Product review: Hitachi DH25 DAL cordless SDS hammer drill

Roger Bisby tests the Hitachi DH25 DAL cordless SDS hammer drill.

Hitachi is a power tool manufacturer that often gets overlooked for hammer drills.  I see their  saws out on site and they  do well with the cordless combis but from that evidence alone they don’t seem to have the same share of the hammer market.   When you compare the price of their 25.2 volt to others on the market it is often considerably cheaper. This is partly due to the fact that they don’t have a brushless motor in this class and partly due to the fact that they supply it with 2 x 2 AmHr batteries while many others are packaging 4AmHr batteries. That low price doesn’t mean you are looking at a throw-away drill. This tool comes with a 3 year warranty.

If you are happy with the reduced runtime of 2AmHr then this tool gets you into cordless hammers  at what some might call the entry level.  That doesn’t mean it underperforms. There is plenty of punch in this machine but it doesn’t have the detached ant vibration handle that some other hammers have so it is clearly not aimed at someone who is putting in fixings all day every day.

There is also a little switch on the handle that reduces the power. This will increase the run time but it also saves damaging small diameter SDS bits 5mm or less which really don’t warrant full hammer from a drill of this size .  The only other place I might use reduced hammer power  is for delicate breaking out and chipping. If, for example, you want to chip a little bit off a brick to enlarge a whole rather than split the brick in two this setting would help achieve that but that  is not about saving power more reducing it. Hitachi advises against using the power save mode on SDS wood bits which require a lot of torque. If you do use the power save mode on high torque it can cause the motor to stall which then causes burn out.

Who is it for?
It is a tool for the jobbing builder, plumber, electrician and window fitter because it has a non hammer rotary position that allows you to use it with a chuck adaptor (not supplied) as well as using in on hammer with an SDS bit. Crucially it also has a rotary stop so you can use it for chipping. It is not intended for breaking up concrete and it might struggle chasing out a strong screed mix but hacking off tiles, chasing out internal skins for pipes and cable and cutting in back boxes is are right up its street.

Battery exclusivity
Strangely the 25.2 battery is not shared by other tools in the Hitachi range so you can’t build on this platform as you might with an 18 volt drill.  This is proof perhaps that Hitachi does things a little differently rather than following the herd. This may be the reason why they are not quite as prevalent in the cordless SDS hammer sector as in other sectors is but if you are happy to have a tool that has its own exclusive batteries and charger and still leave you with a sizeable chunk of money in your back pocket then this tool is well worth a closer look.