Chuck Cage

Standard drills will barely make a chip in concrete or brick. That’s why contractors drilling holes in a home’s foundation use rotary hammer drills like this new Hitachi DH50MRY. In addition to the standard spinning bit, it slams a weight—the hammer—forward to create a sort of jackhammer effect to crush masonry as it drills. But all that pounding beats the heck out of your hands and arms. The Hitachi is one of the first to integrate a counterweight to absorb recoil. The result is a safer and easier-to-control drill that’s still concrete’s worst nightmare.