Makita HR2455X 1" Rotary Hammer Drill (No Bonus)

1. ( 12 of 12 found this review helpful ) Posted: Oct 21 2007

   I've been comparing different SDS-Plus rotary hammers over the last week for re-wiring houses. This one is at the bottom of the price/capability range I've been considering so I didn't expect much from it. That said, it managed to impress me anyway. This product is a direct competitor (some would say shameless rip-off) to Bosch's 11255VSR "Bulldog Extreme". I timed how long each of the rotary hammers took to drill 7/8" holes through 4" concrete as well as hollow (cinder) block. Just for fun, I also managed to fit the same bit into my Makita Li-ion cordless hammer drill to see just how much faster a real rotary hammer is compared to a hammer drill. The answer is: about 10-18x faster on average. The cordless took 72 seconds to drill through cinder block; the HR2455 took between 4 and 7 seconds. I imagine that if you have to install a whole lot of Tap-Cons, wedge anchors and such up to about 5/8" diameter as part of your job this rotary hammer will serve you extremely well. Keep in mind, though, that I have no idea how long it will last - this is more of a first impressions kind of review! It also performed very well at removing wall tiles from my shower (using a Bosch HS1465 tile chisel bit). One big downside in this application is that the chuck (bit holder) prevents the bit from rotating freely while in hammer-only mode. If you want to attack the tiles from a different direction you first need to let the drill stop, then change modes, then rotate the chisel to the desired orientation, then change back into hammer mode and resume chiseling. This really got on my nerves after having to do it about the tenth time so I guess the best solution is to try to plan your chiseling a bit better. Note that most SDS-plus rotary hammers seem to have the same "feature" so this is not a problem unique to the HR2455X. Final notes: the tool remained cool and the vibration was manageable the entire time I used it (in contrast to, for example, Bosch's more powerful 11236VS, which got very hot after maybe 15 minutes of use). It took an average of 45 seconds to drill 7/8" holes into 4" thick fully cured concrete and pure chiseling performance (into the same) was also fairly lackluster. This is pushing the capability of the tool, though. I paid $179+tx from Jim & Slim's tools, an online as well as local to me pro tool store.

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