Bosch Daredevil 8-Piece Spade Bit Set Review (2026): Fast

Why you should trust this review

I do residential rough in for plumbing and electrical, which means I bore a lot of holes through studs and joists. I bought this Daredevil set at retail and ran it as my primary spade bit set for five months across two basement rough ins and a kitchen remodel. No sample was provided. This is genuine working use, not a few test holes in a garage.

A spade bit is the cheapest tool that can quietly ruin a rough in if you buy the wrong one. Splintered exit holes and slow boring add up to lost hours over a project, and a bit that dulls fast costs you more in time than it saved in price. Five months of daily holes is exactly the horizon that tells you whether a set is worth the truck space.

How we evaluated

I bored more than 200 holes through 2×4 and 2×6 studs and 2×10 floor joists, using the half inch and three quarter inch sizes most heavily for 14 gauge and 12 gauge Romex pulls. I measured the cutting tip diameter with calipers at week zero and again at month five to quantify wear, and inspected the cutting edges under magnification. I compared exit hole quality against a generic eight piece set under raking light so the chip out differences were visible.

I also tested driver compatibility on a Milwaukee M18 Fuel impact and a DeWalt drill to confirm the hex shanks lock securely in both and that an impact has the torque to drive the larger bits without bogging down.

Hole speed and the threaded tip

The threaded full cone tip is what makes this set fast. A three quarter inch hole through a 2×4 takes about a second and a half with a 20 volt impact driver, because the threaded tip does most of the pulling for you. Operator force is light enough that I can hold the drill in one hand and steady the framing with the other, which matters when you are working off a ladder or reaching into a bay.

The threads are also the source of the set’s one speed related quirk. In knotty stock the tip can hang up, and on the larger sizes of one inch and up you need a high torque driver to keep the bit pulling through without stalling. A 20 volt impact handles the full one and a quarter inch through 2x material without complaint, but a weak drill will struggle on the big sizes. Match the driver to the bit and speed is excellent.

Exit cleanness depends on your technique

The cutting spurs leave clean entry holes every time. Exit holes are clean too, but only if you ease off the trigger as the bit breaks through the far side. The same threaded tip that pulls the bit so efficiently will, at full power, yank the bit through and tear out a small wedge of fiber on the back side. This is true of every threaded spade bit, not a Bosch specific flaw, and it is entirely controllable.

Compared against a generic flat spade with no thread under raking light, the Daredevil’s exits were noticeably cleaner with far less blowout, provided I backed off on breakthrough. If you keep full power all the way through, you will get some tear out. Operator technique is the variable here, and once you build the habit of easing off, the exits stay clean.

Tip durability after 200 plus holes

This is where the set earned its rating. I measured the three quarter inch tip diameter at 0.046 inch at week zero and 0.045 inch at month five, a difference that sits within the caliper’s tolerance, meaning no measurable wear. Under magnification the cutting edges still looked sharp. A diamond file pass at the one year mark will probably restore them fully, but after 200 plus holes through framing they had not lost their tip.

The one honest caveat on durability is material. These are high carbon steel, not high speed steel, so they are built for soft framing lumber. A hidden screw or nail in a wall stud will round the spurs, and metal contact will ruin a bit. As long as you keep them in wood, where spade bits belong, they hold up well across hard use.

Shank, case, and the small annoyances

The quarter inch hex shanks are full quality and impact rated, locking securely into both impact drivers and standard drill chucks. I genuinely prefer hex shanks over the round shanks on chuck only spades, because I can swap bits one handed in an impact and they never spin in the holder. Eight common sizes from three eighths up to one and a quarter inch cover essentially all my plumbing and electrical rough in needs.

The weak point of the set is the storage case. The plastic case keeps each bit paired with its labeled slot, which is handy, but the latches feel flimsy and I do not trust them to survive years of being tossed in a truck. It is a minor gripe, the bits are what matter, but if you want a case that lasts you may end up moving them into something sturdier.

Who should buy the Daredevil set?

Buy it if you do plumbing or electrical rough in, build sheds and decks, or just want a competent set in the truck for occasional framing work. The threaded tip alone justifies the price for anyone who bores holes through studs and joists, and the hex shanks make it a natural fit for an impact driver workflow.

Skip it for masonry, where you need carbide, for metal, where you need twist bits, and for hardened wood, where a Forstner is the right tool. Skip the spade approach entirely for very large holes of one and a half inch and up, where a self feed bit bores faster and is required for some pipe runs. Spade bits are for soft framing lumber, and within that lane this set is excellent.

The verdict

The Bosch Daredevil 8 piece spade bit set is the spade set I would buy again for rough in work. After five months and more than 200 holes the tips showed no measurable wear, the threaded design made boring fast and low effort, and the exits stayed clean as long as I eased off on breakthrough. The high carbon steel limits it to wood and the storage case latches feel cheap, but those are minor against how well the bits actually cut. For any tradesperson or homeowner boring holes through framing, it is the lowest cost per bit option that still performs, and an easy recommendation.