Makita HR3210C 1-1/4" AVT® Rotary Hammer, accepts SDS-PLUS bits

Wow. If you have never used one of these, and limited yourself to just a hammer drill, you will be amazed. What takes a hammer drill a few minutes, takes just a few seconds with this tool. I am sure there are many tasks that can be accomplished with this tool that a hammer drill can't do at all, even a nice one. I bought this for a few concrete holes and some floor scraping. I was amazed at the speed when drilling holes 1/2" diameter, 1.5" deep. I pulled the trigger and it seemed like it was already done. I started laughing. I was amazed that something so tedious with a $200 hammer drill only took a few painless seconds with a tool better suited for the task. With a 2.5" wide chisel I can easily remove the leftover flooring that lesser tools could not. If I am not careful and hold the chisel at the wrong angle, it will start digging holes in the concrete.I spent hours looking for the right tool, and deciding if I wanted to get SDS-Plus or Max. It would be nice to have both, but with only one I thought the -Plus would be more useful since it could basically do everything my hammer drill could do, but faster. The -Max tools are so big that they and their attachments are not suitable for smaller tasks, which is mainly what I needed. One reason why I chose the Makita HR3210C is because it has a speed dial. When scraping floors it would be difficult to keep a steady speed with a finger trigger on a constantly vibrating tool. Just set the dial and the speed will stay the same whether the trigger is held light or firm. This model also has the most impact energy of all the SDS-Plus tools I found. The Makita multi-tool I bought has been excellent, so I felt comfortable buying another Makita. The one I received was made in Japan.I will still use my hammer drill for masonry, and it's a powerful 1/2" drill that is useful for larger wood bits, paint mixing paddles, and the like, but it's days of drilling concrete are over.

So Far It is a great Tool, I replaced a Ten year Old Makita with this one, I just hope it does what I expect and that is based on the history of the old one I had.Only Time will tell. I do not mind paying for a tool I make a living with, and my customers do not mind paying for a job well done in a time frame they expect, so if a tool breaks down or does not work well then it reflects on me and certainly on the manufacturer of the tools I use. Thank you, I will keep in touch, One thing is for certain Amazon has always backed up what I have purchased from them, and only rarely have I had to contact them about something. Thank You Amazon.

The Makita HR3201C SDS hammer drill is effective for drilling into concrete and chiseling out small openings. I've used it with bits up to 1 inch in diameter. If you hit rebar using an ordinary drill bit, your progress will stop. (Special bits are made for going through rebar, but I haven't tried them.) This tool isn't useful for breaking up entire concrete slabs. ( No SDS type tool is equivalent to a jackhammer. ) I have also used the tool to demolish bathroom walls made of ceramic tile applied over wire mesh with thinset cement.I rate the HR3201C as slightly more powerful than the current model of the Bosch Bulldog SDS hammer drill. However, I prefer to use the Bulldog. The Bulldog is less tiring to use because it weighs less and is easier to use in tight spaces. The Bulldog has a feature that prevents the tool from twisting suddenly if the bit gets stuck while drilling at full speed. The HR3201C lacks this feature.The main weakness of the HR3201C is that the front of the tool is held on by a single screw. After heavy use, the screw vibrated loose and was lost. The nose and front cover of the tool came loose. I couldn't find an exact replacement for the screw at local hardware stores. The screw goes into to plastic, so you could force-in a different screw letting it cut its own threads, but I'm not sure it would hold any better. The exact replacement screw is available online from tool parts sellers. (I ordered it about a month ago, but it hasn't arrived yet.)The HR3201C comes with a tube of grease to lubricate the shaft of the SDS bits. This grease slightly deteriorates the rubber tip of the tool. You end up dealing with a messy black coating of grease when changing bits. The Bosch Bulldog recommends using light oil on the bits. Changing bits on the Bulldog is a much cleaner process.

This product dosen’t drill holes in stone. My small d shape Makita did a better job at 1/2 the cost. New Bosch bit and all. A HUGE waiste of money. Also drill does not have reverse.