for core work, for heavy chiselling, and for all-day demolition. It is a bigger, heavier, more expensive machine and the bits cost more too.

If you are not sure which you need, you need SDS-plus. People who genuinely need SDS-max already know it, because they are getting through 40mm holes or breaking out slabs.

The SDS-plus ladder, corded

The GBH 220 is 720W, 22mm capacity, and it is the honest entry point for a renovation contractor or a maintenance team. Light enough to use overhead without wrecking your shoulders.

The GBH 2-24RE and GBH 2-24DRE step up to 790W. The DRE adds a safety clutch and reverse, which matters the first time a bit catches on rebar and the tool tries to twist out of your hands.

The GBH 2-26 and the three-mode GBH 2-26 DRE are the ones we sell most of, and for good reason. 800W, 26mm, and the 2-26 DRE's third mode lets you chisel as well as drill. If you want one corded hammer that handles nearly everything a Singapore fit-out throws at you, this is it.

The GBH 3-28DFR and GBH 4-32DFR are for people drilling a lot of larger holes but who still want SDS-plus bits. Both have a quick-change chuck, so the same machine takes a round-shank drill bit for steel and timber. Convenient on a job where you are not just drilling concrete.

Not a hammer, but worth naming here: the GSB 21-2RCT impact drill at 1300W. If your work is mostly steel and timber with occasional masonry, this is the right tool and a rotary hammer is the wrong one.

Cordless, and why it is now a reasonable choice

Five years ago we would have told you to stay corded for concrete. That is no longer true, and the practical reason is Singapore-specific: half the jobs here are in occupied buildings, lift lobbies, retail units and condo corridors where running a cable is a trip hazard and a permit conversation.

The GBH 185-LI and GBH 187-LI are the sensible 18V starting points, the 187-LI with the interchangeable chuck.

The GBH 18V-18X and GBH 18V-22X are the brushless step up, and the GBH 18V-28CF is genuinely close to corded performance. It is also the one that needs a high-capacity battery to deliver what it promises, so budget for that rather than being disappointed.

The one we point people at for occupied-building work is the GBH 18V-26 supplied with the GDE 18V-16 dust extractor. Cordless and dust-captured in one purchase, which is exactly the combination a condo management office wants to see.

Whatever you choose, you will want the GAL 18V-40 fast charger, or the GAL 12V-40 if you are on the 12V line.

SDS-max, for when you really do need it

The GBH 5-40D at 1100W is the lightest sensible SDS-max machine. The GBH 6-42C and GBH 8-45D are for sustained large-diameter work — anchor bolts for structural steel, large conduit penetrations, core pilots.

These are heavy. Before you buy one, be honest about how many large holes a month you actually drill. Hiring is cheaper than owning if the answer is single digits.

Breakers and demolition

Drilling and breaking are different jobs and a rotary hammer is a poor breaker.

The GSH 5 (SDS-max) and GSH 5 HX (17mm hex) are both 1100W, and the choice between them is simply which shank your existing chisels use. The GSH 5CE adds electronic speed control, which is worth having for tile and screed where full power just cracks what you are trying to keep.

The GSH 14C and GSH 16-30 at 1750W are floor-standing demolition machines for slab and wall removal.

One warning worth reading before you order: the GSH 500 MAX is a 110V machine. On a main contractor's site with 110V site transformers that is exactly what you want. In a 230V workshop or an HDB unit it is useless without a transformer. Check which supply you are working off before you buy, and ask us if you are not sure.

The part people skip: dust

In Singapore this is not an optional extra. Drilling in an occupied condo, a mall tenancy, a hospital or a school means somebody will stop you if the dust travels. It is also silica, and your lungs do not recover.

The GDE 24 clips onto the GBH and GSB series and captures dust at the hole. The GDE 18V-16 does the same integrated into the cordless hammers.

Behind that you want a vacuum rated for it. The GAS 12-25PL at 1250W is the workhorse with semi-automatic filter cleaning. The GAS 15 and GAS 15 PS are the compact 15-litre options for service work, and the GAS 18V-10L is cordless, which is the honest answer for a job where you are already running the hammer off batteries.

Measure and scan before you drill

The most expensive mistake on this page is not buying the wrong hammer. It is drilling into a live cable, a water pipe or a structural tendon. We wrote about the detectors and lasers in a separate guide to Bosch measuring tools — worth five minutes before you put a 26mm bit through a wall you have not scanned.

What we would tell you across the counter

For a renovation or M&E contractor doing fit-outs: a GBH 2-26 DRE, a GDE 24, and a GAS 12-25PL. That covers the work, keeps you compliant in occupied buildings, and costs less than one SDS-max machine.

For a service and maintenance team moving between sites: the GBH 18V-26 with GDE 18V-16, plus a second battery.

For demolition and structural work: SDS-max, and come in so we can let you hold the difference between the 5-40D and the 8-45D before you commit.

Keep it all in an L-BOXX and it stacks in the lorry.

Come and hold them

Weight and balance are the whole story with a hammer drill and no spec sheet conveys them. Both showrooms have the range out.

645 Geylang Road, Singapore 389575 — +65 6546 7446
2 Gambas Crescent #03-19, Nordcom Two, Singapore 757044 — +65 6255 3446

WhatsApp +65 8978 9808 with what you are drilling and how often, and we will tell you which one to stop looking at. Or browse the full Bosch range.