Bosch vs DeWalt cordless drill

Two brands with opposite rating philosophies. The fair fight is the hammer flagships: the Bosch GSB18V-1330CN PROFACTOR against the DeWalt DCD999B FlexVolt Advantage, two rows out of our 34-model sourced dataset, where each figure traces back to a manufacturer page or an independent test. Below that, the compact tier runs the same discipline: the GSB18V-800C against the DCD800B. And on both tiers the same wall appears: DeWalt rates these drills in UWO, Bosch in in-lbs, and the two units refuse to be ranked against each other.

The flagship head-to-head spec table

Neither row was retyped for this page; both come out of the dataset as recorded, units included exactly as each maker prints them. Why UWO and in-lbs cannot face each other is the subject of specs explained.

Weights are bare tool without battery. The 1330CN's 4.1 lb is Pro Tool Reviews' measured bare weight; Bosch's own spec sheet publishes 4.6 lb for the tool, and both figures are defensible depending on whether you trust the scale or the maker. Prices are the dataset's recorded figures; the band shows what fresh pulls found on build day. Check the linked sources before buying.

The unit wall, before anything else

Bosch rates the GSB18V-1330CN at 1330 in-lbs of torque, turning force measured at the chuck. DeWalt rates the DCD999B at 1219 UWO, unit watts out, an electrical power delivery figure. No honest translation exists between the two quantities, so the table above prints each as published and declines to order them. This is not a Bosch quirk or a DeWalt quirk; it is the same wall the DeWalt vs Milwaukee page hits from the other direction (the 2904's 1400 in-lbs against the DCD1007's 1530 UWO), and the Makita vs DeWalt page hits as well. Makita and Milwaukee publish in-lbs the way Bosch does, so the in-lbs ranking on the price comparison can hold the 1330CN but must exclude both DeWalt rows here. The full anatomy of the unit mess is on specs explained.

Bosch GSB18V-1330CN: what the specs say

1330 in-lbs, 0-550 / 0-2200 RPM, brushless BITURBO motor, hammer mode to 30000 bpm, KickBack Control, connected-ready. Sources: Bosch GSB18V-1330CN product page (1330 in-lbs, 0-550 / 0-2200 RPM, 30000 bpm, 4.6 lb published), Acme Tools bare listing, My Tool Store bare listing

The 1330CN is the torque flagship of Bosch's 18V PROFACTOR line, built around the BITURBO brushless drive train that is designed to pair with CORE18V high-power batteries. The published spec sheet carries the number this page leads with: 1330 in-lbs of max torque, the highest in-lbs figure in the dataset. It spins 0-550 in high-torque and 0-2200 in high-speed, two speeds against the DeWalt's three. KickBack Control is Bosch's bind-up protection, sensing a rotational torque reaction and shutting down; the 25-setting clutch and the Electronic Angle Detection feature round out the control story. The weight needs the honest footnote: Bosch publishes 4.6 lb bare, Pro Tool Reviews' scale says 4.1 lb bare, and this page carries the measured figure with the published one disclosed. Recorded at $249 bare in the dataset; the live band on this page's build-day pull ran $249 at Acme Tools to $265 at My Tool Store, so the recorded price sits at the bottom of what the market currently asks. Treat it as a figure to re-check, not gospel: see what Acme Tools charges today.

DeWalt DCD999B: what the specs say

1219 UWO, 0-450 / 0-1300 / 0-2000 RPM drill mode, 0-500 / 1500 / 2250 RPM hammer mode, 3.54 lb bare, brushless, 38250 bpm, 3-speed transmission. Sources: Farrell Equipment DCD999B bare listing, Toolmarts spec sheet (3.54 lb bare), DeWalt DCD999 manual (speed ranges)

The DCD999B is the FlexVolt Advantage hammer drill: a 20V MAX tool whose electronics recognize FlexVolt packs and pull up to 42 percent more power from them, per DeWalt's own claim, while staying compatible with every 20V MAX battery. Its power rating is 1219 UWO, watts out, not in-lbs, so it cannot enter the torque comparison this page otherwise runs. What it can enter: the RPM and hammer columns. Drill-mode top speed is 2000 RPM on the three-speed transmission (0-450 / 0-1300 / 0-2000); the 2250 figure that floats around listings is the hammer-mode maximum (0-500 / 1500 / 2250), and this page never quotes it as a drill speed. The 38250 bpm hammer rate leads the dataset, ahead of the Milwaukee 2904's 33000 and well ahead of the Bosch's 30000. At 3.54 lb bare it is visibly lighter than the 1330CN on either weight figure. Recorded at $239 in the dataset; on this page's build-day pull Farrell Equipment listed it at $249.99 online (regular $259), and a $399 outlier listing exists at the same retailer's sister page, which says more about stock churn than street price. Check current: Farrell Equipment DCD999B.

The compact pair: GSB18V-800C vs DCD800B

The same brand fight one tier down, and the same unit wall. The Bosch GSB18V-800C is rated 565 in-lbs, 0-630 / 0-2100 RPM, 2.7 lb bare, the lightest hammer drill in the dataset. The DeWalt DCD800B is rated 900 UWO, 0-650 / 0-2000 RPM, 2.82 lb bare. Neither figure ranks against the other. One disclosure this site owes on the DeWalt row: the 900 was mislabeled in-lbs in an earlier version of the dataset and corrected to UWO on 2026-10-16; DeWalt publishes 900 as the drill's power output and prints no in-lbs figure for the DCD800B anywhere in the US lineup. The EU-market manual for the sibling DCD805 lists 90 Nm hard torque (about 797 in-lbs), but that is a different model for a different market, and importing its number onto the US DCD800B row would be exactly the silent conversion this site refuses. A correction note on this scale is rare enough to disclose; the unit discipline behind it is explained on specs explained.

Both are bare-tool prices; batteries and chargers are extra. The 800C's hammer capability is the structural difference in this tier: the DCD800B is a drill/driver with no hammer function, so masonry work settles it before any spec row does. Full specs for both rows, sources attached per cell, are in the sortable comparison tool. The recorded price is what the dataset holds; the band line is the spread each listing showed when re-pulled on build day.

Bosch GSB18V-800C: what the specs say

565 in-lbs, 0-630 / 0-2100 RPM, 2.7 lb bare, brushless, hammer mode to 29500 bpm, KickBack Control, 20-setting clutch. Sources: Toolmarts GSB18V-800CN bare listing (full spec table), Lowe's bare listing, Tegs Tools bare listing

The 800C is the compact hammer drill for buyers who want Bosch's control features without the PROFACTOR bulk: KickBack Control, the Rapid Mode Selector that shifts between hammering, drilling and driving without touching the clutch, and a switchable precision clutch that stops the tool when the clutch slips. At 2.7 lb bare it is the lightest hammer drill in the dataset, and the 565 in-lbs is an honest in-lbs number that enters the torque-per-dollar ranking on the price comparison page. Recorded at $159, and the build-day pull found that exact number still live at one retailer with $179 at Lowe's, $189 at two others, and $259 at a fifth; the market is spread wide on this model. The recorded price is the floor of the current band, so verify before buying: check the current price at Lowe's.

DeWalt DCD800B: what the specs say

900 UWO power output, 0-650 / 0-2000 RPM, 2.82 lb bare, brushless, 15-position clutch, 3-mode LED to 70 lumens. Sources: AIH Alaska Industrial Hardware listing (full specs, 2.82 lb), Platt Electric Supply listing, Amazon DCD800B listing

The DCD800B is the 20V MAX XR compact drill/driver, the drill most DeWalt households actually own: 40 percent more unit watts out than the DCD791B it replaces, a two-speed transmission, and no hammer function. Its 900 rating is UWO, power output, and as the correction note above discloses, DeWalt publishes no in-lbs torque figure for it anywhere in the US lineup; this site prints the 900 as published and keeps the row out of in-lbs rankings. At 2.82 lb bare it is a tenth of a pound from the Bosch compact, and its $149 recorded price is the floor of a live band that runs to $159 at a full-price retailer, with a $99.99 clearance listing at Platt (3 in stock company-wide, which is what clearance means) and open-box units below that. The honest read is a drill selling at $149 to $159 when it is not on clearance. Check current: Amazon DCD800B listing.

Which one should you buy

• When torque numbers decide: the Bosch, on both tiers, for a boring reason: Bosch publishes in-lbs and DeWalt publishes UWO, and the only comparable torque figure on this page is the 1330CN's 1330 in-lbs, the highest in the dataset. That is a publishing-philosophy advantage, not a proven performance one; the DCD999B's 1219 UWO may out-drill it or may not, and nobody ranking the two numbers directly can tell you which.
• If masonry is regular work: the DCD999B at the top (38250 bpm against 30000), or, in the compact tier, the 800C, which is the only one of the two compacts with a hammer function at all.
• If weight decides: DeWalt at the top (3.54 lb against 4.1 lb measured), Bosch in the compact tier (2.7 against 2.82, a rounding difference).
• If price decides: DeWalt, marginally, at both tiers on recorded prices ($239 vs $249, $149 vs $159), with both Bosch rows sitting at the bottom of their live bands, which may not last.
• When there are DeWalt or Bosch packs in the garage already: stay on that brand, and this one is not close. A FlexVolt pack powers 60V DeWalt tools and boosts the DCD999B's output; a CORE18V pack is what the 1330CN's BITURBO drive train is designed around. Both ecosystems are deep, and for anyone two or more tools deep, the platform argument outweighs every spec row on this page.

The pair pages do not agree, and that is the point

Every brand pair in the dataset gets the same discipline and reaches a different verdict: DeWalt vs Milwaukee is the in-lbs vs UWO fight from the other side, Makita vs DeWalt hits the same wall, Milwaukee vs Makita is the rare clean in-lbs against in-lbs ranking, and Kobalt vs DeWalt covers the house-brand value case. The price comparison sorts all 34 models into tiers with a torque-per-dollar ranking (in-lbs models only, units honest), the flat comparison chart shows every model at once, and the home-use picks work through which of these tiers a household actually needs. What the units mean, and why this page refuses to convert them, is the subject of specs explained.