Thanks to a new Amazon product listing, we’ve learned that Makita is coming out with a new 18V sub-compact brushless rotary hammer, XRH06RB. It has an SDS Plus chuck and can be used to drill holes up to 11/16″.
The new Makita XRH06RB rotary hammer can be used in rotation-only or hammer + rotation modes. There’s no chipping mode.
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Makita says it’s ideal for working in tight spaces, or in overhead applications. It features a vibration-absorbing handle, and a brushless motor for more efficient power and runtime.
- 0-680 RPM, 0-4800 BPM
- 0.88 ft-lbs, 1.2 Joules impact energy
- Weighs 4.6 lbs [with compact battery]
- 10-3/4″ long
- Brushless motor for “up to 50% longer runtime per charge”
- Rotation-only and rotation plus impact modes
- LED worklight
Kit includes (2) 2.0Ah batteries, charger, side handle with depth gauge, tool bag.
Price: $384 for the kit (Amazon’s first listing prices for Makita tools tend to be higher than eventual street pricing)
Buy Now(via Amazon)
First Thoughts
A new sub-compact Makita 18V rotary hammer? *Thumbs up.*
But… oh, what happens if you pair it with a 3.0Ah battery pack, or any other higher capacity battery pack you might already have to support your other Makita 18V corldess power tools? Can you still stand it upright? How will the tool balance change?
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I don’t think I have ever seen a cordless rotary hammer designed to work with compact battery packs. Even Milwaukee’s M12 model and M12 Fuel brushless model are both shown paired with higher capacity XC battery packs. Every 18V-class rotary hammer is also shown paired with higher capacity battery packs.
It’s too early to tell if Amazon’s pricing is accurate or not. Let’s consider Dewalt’s DCH273 20V Max brushless rotary hammer. For $381 currently (at Amazon), you get a brushless rotary hammer capable of 0-1100 RPM and 0-4600 BPM, 2.1 Joules of impact energy, and the kit comes with (2) 5.0Ah battery packs.
This new Makita rotary hammer is smaller and a lot lighter. But it’s also slower and a lot less powerful, and doesn’t have an impact/chipping-only mode.
According to a UK listing for Milwaukee’s M12 Fuel SDS+ rotary hammer, that tool’s blow energy is 1.1 J, and its speed is 0-900 RPM and 0-6200 BPM. It’s rated as being a 5/8″ rotary hammer.
Makita’s 18V sub-compact cordless tools are designed to give users “12V handling and 18V performance and compatibility.” In that context, this new sub-compact rotary hammer might be a good choice for lighter duty tasks. It’s smaller, lighter, and presumably more comfortable to wield and use in challenging arm-taxing spaces or angles.
But does it offer 18V performance?
The fact that it’s specifically designed around Makita’s 18V 2.0Ah compact battery pack sheds light on the type of applications it could and should be used for – tasks where you need more than a hammer drill but less than a typical 18V rotary hammer.
Its speed rating is slower than the Dewalt 20V Max and Milwaukee M12 models I looked at for quick context and comparative placing purposes, but it’s hard to tell what this will mean for application speeds and performance.
My biggest criticism of Makita’s XFD11 18V sub-compact brushless drill is that its adjustable clutch isn’t so easy or comfortable for me to adjust. Looking at the new sub-compact rotary hammer, there aren’t any obvious compromises of a similar kind, aside from potential awkwardness that might arise if you pair the tool with a higher capacity battery pack.
The XRH06 is compatible with a new accordion-style dust extraction cup that allows for easier dust control when drilling overhead.
It’s hard to say without seeing it in action firsthand, but I’d consider this to be an appealing compact rotary hammer for quick and light masonry drilling and anchoring tasks. It lacks the power and features of typical 18V-class rotary hammers, and on paper it’s also slower, but it’s also smaller and considerably lighter.
A few years back, when Milwaukee announced their M12 rotary hammer, they said that “4 out of every 5 holes drilled in masonry are with 1/2″ or smaller bits.”
You don’t need a powerhouse if you’re drilling a series of 1/4″ or 5/16″ holes.
For those of you that do a lot of light masonry drilling, would this be enough for your needs?
Drew M
Looks to me like marketing is trying to say it is 6v better than the Milwaukee M12 that it was engineered to directly compete with.
Drilling concrete and stone is all about the impact energy which is why hammerdrills are stupid.
fred
How true.
Breaking concrete is even more about the impact energy transferred from the tip of the bit . That’s why electric jackhammers often don’t cut it (literally) compared to there heavier pneumatic cousins.
Paul
Am I missing something? I use my M18 Hammerdrill/Driver with pretty good results, and if it’s a lot I’ll switch to my Hilti dedicated sds hammerdrill. Is there something out there world’s easier that I don’t know about?
fred
Its about the right tool for the job. Sometimes you can make do with a lesser tool at the expense of taking more time. Other times you might have to give in and step up in the class of tool you use. Hammer drills are fit for some tasks and as you say your Hilti may be better for other things.
Drilling a string of deep through holes along a line in a granite block to split it along that line – a hammer drill is way out classed. Switching to a rotohammer is better. It would be better yet to bring the block back to the quarry and let them cut it with one of their big saws rather than using feathers and irons.
Even corded rotohammers have their limitations for drilling large holes – and there are times you need to break out an electric core drill or go to something like a hydraulic drill.
Breaking up a old a hard well-cured concrete sidewalk is also a job that’s tough. I wouldn’t use a rotohammer for that – a jackhammer is better.
Drilling into a boulder or rock outcropping to set charges is beyond the capability of any portable drill – so you call in a rock drilling rig.
Nate
A hammer drill is different from your sds tool which is a rotary hammer. Generally, a rotary hammer drills about 3 times faster than a hammer drill from my experience.
Stuart
There’s also, at least usually, much better vibration control and isolation.
Matt
I have read or heard that the chuck on a hammer drill, or basically the Jacobs chuck isnt meant for the impacting against concrete. That over use will eventually tear up the chuck.
Do you see any truth in this?
JMG
@Matt The primary part of the chuck on a hammer drill that takes damage when using the hammer function is the chuck retaining screw. The drill bit bottoms out on its (the retaining screw) face and destroys the screw driver slot, which can cause issues if you need to remove the chuck itself for any reason. As far as the chuck getting torn up itself?… I would think that the amount of increased wear might depend on the quality of the chuck used by the drill manufacturer. I personally have never used the hammer function on one enough to wear out the chuck itself, as I only use a hammer drill over as SDS when I forget to bring my SDS along to the job site.
jtr165
I think he was saying a Rotary Hammer better is the better option to have for anything concrete/stone. I lean the same way, having no ‘hammerdrill’ but a 1″ SDS (the dewalt D handle cordless version) and the compact brushless drill without hammer function.
Still a case by case basis, though. A hammerdrill for running small/shallow tapcons and that sort of thing; a bigger SDS rotary hammer is a bit overkill. Although, seems like small lighter duty SDS options are popping up more and more…this makita being an example.
Drew M
Yup. Used a puny dewalt hammerdrill years ago to put in a boatload of 1/2″ redhead anchors and hated every second of it. Then, near the end of the job, the electricians showed up with a SDS and we saw them punching the same size holes in SECONDS. Needless to say, we went out and bought the same SDS roto-hammer the next day.
glenn
Drew M,
Makita have a 12v Rotary hammer available to compete directly with Milwaukee’s M12.
https://www.makita.com.au/products/power-tools/categories/rotary-hammers-demolition/hr166dz-12v-max-mobile-brushless-16mm-sds-plus-rotary-hammer
I am guessing theXRH06RB is to create a new market for lightweight compact 18v rotary hammers. Not everyone needs a chipping function and maximum power with the extra weight that it brings.
fred
Makita’s flyer says it will also be sold as a bare tool (XRH06ZB). Like your post, they show it being used with the optional dust extraction cup (198362-9)
https://cdn.makitatools.com/apps/cms/doc/prod/XRH/073c3cdc-c092-4d8a-b88f-41ae0ffc1441_XRH06RB_NTFE.pdf
Looks like it might also be useful for those times you need to drill anchor holes from a perch up on a ladder.
Satch
I think they may grab a little market share with this. Just as when they came out with the sub-compact 18v drill class, I saw some media coverage asking “why?” It is not always about horsepower but horse for the course.
I could see a rig like this being tailor made for card access and security installers who need capability but are not drilling numerous holes at one time. Same goes for process control boxes or other similar uses.
pete
designed to be paired with a 2.0ah battery? is this for drilling 4-1/4″ holes at 1″? lol Usually when i’m drilling with a rotary hammer i want POWER!!!!!
fred
Drilling 4-1/4 inch holes or larger? Maybe we need a battery-powered hydraulic drill rig. I’m not sure what size battery that would take. Maybe we could get Unitec to team up with Makita to work on that.
On a more serious note, there is probably a market for a compact roto-hammer – but buyers will be disappointed if they think its a one-size-fits-all tool.
Stuart
He might have meant (4) 1/4″ holes.
fred
Yes that makes more sense.
jtr165
I thought he meant 4 1/4″ ‘deep’ holes?
This isn’t a 1″ SDS though, it’s not going to be drilling anything close to 1″ in diameter. Isn’t it something like subtract half an inch from the tools rating, then add an 1/8th back to get an idea of what the drill is really designed around? This things sweet spot is probably around 1/4″ diameter holes if I’m doing that right.
pete
hahaha Yes i ment 4 holes at 1/2″ diameter and 1″ deep. lol Those 2.0ah batteries don’t last nearly long enough for my taste.
johnny bright light
Any tool like this is too cool to pass up………Keep up the good work…………..
Rami
That looks just like their 10,8V version. Might be a good choice for those who only need to drill like 5-6mm diameter holes.
Nathan
so per your comparision – it’s much lighter than the dewalt.
well how much does the dewalt weigh without battery – how much the makita. I expect it to be lighter but is it significant (say 3 lbs) lighter.
I mean hell I can put a compact 2ah battery on the dewalt one too (or the milwaukee 18V etc – you get where I’m going
Stuart
Makita says that this rotary hammer weighs 4.6 lbs, and I’m presuming that’s with one of the batteries included in the kit.
Dewalt’s weighs 6.8 lbs. When I posted about it I noted the weight as 7.3 lbs when converted from international specs. But the bare tool is said to weigh 5.4 lbs.
Okay, so let’s say 4.6 lbs for the Makita vs. 6.8 lbs for the Dewalt. I can’t find quick mention of how much a Dewalt compact battery weighs, so let’s guess 0.7 lbs. So that would bring the Dewalt down to ~6.1 lbs.
The Dewalt is far more powerful, rated to drilling 1″ holes, but you’re going to feel that extra pound and a half at the end of the day. Maybe the Makita will perform slower on small or medium sized holes, it’s hard to say, but I would think it would have to be far slower for there to be comparable levels of user fatigue.
You can work harder for shorter time, or easier for longer time. If there was a magical calculation that took tool weight and performance speed and spit out a quantification, I think the Makita would come out ahead of the Dewalt, at least for drilling smaller holes, especially when working at arm’s length or overhead.
This is of course based on their claims and specs, not real-world performance.
jtr165
Yeah, weight differences are there, but the mentioned Dewalt DCH273 is almost twice as powerful. Not saying it’s ‘better’, but it has similar BPM @ nearly twice the force @ almost double the bit rpm.
They’re simply different classes of Rotary Hammers power (and weight) wise. Dewalt also has, which is the cheapest of all these options, the DCH133 that has more max BPM and at higher force than the 273, higher bit RPM, is lighter…but does not have the ‘shox’ active vibration reduction stuff built in. The bare tool was $137 when I bought it, and has been a ‘number 1 seller’ on Amazon for a while..but the price has gone up to around $170 recently.
Regardless, the Makita in this article is much more of a ‘instead of a hammer drill’ type of rotary hammer. Typically, sds rotary hammers, cordless or not, are significantly more powerful at hammering, but too sloppy to use as drills without the hammer function (mainly because of the chuck differences). The more I think about it, the less I understand what the reasoning is for a small lightweight SDS rotary hammer. It doesn’t drastically over perform compared to a decent brushless hammer drill, creates some problems with the bits needed for basic drilling vs. hammering conditions, but isn’t really close to its bigger brothers, also.
Nathan
My point – how light is light and OK so it’s a lb heavier but it punches the hole in faster – significantly faster. Might that actually be better.
I agree stuart you’d need to do a actual test run with some people doing the same sets of tasks to see if there was a preference or a fatigue point.
Juergen
Well, I have 3 rotary hammers. One big corded Makita ( very heavy but powerful), a mid size Kress, corded, and a small cordless 10,8V AEG (which is more or less the same as the Milwaukee). Since I have the AEG I probably use it 80% of the time, Why, because it is so light and small. And it performs. The same is actually true for my other tools, especially the drills. 80% of the time I use the 10,8V tools.
chris
Too many other good options to buy this without the chip only feature which is incredibly useful.
glenn
This upon close inspection appears to be the same as the Makita HR166DZ CXT 12v but in 18v form and with 0.1 of an extra Joule impact and slightly more weight no doubt due in part to the larger battery.
Here is a link to the 12v. The picture can be magnified by clicking on it.
https://sydneytools.com.au/makita-hr166dz-12v-max-li-ion-cxt-cordless-brushless-sds-plus-rotary-hammer-skin-only
We use 2 different rotary hammers on a daily basis/ the brushless M18 28mm and a brushed M12. The M18 gets used for the holes (average 70mm) for the aircon pipes/wiring through masonry and the M12 gets used for everything else outside. Mainly 12mm x 80mm holes and 5mm x 30 holes into whatever masonry the house is constructed from.
I have been using the M12 for this for just on 4 years now and while it is a little slower the 18v tools, its lack of weight far outweighs this when your up a ladder, reaching up and across etc. Especially by the end of the day. For power comparison, the brushed M12 has 0.9 joules impact, so the Makita will just do the job that little bit quicker, as would the M12 Fuel.
I have been looking at the Makita CXT 12V and have had a play with one in store and in my opinion it is a lot nicer ergonomically than the M12 and also feels better balanced to me as well. And it really is compact, almost comically so.
What puts me off though, is that it wont sit level with anything other than the 2.0ah batteries and this new subcompact will be the same with anything other than the compact batteries, which leaves you with a choice of using 2.0ah batteries or lying the tool down when not in use.
Being able to stand the tool upright is important for me personally as I am constantly swapping between the rotary hammer and a hex drill/driver, am frequently on a ladder and have limited space to set tools down. Also I am currently using 6.0ah batteries which will usually get me through a couple days work and I don’t really want to have to carry extra batteries as well as having to charge 3 times as many batteries,
Again, for myself personally, its really the only downside I can see.
GIOVANNI GRILLO
On the instruction manual is shown the tool with the big battery.
dave
Makita need to release a slim 3.0Ah battery already!