Makita HR4013C 1-9/16" Advanced AVT® Rotary Hammer, accepts SDS-MAX bits

Bought this after using its little brother a 1" SDS Plus rotary hammer which worked AMAZINGLY great for stucco removal around about 25 aluminum windows we were replacing. Came across the need for something to dig into rock hard clay soil at a different property so we could landscape and amend the soil so the plants would begin to grow and tried out the 1" SDS Plus tile bit to shave the dirt down. Decided it would work but not well enough and it would take forever. And any reason for a new toy is always another good thing, right?Read a few reviews as far as comparisons between brands as I knew Bosch is also high up along with Hilti for demo stuff, and had no idea where Makita stood although I have a large (8-9 cordless selection and now at least 4 corded selections) collection of Makita that has not yet let me down. I'm all for trying outside brands as I know some have their perks and some are better at other things (for example- Ridgid makes the BEST general shop vacs I've seen. Note: not dust collectors but definitely shop vacs). Anyway- the Makita won out on several tests, chief among them being vibration.I don't need to bother you with the three different mechanisms they have to reduce vibration- everyone else has done that and it's even in the product description. I will say vibration plays a big role to me. I'm still young so I can deal with it but don't want to if I don't have to (I see what years of hard work and not caring for yourself can lead to, an unhappy painful older set of years) and after having used my cousin's much much older (10-20 yr old) Bosch, I know I need the anti vib the most. The anti vib in this REALLY works well. Blasted through the rocky clay soil (and by rocky I mean I broke through a 3" layer of rock embedded super dry clay soil in Southern California (partly from some construction is my guess) and the roto hammer didn't even flinch. It lowered right through and I didn't realize what I went through til I saw it.Digging with the Bosch spade which I got for its curve and their tool bit reputation and it's availability has worked extremely well- however when you come across large, well-established tree roots, bring a sawzall or an axe. This will have a tendency to bounce on the root less you sharpen the spade razor sharp- something I would find to be a waste of time with those other more handy tools. Digging holes for most average plants works well because the depth and size of holes required allow you to get the tool into most any hole. The only time I would hesitate with this is digging really deep post holes where the hole is VERY deep and narrow. Plants generally require a hole twice as big as their container so you're good to go with that. You do, however still need to break the soil with this and manually dig the dirt out with a spade shovel or post-hole digger, however- but this breaks the soil up into perfectly manageable digging soil.Unlike its lil SDS Plus brother this Makita doesn't have a reverse rotary mode. It ONLY drills clockwise, but it does have two methods of activation for chisel mode- trigger and push button. It has a soft start and no load to reduce wear. Until you press the working attachment against something, it will remain disengaged and only sound like an expensive fan 98% of the time. Sometimes it will engage for a couple seconds after it's been chiseling. All said- I don't need a reverse drill like I might on the small 1" rotary as any drilling with this would be in substantially sized holes, over 1" in diameter which I rarely come across. The smaller holes, a reverse could potentially be necessary to back a bit out of a deep hole to avoid getting it stuck from debris if you're not careful.All in all- it is WELL worth the price and despite my father refusing to want to spent such an (what he believes is) exorbitant amount on a tool- would not for a second hesitate to agree that the tool is worth it's price in back-saving gold. He would and should know after 2 back surgeries. The only other way to do what we did is take a 40-50# steel digging bar, a pick and a LOT of shoveling. This saved us days if not a good week of work to landscape a large front yard for drought tolerant planting.

We have several of these, and they are more durable than other brands we've used. Great tools.

I bought this rotary hammer to save some money on chiseling out a good portion of the floor in my basement. Did some reviews online and many of my tools are Dewalt, although I do have a Makita 12" chop saw and they have a great reputation of having high quality tools. The reviews online said Makita #1, Hilti #2, and Dewalt #3. I saw it consistently on multiple websites. Glad I listened to them because it made quick work of this concrete demo. Ended up having to take out a bit more room for some plumbing and the plumbers couldnt wait to get their hands on it and try it out for themselves. One said he was telling the boss he wants one on his truck ASAP. Guess they liked it too haha. I have not drilled any holes with it yet, but I can verify that I jack hammered out A LOT of concrete with this sucker and it didnt take much time at all. Its all relative I guess. The feedback from the hammer into my hands and arms was minimal. Others I have used I feel like I was shook like crazy, and this one just seemed to pound through it quicker than others, yet I didnt have the feeling in my arms and hands. I bought 3 chisels, and look to buy a couple bits soon for some upcoming projects. Bought this and 3 chisels for $700, plumbers and contractors said they wanted around $2000 for concrete demo alone. I did it all, hard work, but got a nice rotary hammer out of the deal for many future jobs. Looking forward to busting out some tile with it.

Used this to punch through southern California DG and rock with no issues. Works great on concrete as expected. Sds bits are easy to change and the carrying case is nice for transport. Decent heft and weight to the tool.

UPDATE AUGUST 2020:I’ll probably jinx it, but this machine is still going strong. I use it for just about everything, several times a month, for floor scraping, concrete drilling, chiseling, all sorts of demolition where a heavier machine isn’t suitable, and even trenching. I could not ask for a better machine.This is the perfect combination of weight and power at least for trenching. I used it to trench over 200 lineal feet of 24" deep x 24" wide trench in medium density clay/decomposed granite soil. It tore through the soil like butter, yet it's light enough to hold with one hand, which I often did. The guy shoveling out the dirt behind me couldn't even keep up. The anti-vibration technology worked well; after running this for almost 7 hours straight for 4 days in a row, it's going to fatigue you no matter what, but was quite comfortable to use for the most part. I have no doubt it'll be even better for tile demolition than trenching.The build quality is impeccable, and there's every reason to believe that this will last through many more projects, even though it paid for itself in the first job.