Best Hammer drill for bolting on lead?

What is the latest and greatest hammer drill (lightweight) for drilling on lead? 

really depends on your priorities, mainly weight vs. speed vs. number of holes. 18v will drill a quicker hole, 12v will be lighter. many holes, bigger battery vs. few holes, smaller battery, etc...

I like makita 18v LXT sub-compact:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Makita-18V-LXT-Sub-Compact-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-Cordless-11-16-in-Rotary-Hammer-accepts-SDS-PLUS-bits-Tool-Only-XRH06ZB/302552049?g_store=&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D25T-025_009_PORT_POWER-NA-Multi-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-PortablePower_SmartShopping&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D25T-025_009_PORT_POWER-NA-Multi-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-PortablePower_SmartShopping-71700000106625794-58700008274559054-92700075196193264&gclid=Cj0KCQiApKagBhC1ARIsAFc7Mc6QQoAc_smbESW3WllgfI46R2Lz3omrWNjhhGigicZP-DNw4U50aKIaAnMaEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Rocpec. Find a stance. 

ryan climbs sometimes wrote:

what 12v have you used and liked? i’m curious for a lighter electric drill. 

iv used an 18v and it’s what maybe 20-30seconds for a hole?

what’s the drill time for a 12v?

i recently (within the last year) got a milwaukee m12 - https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Concrete/Rotary-Hammers/2416-20 - using it with a xc 4.0 battery. drilling predominantly in granite, mostly 3/8"x 2 1/2" holes.

pros: it is small and light!

cons: it lacks power!  you're looking at least at 30-45 seconds for a hole and significantly more if you're hitting something hard.

by comparison, i've used an 18V bosch for years (including GU) - it's probably twice as heavy, but drills a hole in the same type of rock in about 10-15 seconds.

ultimately, the speed comes down to ft. lbs and the m12 is under powered.

so, you've got to ask yourself - what's more important, weight or speed?  let's say you've got to lug that thing around with a whole bunch of other crap, but you deem it worth it because you're only drilling 5 or 6 holes and hand drilling eats up relatively more time - the m12 might be the way to go.  now let's say you're going to drill 10 holes and carrying another 3 or 4 lbs doesn't matter, the heavier drill might be the better choice.  ...but then you've got some tough moves, poor stances, etc. is faster better?  is lighter better?  the list of scenarios is endless!  heck, i've taken a hand drill to places that were power drill legal, just because i deemed weight to be the primary factor...

I have the same drill as old5ten. Used it yesterday to drill two 5/8 holes and 10 7/16 holes for glue ins. All those holes cached my xc 4.0 and 5.0 batteries (two batteries total). For that purpose it is kinda light duty. But yeah, it's small and light which is nice when you are shlepping a bunch a shit around. Hand drilling on lead you want the bolt in asap, especially when drilling from a stance. The milwaukee will be nice for that. 

I use the Milwaukee 12v as well.  I prefer smaller and lighter so I don't notice it as much on harder climbing.  The extra seconds (12v vs 18v) don't matter that much to me.  It seemed like a game changer to be able to climb with power that wasn't heavy and clunky.   Definitely faster than hand drilling, plus, the bonus of being able to go start to finish placing a bolt with one hand if need be.

Get a couple of extra batteries and the "limited' number of holes is rarely a factor.  Extra batteries are small/light to carry.  My experience has been that the physical demands of multiple hard stance drilling usually ends the bolting faster than running out of battery power. 

A couple of notes about the Milwaukee 12v:

1. The battery charge indicator is on the drill, not the batteries themselves.  Can't check batteries unless on the drill.  Annoying.
2. I know several people who have trashed a Milwaukee 12v quickly (all were able to get it replaced.)  In contrast, my drill has lasted years with more than limited use and is still going strong.  Maybe because I only use it for lead drilling (36v Bosch for TD or replacement work), nothing harder than granite, and sharp bits.   Don't know.

Thanks for all the comments. I have a Bosch 36v and wanted something lighter for lead bolting. I think the Milwaukee m12 might be the answer. As long as it is faster than a hand drill and allows me to drill at least eight 3/8 x 3.75” holes in sandstone I will be happy. 

https://youtu.be/Jt6FmSC_jak

After watching the video here it would seem that the DeWalt 12v is one of the better 12v options. Looks like Metabo HPT (aka Hikoki/Hitachi) and the German Metabo also make 12v options.

I actually bought the DeWalt 12v a few months ago and have developed a dozen or so routes with it, and for 3/8"X4" holes in limestone it works pretty well. You should be able to easily get the 8 holes out of it you need on a single 5ah battery (maybe double that). You can typically find a new one on eBay for less than $150, but of course buying batteries and a charger will bring that cost up.

As I understand it, the Makita 18v LXT sub-compact is essentially the same as Makita's brushless 12v rotary hammer, but adapted to the 18v system. I like the 18v LXT subcompact as well. It will probably end up being a touch heavier (due to heavier 18v batteries) than 12v options, but drill a touch faster (and depending on battery size, having the capacity for considerably more holes). There are also generally more/better 18v tools than 12v tools available, which is a definite benefit of being on an 18v platform.

It's probably worth registering any of these tools with the manufacture in the event that they break early in life and need to be warrantied.

M12 is great, but man does it ever feel wimpy compared to the M18. The M18 eats rock.
M12 though is MUCH lighter and if you're bolting on lead, whipping with the M18 is not ideal.... Although its not too hard to make extension from drill to battery in a backpack to keep the M18 weight down on harness and in hand.

Oh and FWIW dewalt and Milwaukee are owned by the same company and the dewalt batteries can be interchanged with a small modification to fit the Milwaukee....or with an adapter plate.

Mr Rogers wrote:

M12 is great, but man does it ever feel wimpy compared to the M18. The M18 eats rock.
M12 though is MUCH lighter and if you're bolting on lead, whipping with the M18 is not ideal.... Although its not too hard to make extension from drill to battery in a backpack to keep the M18 weight down on harness and in hand.

Oh and FWIW dewalt and Milwaukee are owned by the same company and the dewalt batteries can be interchanged with a small modification to fit the Milwaukee....or with an adapter plate.

DeWalt is owned by Stanley Black and Decker, and Milwaukee is owned by Techtronic. I do not believe these parent companies have any shared business.

Mr Rogers wrote:

Oh and FWIW dewalt and Milwaukee are owned by the same company and the dewalt batteries can be interchanged with a small modification to fit the Milwaukee....or with an adapter plate.

EDIT: see above...

This doesn't appear to be accurate.

Milwaukee is owned by TTI  

Dewalt is owned by Stanley Black and Decker

I've used the M12 for a bit of bolting on lead.  It is great especially if you use the little stub battery that fits completely in the grip.  If paired with a short 1/4" bit/bolts the time to place a bolt is incredibly fast.   I've also used an m18 on lead and the only time I could see that making more sense is maybe if you are putting up easy routes on some very hard rock.  The time to drill a hole is vastly less important to me compared to the size and weight of a larger drill.

Loving my Dewalt DCH172, it is fairly light with a 2 amp hr battery, you could easily throw a couple bolts on lead with that. If you shift to a 5AH battery you can do full sport climbs, i've gotten more than 13, 3-3/4" 3/8 wedges off one 5AH battery charge in moderately hard rock. 

1 drill, 2 batteries, bolts on lead or rap all day!

The weight tradeoff for a 12v with the meager hitting power isn't something you need to compromise on. The Makita Subcompact with a 3.0 pancake battery barely weighs more than a 12 volt hammer drill.  It's perfect for mixed routes on lead or more sparse bolting. 

Then there's the added benefit of doing bigger routes with the 6.0 battery- between 12 and 16, 2¾" x ⅜"  bolts in hard granite.   It has a impact absorbing feature behind the chuck that lets the drill do the work. It's way more versatile plus Makita has the largest tool platform out there for your investment. 

Drew Alldredge wrote:

The weight tradeoff for a 12v with the meager hitting power isn't something you need to compromise on. The Makita Subcompact with a 3.0 pancake battery barely weighs more than a 12 volt hammer drill.  It's perfect for mixed routes on lead or more sparse bolting. 

Then there's the added benefit of doing bigger routes with the 6.0 battery- between 12 and 16, 2¾" x ⅜"  bolts in hard granite.   It has a impact absorbing feature behind the chuck that lets the drill do the work. It's way more versatile plus Makita has the largest tool platform out there for your investment. 

It would be interesting to actually put the Makita XRH06ZB head to head with the Milwaukee M12.   The Milwaukee delivers an impact force of 1lb and 6200 blows per minute, where as the the Makita has an impact force of .88lbs and 4800 BPM.  So on paper, the M12 should drill faster but it would be way more interesting and informative to actually test them next to each other.  I've generally been impressed with Makita tools in the past.

Edit:

This video shows a pretty good comparison to some of the standard hammer drills.  I think the Makita shown is comparable to the one sold in the US market but hard to say.

Yeah, that stone is as good as it looks.  

Size/weight over seconds saved are more important to me as well.  I don't want the drill inhibiting hard climbing, but I want it with me so I can drill immediately.  Once the drill stays in the hole by itself both hands can be used to reposition, etc., so a few seconds more doesn't seem to matter.

Mikey Schaefer wrote:

It would be interesting to actually put the Makita XRH06ZB head to head with the Milwaukee M12.   The Milwaukee delivers an impact force of 1lb and 6200 blows per minute, where as the the Makita has an impact force of .88lbs and 4800 BPM.  So on paper, the M12 should drill faster but it would be way more interesting and informative to actually test them next to each other.  I've generally been impressed with Makita tools in the past.

Edit:

This video shows a pretty good comparison to some of the standard hammer drills.  I think the Makita shown is comparable to the one sold in the US market but hard to say.

Comparing the specifications of the DHR171Z and the XRH06ZB it appears that they are the same rotary hammer drill.

I don’t have a M12 but I could compare the Makita 18v XRH06ZB and the DeWalt 12v DCH072B.

• The Makita has listed specifications of 1.2J of impact force, 680 RPM, and 4800 BPM. 
• The DeWalt has listed specifications of 1.1J of impact force, 910 RPM, and 4280 BPM.

Multiplying the values would seem to give some relative comparison of the two drills (and a terrible mess of units…). For the Makita this gives: 3916800, and the DeWalt: 4284280. Making a ratio of these two values would appear to indicate that the DeWalt should drill about 10% faster than the Makita.

I also did a real comparison between the two drills in a chunk of granite I had lying around the yard. For the test, I used a genuine 6ah 18v Makita battery, and a genuine DeWalt 5ah 12v battery. 

• The Makita battery should have 108W.
• The DeWalt battery should have 54W. (“12v” tools are actually 10.8v tools).

The power in the battery should be somewhat of an indicator as the amount of holes a battery will allow.

I used a new, two-cutter, bit for each drill. 3/8" X 3.5” holes.

• The Makita drilled ~26.5 holes. It took around ~39 seconds to drill a hole.
• The DeWalt drilled 22.5 holes. It took around ~31 seconds to drill a hole (with more variability in drill time than the Makita).

Subjectively, the DeWalt was a bit nicer to drill with, and had less vibrations.

I am a bit surprised to see the DeWalt perform as well as it did, and it makes me wonder if I should do some additional testing to make sure that there wasn't some unnoticed issues. It’s hard to know what the longevity of the 12v DeWalt will be, and I don’t think many are being used to establish routes. 

The Makita didn’t do quite as well, comparatively, as I would have expected. But it has a good reputation and track record. Also, being on the 18v system is a huge plus (allowing you access to a large set of other Makita tools). I also didn’t do comparative tests for the drills in larger hole sizes, where the higher rated capacity of the Makita might yield more favorable results (an earlier test gave 11+ 1/2" X 3.5” holes with a 6ah battery). 

I’ve used a friend’s Makita for rap bolting—better for that than the Milwaukee. It’s only slightly heavier. 

Cool comparison for the makita vs. dewalt. With the 12v dewalt drilling faster but fewer holes (with a lower ah battery). The dewalt looks to be about the same weight as the m12 (and maybe makita?). 

If Mr. Hensel uses the m12, it's good enough for me. I've also had an m12 put in hundreds of bolts without any issue, while a friend has gone through 4 or 5 of them (Milwaukee always replaces them).

It seems like it's the gold standard, but it's also been around for almost 10 years that I know of, if not longer. I'd think there'd be something better out by now. I've heard of the makita for some time now, and I'd also be super interested in a direct comparison. Does anyone have an exact weight/size comparison? I can only find the weight with the battery for the makita. I'm kind of scared of a comparison at the same time because I'd hate to see I'm using an inferior product and have so many m12 batteries it would be hard to switch at this point. 

For me as well, weight is the main issue. Comparing the m12 to hand drilling in any capacity is pretty silly. Whether it takes 20 or 40 seconds - it's not that big of a deal to me. Weight is definitely key. Although I'd definitely take a few seconds faster for the same weight. 

The number of holes is also not too big of a deal. Drilling more than 12-15 a pitch is a lot, physically. Change the bit and battery to a fresh one after every pitch. Or lower it down mid-pitch to swap.

Brian Prince wrote:

Cool comparison for the makita vs. dewalt. With the 12v dewalt drilling faster but fewer holes (with a lower ah battery). The dewalt looks to be about the same weight as the m12 (and maybe makita?). 

It seems like it's the gold standard, but it's also been around for almost 10 years that I know of, if not longer. I'd think there'd be something better out by now. I've heard of the makita for some time now, and I'd also be super interested in a direct comparison. Does anyone have an exact weight/size comparison? I can only find the weight with the battery for the makita. I'm kind of scared of a comparison at the same time because I'd hate to see I'm using an inferior product and have so many m12 batteries it would be hard to switch at this point. 

I have the DeWalt at 1554g with no battery, and no handle. I have the Makita at 1538g with no handle, and no battery.

I think that the options at 12v are similar to the m12, perhaps marginally better. Considering the cost of new tool and batteries, I think it would be hard to justify a Makita 12v or DeWalt 12v. You can find someone doing a direct comparison of these here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt6FmSC_jak&t=0s

It would also be hard to completely justify the 18v Makita unless you were planning on buying other power tools.

Mikey Schaefer wrote:

EDIT: see above...

This doesn't appear to be accurate.

Milwaukee is owned by TTI  

Dewalt is owned by Stanley Black and Decker

I've used the M12 for a bit of bolting on lead.  It is great especially if you use the little stub battery that fits completely in the grip.  If paired with a short 1/4" bit/bolts the time to place a bolt is incredibly fast.   I've also used an m18 on lead and the only time I could see that making more sense is maybe if you are putting up easy routes on some very hard rock.  The time to drill a hole is vastly less important to me compared to the size and weight of a larger drill.

Cool. I stand corrected.
I remember that factoid from some tool guys youtube who took them apart and they had the same internals (same part numbers) on the 18v/20v with some minor differences on some components. But that very well can be possible without them being owned by the same CO. I dont think either of them makes their own brushless motors so could very well be sourcing from the same MFG.

Gonna see if I can dig that episode up.