Everybody has heard of a screw driver, be it one with a 'cross head' or a 'flat head', and even some with special heads for those special jobs, and for any one that has ever used a screw driver then you'll know that sometimes turning the little tool in the same direction over rand over again can sometimes become a little tedious, even leading to a blister or two.
Luckily though there is a great answer to this tedious repetitive motion and a brilliant way to take away the blister effect. This answer is in fact an electric, or more a battery powered screwdriver which takes the hassles, and blisters, out of the screw driving process.
And since the invention of the battery screw driver there have been many companies that have brought one onto the market, such as black and decker, draper, Dewalt and others, including the one that I own and have been using for quite some time now, with this particular driver being made by a company called Bosch, with the full name of this one being the Bosch IXO IV.

The first thing I noticed about this one when I first got it home was that it didn't come in the standard cardboard box, but before you friends of the earth start shouting about the plastic wrapping you now think this comes packed in, this tool actually came in a rather fine looking, and somewhat useful tin box, which housed more than just the driver.
In the tin to be exact, you should get...

* The tool itself
* The charging unit which doubles as a bit holder and a stand for the screwdriver
* An angled nozzle head, which is ideal or when you can't quite get the screwdriver into a space to screw in screw.
* A corner nozzle head, (or eccentric driver as its called?), for when the screw is a bit to close to an edge and the standard piece won't allow you to get at the screw head.
And a user manual which is in several different languages, so you'll have to find the one for you.

So what does it look like then?
It looks very much like a chunky little spud gun, (remember them? Those silly little guns that fired tiny pieces of potatoes out at the speed of a snail dragging itself up a steep hill).
It is lightweight, coming in at about 300 grams, so it's easy to use on lengthy periods, or until the battery dies that is.
The battery itself is a 3.6volt lithium ion one and can take up to5 hours to charge fully, but then, due to the fact it will never 'self- discharge', meaning that when the driver is not in use the charge in the battery stays exactly as it is, unlike many other batteries on the market these days.
The driver 'bit' holder is what they call a hexagonal shank, so that the bits don't move around inside it, and as it has a magnetic feature inside it the bits that you put into it stay in, even if you tip the unit upside down, which saves losing the bits in the most silliest of places.
It is made of a strong plastic body which is mainly green, although it does have a black soft grip handle for extra comfort. Then there's the easy to squeeze red trigger with an even easier to press red button slightly above the trigger that controls the rotation of the driver itself.
It has a trio of little stylish LED indicator light to let you know when the battery needs charging, or is just running low, which is positioned on the top rear of the tool and has a rather nice little symbol on it which you see more often in your car. And either side of this symbol light there is the directional light indicator arrows, forwards and reverse, with the arrow lighting up green depending on which way you're going.
Then there's one more light, which is house just under the front where the screwdriver 'bits' slot into, this lets you clearly see where the bit is in comparison with the screw head you want to drill, even in those darker corners.
The front is covered in a soft rubber cap which can be removed to fit one of the other 'heads'.
And it has an automatic spindle lock which helps when it comes to tightening or loosening screws.

Is there anything else about this driver..?
As a matter of fact you do get a few extra bits with this driver, in fact, what you do get with it is probably almost all you need to have when using it.
You get ten, yes ten little driver bits, from flat heads to cross heads and even hexagon bits too, which do come in handy with most of the flat packs you get these days coming with hexagon type screw heads.
But apart from the screw bits you also get a rather fine looking and very useful charging unit which doubles as a stand, which the ten bits actually fit into along the side. This charging unit, slash, stand is in a sort of triangle shape with a hole, or loop, in one end, where you place the front of the driver, and a double pin socket which is where you place the battery end to charge the driver up

Then, to make the storage even better, the tin that this comes in is designed in such a way that you can place the two detachable 'heads' in it with the driver on the top, plus a few extra bits as well.


How do I use this then..?
You simply charge it up, although it will work just as well on half a charge, then you select the 'bit' you need, depending on the screw head you using.
You then either place the screw on the work or place the screw onto the magnetised 'bit' and press the direction button which is on the side.
Then squeeze the trigger until the screw drives itself into what ever you want it to go into.

NOTE: be careful here as there is no torque control so it screws in at one speed, depending on how hard you squeeze the trigger, but if you're working on something delicate then do take care when coming to the final push.

If you want to unscrew a screw then press the directional button through the other way and do exactly the same as you would if you were screwing in. simple as that really, although if the screws are too tight, and a spray of WD40 just won't work, then the power of this driver may not be enough.

There's also the options of using the different attachment heads that come with this driver, the two heads I mentioned, and changing them is as easy as using the driver itself. You simply take off the rubber end of the tool, easily pulling it away from the screwing head. You should be then left with what looks like a hollow hexagon rod sticking out of the front. You then simply slot the chosen 'head' onto the 'rod', clicking it into place. And you're now ready to carry on screwing.
It's as simple as that really.

And the power of this little green thing..?
It's not the most powerful of tools on the market as it's only got a 3.6volt battery, and can go about 180rpm with no pressure on the bits, but it is ideal for many jobs around the home and beyond.

My Opinion...
For me, after getting a bit annoyed with all the blisters on the palms of my hands, (easy now), but more for speed so that I could get the screwing job done, I tend to go for power screw drivers, usually using a drill with the right bits in them. But after I'd used a cheaper version of this driver I was pretty impressed with how it worked so when it broke I decided to spend a bit more money and invested in this Bosch driver, and I'm pretty glad I did.

It feels nice and my hand, not to chunky and not too flimsy. You know what I mean, so that when I'm screwing something in I can keep a good strong grip on it, (stop it now!!).

It has a few nice little features, such as the forward and reverse option, with indicator to let you know which feature is activated. Then there's the grip itself which is a soft runner and is so comfortable that there's very little chance of getting a blister on my poor delicate hands. The magnetic grip in the 'bit' holder keeps a good hold on the bits and is in fact strong enough the magnetically grip some screws as well so that they are easier to screw into place.
And then there's spindle lock feature which comes in handy, especially if the battery suddenly dies on the last few turns of the last screw of the day, (we've all been there). So with the spindle lock you can use the screw driver as, well as a screwdriver due to the fact that the spindle is locked, so it won't turn when you manual turn the screw with the tool.

I particularly like the way that it charges up, sitting in the well designed charging stand, with the 'bits' stored at it's side along the edge. And the fact that the battery doesn't lose power even if it's been sat out of the charger, or not even on charge for a long while.
And the battery pack has what they call 'no memory effect' which means that it can be charged when ever you need to charge it instead of waiting for it to fully discharge once every second month with an 'R' in the second syllable

As for the price of this power driver from Bosch. This particular one sells for around £30, which is pretty good value for money, especially if you have to do a lot of screwing, (You're at it again aren't you...???)

IN all this entire driver is a good size, and with the ability to change heads it can get into most places so that no screw is out of reach.

NOTE:
This doesn't have a changeable torque setting, having a set torque of 4Nm, but you can get an attachment for this driver, which will give you more torque options, for about £10.00 to £15.00. This attachment fits onto the driver in exactly the same way as the attachment heads that came with this driver in the first place.

© Blissman70 2012