Home > Consumer Reviews > Bosch PB10-CD Advanced Power Job Site Radio with CD Player and Remote Control

I got my Bosch Power Box the other day after ordering from amazon.com. I had read the reviews about the radio reception being poor & I figured they were exaggerating, but it's terrible! I can only get 2 FM stations in clearly & everything else is either all static or not much more than that! Its CD player works well & the sound quality is ok but not great. You have to have the power box plugged in even to charge your cell phone. Bought a bosch 24v platinum battery for it ( over $130.00! ) & it only works for about 8 hours before going stone dead. Lastly, the darn thing is heavier than a box of tools! With all that weight behind it & a price tag way bigger than Milwaulkee & Dewalt ( actually, you can buy both of them for the price of the Bosch!!!) you'd think they could make a better performing unit! Why did I keep it? It's the only one with a CD player...THAT'S IT!!!! Don't buy it unless you want a jobsite radio witha built in CD player!!!

I was glad to finally get ahold of a work site radio that is sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of... well.. a work site.
This one does it. However, the quality of the sound emanating from those small speakers keeps this piece of equipment from being a good buy. I would gladly pay a little more for better sound.

This review is for the newest model with the hard rubber antenna and remote control. I've read the horrible reviews for the older models with the bad reception being the biggest complaint, and I'm happy to say that I don't think the reception is any worse(or any better) than other brands' jobsite radios. That being said, there's not much I like about this radio after using it for several months now. Although it has some great features like the 4-way gfci outlet and the 12v receptacle, and it does seem to be sturdy and well built for jobsite abuse.

But I have major complaints about this radio. First of all, it doesn't work in cold weather. Plug it in and it will light up, but you can't get any functions working unless the weather is somewhat mild(at least above 45 degrees). Being an electrician, I don't always have the luxury of working indoors in the winter.

And you can't rely on it for being your main battery charger. A pretty dead battery will take over 3 hours to charge. That doesn't seem like a long time until you realise that's almost half of the work day.

I can't complain about the sound quality because it really does sound great. Plus you can play around with the equilizer settings to find the sound you're looking for. However, I will complain about the volume level. The fact that you can't turn it up very high at all is the biggest problem I have with this radio. You literally can't hear it unless you're working right near it. To me that alone makes this useless as a "jobsite" radio. I'm sure it would be great in an office or something. Any radio that costs 1/10 of this could be turned up 10 times as loud. I'm assuming that Bosch doesn't want you to blow the speakers, but we should at least have a choice to turn the music up loud. Seriously, I can't believe none of the other reviews mentioned this incredibly annoying problem.

Maybe it deserves more than 1 star but I bought this to listen to the radio at work and to charge my batteries. The max volume is EXTREMELY low, and the battery charger is EXTREMELY slow.

**UPDATE**

Sorry for such a bad review on the sound. The equalizer was on the custom setting and all of them were down very low. It took me a little while to realize, but once I took care of this the problem was solved. It's still a lousy battery charger and won't work in the cold, so I can't give it more than three stars.

First of all any btty that last's 8hrs on a charge is great. Reception is not the best but for a jobsite radio its fine. To compare it to Milwaukee is not fair as thiers isnt even a charger. Sound is by far the best of all three.

****FINAL UPDATE

I finally quit trying to believe there was anything redeeming about this radio. The FM tuner reception, even with the new antenna fix, is quite simply so bad that it ruins the radio. I was lucky if I could tune in one station clearly at any given site.

ONLY BUY THIS UNIT IF YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT FM RECEPTION.

After letting my Powerbox sit unused for several months, I called Bosch and asked for a refund. It took some doing, but they agreed to take the radio back and refund my money. They acknowledged its problems; they know it is a piece of junk. To Bosch's credit, they did take it back. Maybe they'll come out with a new design some day and get it right.

****UPDATE

This is the second time I've updated my review. I've had my power box for months, and I've had the improved unit with the added wire antenna (see below) for over a month.

The FM radio reception on this unit is simply horrible. In my opinion, the wire antenna Bosch has added does nothing to improve reception, and even seems to make it worse in some cases. Adding the wire antenna was simply slapping a band-aid on a serious problem. It didn't work, and I'd like my money back. Do not buy this unit if you want to listen to FM radio with it.

****UPDATE (original review below):

Bosch finally acknowledged the FM reception problem with these Power Boxes and is willing to replace them. They added an external antenna at the rear of the cicular, silver Bosch handle on the top of the unit.

The antenna consists of a thin wire that is about one foot long. At one end of the wire there is a threaded connector that screws onto a small connector that Bosch has added at the back of the connector. At the other end there is a velcro strap that you can use to attact that end of the wire to something to keep the wire extended.

Of course, there usually isn't anything to attach that wire to, and I find it only modestly improves the Power Box's reception. I would have much rather seen a "rubber whip" style antenna.

If you have the old Power Box, you can call Bosch and they will send you a new one with the antenna. You then send yours back to them in the box the new one was sent in. They take your credit card number for security (in case you don't send them the old Power Box). Bosch pays for all shipping, and they even sent me a free gift separately for my trouble (a case of drill driver bits).****


I've owned my Power Box for a couple of months now. I read the other reviews and my comments relate to them.

I don't think this radio is too heavy or too big. I would have never thought of that as a possible compaint.

I have been wondering about the FM reception. I get many stations fine, but the PBS station, which is usually the easiest to get, is hard to get on the Power Box. But AM reception seems surprisingly good.

The one thing I really wish this thing had is a headphone jack. I have a small radio transmitter that I use at sites to transmit to my Peltor Alert hearing protection AM/FM headphones (I put them on when I'm using power equipment). I'd really like to be able to transmit whatever I'm listening to or playing to my headphones, but I can't with no jack. But, I'm sure I'm about the only person out there with this complaint.

One thing I have noticed is that once I charge a battery pack, it goes dead within a day or two even if the radio is not on. I really don't understand why this is, but it has happened several times with a fairly new battery pack.

I think the sound is good. But I wouldn't expect amazing sound from a jobsite radio, and I listen mainly to talk programming.

So, in the end, I guess I don't know if I like my Power Box. I wouldn't return it tomorrow for what I paid for it. But I'd sure like to keep that option open.