Bosch Power Box Jobsite Radio/Charger Gets Put To the Test

The Bosch Power Box has been filling job sites across the country with great sound. We wanted to see if this AM/FM Radio, Charger, Digital Media Stereo with 360° Sound could meet the rigorous demands of Acme Tools. Bowling to Boom Lifts, let us see how it holds up.

Bowling With Bosch

The PBA is made up of the best bowlers in the world. We first evaluated the Bosch Power Box by bowling it into some blow-up pins, and as expected, it held up simply fine. There were some minor scratches on the roll cage, but this test did nothing to stop the great sound of the Bosch radio. Power Box Annihilation will have to come uniquely.

With Rahn still believing he could put the Bosch Power Box out of commission with one of his deadly draw shots, we decided to ramp it up a little bit and set up the cinder block pins.

The cinder blocks were no match for the Bosch Power Box. It took everything we could throw at it and kept playing just as straightforwardly as it did when we first started.

Bosch Drop Test

Knowing we could not bowl our way to submission, we decided to look back at what others have done to this radio. Many have dropped it off ladders, thrown it downstairs, and kicked it off moving vehicles, but nobody has given it a two-story drop test. We decided to have some fun instead of dropping it off a two-story building, so we brought a JLG X600AJ 60′ compact boom lift into the mix.

After the 20′ drop, the radio shed some extra plastic, and the battery fell out of its holder, but after reinstalling the battery, it kept on playing. We were impressed at how challenging this radio was. We had to keep trying to knock it out while it was still playing. Next stop, 40.

40′ did not knock it out, but it did cause it to lose quite a bit more weight. The roll cage to the radio was crushed, the AM/FM radio antenna was lying on the ground, and the front control panel was intact. Still, you could see the electrical connections holding it in place, and again the battery popped out, which we are starting to think that Bosch designed it this way on purpose. After reinstalling the battery, the unit worked, but it only worked on Bluetooth.

Final Thoughts

You may think that bowling with the Bosch power box radio was not much of a torture test. We see it used daily, rolling around the back of a truck and being knocked over at the job site. It managed all these tests with excellence, so we are happy to say that the Bosch power box is job-site rigid. The 20′ and 40′ drop tests were extreme for this unit, and we guess that this will never happen on a typical site, but it is good to know that if it takes a two-story or four-story drop, it will keep playing. Our only regret in doing this test is that the lift we used was rated 60′, but we could not bring the radio up to its full height due to the windy conditions on the day we evaluated it. That could be a test for another day…