Makita HM1203C 20 lb. Demolition Hammer, accepts SDS-MAX bits

I had been reviewing and checking out various similar tools for about a 9 months. Finally found the cash and settled on this one. which i believe is a fairly new product. I am veyr pleased with it. it is hte right wieght to do some real work around hte house and yard but not a 70lb brute that will break you in a few minutes of use. this is the right weight, that i could continually use it all day long. It is also very quiet - my hearing is suspect but my wife commented on how quiet it was. you could (i stress could) have a conversation with someone while using this hammer but you would have to raise your voice well above normal. otehr hammers are much louder and can't talk within a 20 foot range of the tool while in use. It is fairly powerful and can break up concrete or limestone pretty quickly. my first makita cordless hammerdrill/driver is now 5 years old and still works great. So i am hoping that this tool will stand up for years to come as well. Build quality looks good and the case is up to Mikita standard, everything fits properly.8 years later and hours and hours, dug foundations in limestone for a house. still going strong although i hate to jinx it. after several tons of rock broken up, i can tell the chuck is a little bit more loose, i.e. wear and tear. i would definitely buy this tool again, just hope i don't ahve to anytime soon.

Using for post holes in combination with clam diggers. Hard pan goes away. Wore out a couple of these over years of crew work, ain't a 90# jack like we sometimes treated it. Very good demo hammer for intended use. I like it.

very good work tool

As someone who does major digging in my clay soil, I simply love this product! It is so powerful and works so quickly, yet does not kick until you lower the tool against the attached bit. Even then it kicks much less than its big brothers that work off of air, the ones that are made to break up large pads of cement. Using this clay shovel Proline CM96-22 4-1/2-Inch x 20-Inch SDS Max Clay Spade, the clay is instantly broken up with minimal physical exertion. The only worry is that when digging around cemented-in posts, you must pull the bit away when you hit cement. (Cement sounds and feels differently, so that is no big deal.) Otherwise the cement will be broken up, and what does that say about the power of this unit? I also purchased this chisel Proline CM96-09 1-Inch x 24-Inch SDS Max Flat Chisel to break up rocks.However if you are breaking up large chunks of cement, this unit is not powerful enough. I purchased a heavy duty 65 pound jackhammer to break up the cement in fence post holes, as it was taking far too long with this much easier to use Makita. Since I don't use the heavy duty jackhammer that much, I purchased a cheaper brand.

Whether it's a spade bit digging hard clay, a chisel bit breaking cement, or a hammer driving rods, this tool is up for it. It hits harder than any hammer drill and it's much lighter and much less fatiguing than than a big demo hammer. I recommend it.If you're upgrading to this from a hammer drill, be aware that demo hammers don't drill (the bit doesn't rotate), they only hammer. You can't use drill bits with this.

This seems very well made. It gets heavy quick though. It lasted me through a home improvement project where I broke up 270 sq. ft. of concrete subfloor that was on top of OSB wood. You get a carrying case made of heavy duty plastic with a cubby hole for your attachments. You can dial down the oscillation speed too which was helpful.

Loved how quickly this product removed tile in a very short amount of time. The higher speed of 5 or more worked the best. Tried it out at 3 and took too long, moved up and zoom…it made quick work of the tile. Would definitely recommend this product.

Great Demo Hammer. I am a General Contractor and we use it for residential tile, light concrete demo. We used to rent this same model from the Big Box Store. Decided to finally get our own. Very strong blow power for the weight, heavy enough to break tile, light concrete, but light enough not to wear you out too quick, adjustable handle helps to switch up positions and save the back. Glad we got our own finally, it should pay for itself within a couple of jobs. Latest job was 1300 sq ft saltillo demo, no problem for this hammer with 2" tile bit. Rented thinest scraper to remove thinset, not a problem either. Includes nice box, Bull point chisel, and small tube of grease, also what looked like a shop towel that said "Makita" on it, that was a one time use and don't know why the wasted the money to put that in. We had a BOSCH, about the same size, it needed too much money to repair, I like this one much better.Bottom Line= Great for light duty demo!