Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Milwaukee). This thread is read-only.
I am no longer a DIY hobbyist and now doing this for a living. I am a one man crew and often alone at a site.
I have medium sized rotary hammer in a 9 amp 1” Milwaukee, and small 18 v. Makita 11/16” inch rotary hammer.
Do I even need a hammer drill?
I have two nice brushless regular drills. I saw a YouTube saying any non-rotary hammer drill is ok for hobbyist but one should always use rotary hammers when it’s concrete and a real paid job.
A hammer drill is nice for for quick jobs, like if you are attaching a panel to a concrete wall and only need 4 holes and don’t want to drag out a bigger rotary hammer. Or if you don’t work with concrete a lot but occasionally you might need a hole here and there. If you have a rotary hammer, no you don’t need the extra weight and cost of a hammer drill. I have Bosch rotary hammer than I just use a drill/driver without a hammer feature.
If you’re talking milwaukee fuel hammer drill vs fuel drill driver its worth knowing that the hammer drill comes with a chuck with carbide inserts in the jaw and the drill driver doesn’t. The two drills are the same size and the difference in weight is negligible. With these things in mind even though I may never use the hammer feature, I would still choose the hammer drill. Plus if you run into the rare occasion where you need a hammer drill you have the feature too.