11 Best Hammer Drills on the Market Today

A hammer drill is definitely a bit more than your average construction or power tool.

And once you get the hang of it, you’ll realize how indispensable it truly is. In the age of do-it-yourself and intriguing mechanics, a hammer drill is a great tool to have at your disposal. 

If you want to embark on a large-scale home renovation, or just fix and polish the old, dusty furniture, a decent hammer drill becomes a must-addition to your toolbox.

But the worst part is, you’re bound to get lost among the vast number of options laid out in front of you, once you google ‘The Best Hammer Drills’! And equally confusing are the Amazon reviews.

So, to make your life easier, we’ve come up with a list of the 11 best hammer drills, as well as a detailed guide that tells you how to make a perfect choice.

Therefore, without any further delay, let’s jump into the details.

Best Hammer Drills

1. DEWALT DWD520K 120-volt Corded Hammer Drill

One of the most renowned companies in the industry of power tools, products of Dewalt never compromise on performance, quality, and durability. The DWD520K belongs to this legacy of the company that delivers great performance with outstanding ease of use. Let’s see how this corded drill can make a mark with all its features.

Experience

The best part about Dewalt products is everything is durable about them, from the accompanying carry cases to the very intricate details of the product. Likewise, the DWD520K comes with a durable carry case, which is not very heavy, allowing you to carry the drill in any construction site of your choice.

Coming to its features, the drill has a robust 10-amp motor that can offer up to 50% more power and overload protection. It reduces any chance of a short-circuit within the all-metal gear and also prevents its overheating during heavy-usage.

One aspect that really impressed us is its dual-mode feature with which you can easily swap between an ordinary drill and a hammer drill. This increases its versatility immensely, as you can use it over a lot of delicate surfaces like wood, which won’t be able to handle the power of the hammer drill.

Finally, the dual-speed technology ranges between 0 – 1200 RPM/ 0-3,500 RPM, which further enhances your workflow and control over the product.

However, despite coming with a 360-degree locking side handle, the drill isn’t lightweight enough, and it might leave you with a strained hand after heavy usage.

2. SKIL 6445-04 120V Corded Hammer Drill

If the previous product was for the professionals looking for an all-rounder tool, the 6554-04 model from SKIL is a mighty device for casual hobbyists and DIY’ers. We wouldn’t suggest it for the professionals out there since it doesn’t have the power to last an entire day of large-scale drilling of heavy materials.

Experience

It comes with a 7-amp motor, which we agree isn’t much when compared to the DWD520K model from Dewalt. But it’s ideal for all your household repairs as it can deliver a speed of 3,000 RPM, and suits a wide array of intricate jobs. To make this possible, they’ve included a 0.5-inch keyed chuck that can accept bits of larger diameter, making jobs such as woodworking, concrete drilling completely effortless.

Moreover, to add to its versatility and greater work control, the hammer drill comes with two features. First, it has a variable speed trigger for making more precise holes on a surface and leaving the rest of it relatively clean. And second, it comes with an ergonomic side-handle and some extra bells and whistles, all of which increase the convenience of handling the drill.

What surprised us more is despite being a medium-end drill, it never fails to put up an impressive performance. And the hammer mode can deliver up to 51,000 beats per minute, a remarkable feat for a drill in this price range. And talking about accuracy, the 360-degree front housing collar assists for exact positioning and superior control over the drilling surface.

However, to cut down on the price, SKIL dodged some of its trademark features in this model, like a durable carry case and dual-mode drilling. Including them would have sealed the deal for us!

3. Bosch 11255VSR BULLDOG Xtreme Rotary Hammer Drill

If you haven’t heard about this company before, let us tell you this: it’s the ‘Bosch’ of all power tools! Jokes apart, the 11255VSR has in its very title all the qualities you could ask for. Its long-lasting build will easily tackle all your construction jobs. And with this drill by your side, you can stop worrying about getting a clean, undamaged surface with a perfectly drilled hole.

Experience

The 11255VSR comes with a 7.5-amp motor, which we agree isn’t much, but this hammer drill performs exceptionally well even with these specs. It can produce two variable speeds of 0 – 1300 RPM and 0 – 5500 RPM, making the drill a lot more versatile to tackle any kind of surface.

Moreover, we were quite impressed by its impact energy of 2 lbs/ft, which, when compared to the capacity of the motor, is pretty great. With this hammer drill, you can smoothly perform many rigorous construction tasks such as anchoring and the breaking of some very sturdy materials. It also includes some delicate tasks such as drilling on wood, working on intricately designed furniture without damaging any part of it. We want to point out the remarkable feats this device can achieve with the minimum specs!

And the feature we are most proud of is its D-handle. This is a wonderful addition to the triple-operation drill that makes its horizontal and vertical handling a cakewalk, making it perfect for all tight spaces. Talking about its triple operation, you can swap among three options: the all-combined rotary hammer, only rotary, and only hammer.

However, despite some awesome features, we found many user reviews that claimed it doesn’t work well on concrete. Concrete is exceptionally hardy but very commonly available, and not producing great results on that surface, hit our impression of the product a couple of notches down!

4. Makita XPH012 18V Hammer Drill

One of the best combinations that make a hammer drill totally irresistible is a lightweight model that also comes with superior performance. This is why we’ve proudly included the XPH012 Hammer Drill in our list. Its manufacturer is Makita, and we got very little to say about the legacy of its products, which has always been exceptional.

Experience

The XPH012 is the perfect combination that you could ask from a hammer drill. It’s surprisingly lightweight, weighing only 4 lbs, and also comes with a powerful 4-pole motor that delivers a maximum speed of 1,500 RPM. You must note that this isn’t a professional-grade tool, but one that best suits household jobs and weekend DIY projects.

Coming to its features, the 4-pole motor can deliver a maximum torque of 480 lbs, and due to its lightweight design, the overall power consumption of the device is low. It’s also able to generate two variable speed ranges of 0 – 440 and 0 – 1500 RPM, suiting a whole lot of jobs on most surfaces. If you have a fragile object to work on that demands time and patience, Makita is the king in that arena because the ergonomic design of the model allows you to work for a longer span of time without any strain.

Furthermore, its cordless feature and an attached LED light make the model all the more accessible to DIY’ers. We understand that getting the hang of certain tools takes time, and Makita will perfectly help you with that.

But let us reiterate it again. It is not a professional-grade hammer drill. So, despite a great battery and robust motor, it lacks the performance of corded hammer drills.

5. Ryobi ONE+ 1/2 in Hammer Drill

Ryobi is one of those brands that are known for its minimalistic designs, excellent performance, and streamlined bodies of their products. The ONE+ hammer drill is another superb tool for amateurs and casual hobbyists who can do with lesser speeds but prefer a good battery life. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty.

Experience

We liked the fact that Ryobi focuses on getting the first-timers an authentic drilling experience with minimum slippage and utmost convenience. This is ensured by the unique, convenient handle and a cordless model with a powerful battery. In the arena of semi-professional tools, we’ve come across very few hammer drills that are equally convenient and can deliver a power-packed performance.

Moreover, the hammer drill/driver combination further eases the drilling experience of a DIY’er. The clutch override allows quick swapping between drilling and driving, and the 24-position clutch can tackle most high-torque applications with perfect ease. And all of this is enhanced by the maximum motor speed of 1600 RPM and 24000 BPM. So, the product strives hard for comfortable working experience with the least of errors.

And to add to your comfort, the improved Grip zone on the main handle provides optimum grip, allowing you to work through long spans of time without straining your hand. However, we felt that if this is a product dedicated to DIY’ers, they could have included a speed-lock switch and a more versatile chuck to cover a wide array of drill bits.

6. Bosch 11264EVS 1-5/8 SDS-Max Combination Hammer

Well, the Bosch has arrived again, and this time it’s back with a professional hammer drill, which casual users will also love. This trailblazing model is so much more than the ordinary hammer drills, as it comes with a unique D-handle for great convenience, a surprisingly lightweight model, and exceptional power.

Experience

Starting with convenience, the model comes with two handles. One is the D-handle, as mentioned before, and the other is a vertical handle that allows you to apply greater pressure without losing precision or focus from the hole-drilling area. And to be honest, very few cater to the health standards of the people who work with these power tools. Bosch stands far apart from most mainstream models with its minimal creation of dust.

It’s a great feature to have in a hammer drill because, in the long run, it would prevent fatal diseases like silicosis.

Moving on to its core features, the drill boasts of a massive 13-amp motor that can dish out 8.1 lbs of impact energy, enough to drill perfect 1-inch holes in concrete. Moreover, if you have a look at the active vibration control button, it acts alongside superior soft gripping to provide you with the maximum user comfort.

And this drill can also maintain its determined speed under immense workload due to its constant response circuitry, while its turbo power ensures 20% better performance than the drills of its class.

7. DEWALT DCH273B Hammer Drill

If the previous model from Dewalt was a professional’s choice, it’s hard to term this one because it suits all. And the best part is, the DCH273B delivers as much power as its corded counterparts, and goes on to give you the best drilled holes with minimum pressure, and a superb dust collection mechanism. Let’s skim through these features one by one.

Experience

Frankly speaking, this model is the best out of all the hammer drills we’ve reviewed so far. And we have good reasons for that. We were quite lucky that Dewalt sent us a sample of this model to review, and we were simply amazed at the output.

The product comes with a German-engineered brushless motor that makes this cordless device as powerful as the mainstream corded drills. It’s battery-run and supports a consistent performance of over 2 hours on a single charge. This extended performance time freed us of the hassle of changing batteries, and that’s a major deal-clincher.

What we also loved about this drill was its immense attention to safety and convenience. Beside great performance, its trademarked ‘Shocks’ absorbs and reduces vibrations down to 6.6 ms^2. It not only helps with the strain of your hand but saves them from nerve damage in the long run.

As this device is a rotary hammer drill, it isn’t as fast as the other driver drills and reaches a maximum of 1100 RPM with an impact of 2.1 joules. But this is enough for concrete drilling from 5/32” up to an inch, while the SDS+ chuck increases versatility as it can accommodate most kinds of drill bits.

8. Bosch HDB180 Cordless Hammer Drill

We have included a lot of power tools from Bosch in this list, each for different reasons, and the HDB180 is a proud inclusion in our list of the best hammer drills due to its compactness. All kinds of professionals prefer compact drills because they help a lot in reaching tight spaces without getting your hands strained in the process.

Experience

The HDB180 isn’t just compact but lightweight as well, weighing a mere 3 pounds. This is why it’s able to provide you with a massive 360 lbs of torque, making it perfect for a wide range of drilling applications.

Moving on to its power and speed, it runs on 2 18V slim pack batteries, while fat pack batteries are also compatible with the drill. The batteries come included in the box, and their best part is they take a mere 25 minutes for a full top-up. With this power output, it delivers a smooth dual-speed capacity of 0 – 400 RPM and 0 – 1300 RPM, which you can easily change according to your job requirements.

And finally, no Bosch power tool review is complete without a note on its precision. Well, the 15 different clutch settings of the hammer drill ensure that there is zero error in your output, without harming the drilling surface in any way.

However, there’s one thing that upset us about this drill, and that’s the wobble of the chuck. After prolonged usage, the drill chuck wobbles, and so you should pause in between work when there are more time-consuming operations at hand.

9. TACKLIFE PID01A Hammer Drill

Tacklife is a company that can wrap up a whole lot of features in a product and still caters to your budget very comfortably. And they are a renowned brand in the field of construction not just for their feature-rich products, but how all the elements of their products work in perfect sync to deliver the best results in the least span of time.

Experience

We’d like to tell you one thing right off the bat here: this is not a professional’s best choice. What we mean is, it’s not made for drilling through extremely hard surfaces such as concrete. That being said, it’s still a decent 2-in-1 hammer drill that also changes into an ordinary drill. In case you don’t know, a hammer drill can do the same job what a drill does, but with reinforced vigor and greater impact. In terms of materials, the hammer drill is versatile too.

It also ranks high in its features, although they wouldn’t look great if you compare them with the high-end models of the list. It comes with a 6-amp motor with a locking button and a sturdy metal chuck, making the changing of the drill bits easy, quick, and hassle-free.

Coming to its unique features, the model sports a 360-degree adjustable anti-skid auxiliary handle that makes all construction operations a cakewalk. The switch at the top also adds to the convenience factor enabling easy swapping between the hammer and impact drilling. It works wonders when you gotta constantly switch among different surfaces of varying thickness and quality.

However, it’d be great if all these features also included a way to prevent overheating. This is one consistent problem of this model, and it’s high time that Tacklife pays heed to it. We’ve seen many user reviews complaining of the overheating issue when they try out different surfaces together.

10. ENEACRO 1-1/4 Inch SDS-Plus 13 Amp Heavy Duty Rotary Hammer Drill

After a whole lot of bridge products, we thought of including an excellent professional hammer drill from Eneacro, that’s so much more than a collection of high-end features. Its attention to safety, compactness, convenience, and speed, makes it an all-rounder hammer drill suitable for all kinds of heavy-duty works.

Experience

Eneacro has made a distinct mark in the field of power tools because it understands the market really well and designs its products accordingly. This powerful addition to its long list of wonderful products will only reinforce your workspace with its versatility and lasting build.

Moving on to its features, the drill sports a massive 13-amp motor that has a wattage of 1500 W. And it’s no spoiler that the drill’s impact energy will impress you with a powerful 6 ft./lbs, and its 4 different functionalities are a sheer pleasure to work with. They allow you to drill, hammer, chisel, and hammer drill, and the double-switch facility will enable you to swap between the modes as and when required quickly.

Coming to the efficient dust collection system, it always leads to a smooth and clean surface, while also protecting your eyes from unwanted debris. Furthermore, to add to your safety, the safety clutch protection prevents overloading of the machine, and the Vibration Damping Technology significantly reduces injury during working. Add to this the convenient 360-degree rotating handle, and painless drilling is right at your doorstep!

However, many have complained about the brushes of the powerful motor to be of poor quality. That’s why they need to be changed frequently after a mo