Makita HR2811F 1-1/8'' Rotary Hammer, accepts SDS-PLUS bits, Teal

Great tool for medium size jobs. It has never failed us. Quick set-up and plenty of power.Good selection of bits and tips for this level of hammer drills.

This is the second Mikita Rotary Hammer I have purchased. The thing I learned is to be careful and don’t overheat it. The hammer in my other one pretty much stopped working but It was more than likely my fault because of overheating and not letting it cool down and not oiling the bit before installing it. I was removing tile and the old thin set in a room that was approximately 300 square feet.

I own a construction company and we own several hammer drills but this tool is the right tool for the right job, not to big but very powerful yet small enough to still incorporate into some of our larger jobs, it will not be one of those tools that you purchase and it sits on a shelf.

Pros -Love it. Plenty of power. Even for making holes to hold 1" diameter all-thread, a foot deep, into dense concrete. Over and over. The LED is one of those "why doesn't every single tool ever have this built in" items. Makes setting wedge anchors for a deck as easy OR EASIER than drilling the holes in your wood ledger board. This thing makes concrete drill like wood. Nice grip, easy to manuver once the handle is set.Cons -The dept gauge can't be set on the same side of the hammer as the rotary Hammer/Drill switch. Otherwise you lose the ability to set it to drill 'deep'. The big bummer is that the depth guage is permenantly attached at 180 degrees from the T-handle grip. So adjusting the T-handle to make it fit between joists rotates the depth gauge. No big deal so far. When you rotate the handle to the users right side of the tool (to use it right handed, upside down, when you're drilling at ground/dirt/pavement level), the depth guage hits the rotary Hammer/Drill switch unless it's extended way out (making it useless if you're drilling multiple holes the same depth). Plus, the rotating collar for the handle is a bit of a pain to slide around. It has notches on it that are great for holding it in place, but a pain to quickly rotate around.

I was using a decent power drill with a titanium masonry bit trying to drill starter holes to use an Xtremepower jack hammer on (since it kept slipping once it broke part of the reinforced concrete slab). The problem with my normal drill is that it would only make a small divot after several minutes of drilling. After seeing a couple of YouTube videos regarding this particular hammer drill, I decided to get one (along with a carbide masonry bit set from Bosch). Without exerting much downward pressure, this drill went straight through a 4" thick slab (with a lot of blue rock as aggregate) in less than 30 seconds. My Bosch drill bit set (HCST006) has several other bits including a flat and point chisel useful for chipping away at concrete in tighter spaces.

I had tried drilling into concrete floors before with a regular Makita 18v drill with the hammer setting turned on, but it is frustratingly hard and takes like 20 minutes to drill about an inch with a small drill bit after pushing down hard on the drill (to speed up the drilling, since light pressure seems to not do anything). This drill however will do the same thing in a few seconds and with little effort. I was able to drill down 3 inches into our concrete patio and our brick with large diameter drill bits in no time.

Sooo much better than a drill with a hammer setting. Drills through concrete so much faster I can't believe it took me this long to buy one. Been drilling dozens of 1/2 inch holes in a foundation for rebar pins. Just the right size to fit into a 2 foot wide trench and sink 6 inch holes in the sides.

I purchased this unit, because my Bosch unit stopped hammering after it made 15 holes. Therefore, I decided to splurge for a heavy-duty unit and picked Makita. When I was drilling the first hole, in the same rock that I used Bosch, and it took me exactly the double-time that it took Bocsh to drill the same hole, I realized that I have to return this unit and get the heavy-duty Bosch. If you don't want to spend a day drilling few holes, then I would recommend to buy a Bosch