Milwaukee Tool has announced several new cordless vacuum products as part of their Pipeline 2020 series of episodes. If you missed out, here’s our post about Pipeline, and you can register for Milwaukee tool’s next episode here.
Following is a quick rundown on the 3 newest cordless vacs.
Advertisement
Table of Contents
We had the opportunity for some hands-on time with the new M18 Fuel Packout and M12 Fuel vacuums. More coverage will follow, and please let us know if you have any questions!
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Packout Wet/Dry Vacuum
Users have asked Milwaukee Tool for a Packout-compatible cordless vacuum, and here’s their answer.
We have discussed the new Milwaukee M18 Fuel Packout vacuum in its own post, be sure to check that out.
The vac features wet/dry pickup capabilities, 2.5 gallon collection capacity, and a high/low power switch, as well as Packout tool box connectivity.
Advertisement
Additionally, the vacuum can be operated while it’s connected to Milwaukee Packout tool box components, further boosting its versatility.
Internal storage hoses the included crevice and wide nozzles, as well as being able to accommodate any sized M18 Li-ion battery pack.
Aside from the Packout compatibility and the high/low power switch that provides for max power or lower noise and longer runtime, I am particularly excited about the new power tool hose connection accessory.
Angled nozzles are better for cleaning tasks, but not so much if you want to connect them to corded or cordless power tools. This power tool attachment accessory threads onto the end of the hose and is stepped to allow for connection to different dust port diameters. It’s included with the Packout vacuum and available as a separate accessory.
The M18 Packout and M12 vacuums will share the same filter model number, 49-90-1900, a washable HEPA filter. This filter will also fit the existing 0880-20 cordless vacuum.
If you have any questions that this post or our separate Milwaukee M18 Fuel cordless Packout vacuum post doesn’t cover, please let us know! I have an early pre-production sample that I’ve been putting through the paces.
Packout Vac Quick Specs
- Model 0970-20
- M18 Cordless System
- Brushless Motor
- 2.5 gal Capacity
- Wet/Dry Pickup
- HEPA Filter
- ETA Oct 2020
Milwaukee M12 Fuel Cordless Wet/Dry Vacuum
Milwaukee’s new M12 Fuel wet/dry vacuum is said to deliver 18-volt performance while also being the most compact 12V vacuum.
It is indeed quite compact compared to competitive 18V-class cordless vacuums, and thanks to its high-efficiency brushless motor, it is also far more powerful than typical 12V-class vacuums typically meant for light-duty spot cleanup tasks.
The M12 Fuel vac is said to be the highest performing 12V cordless vacuum, and also quieter than traditional jobsite wet/dry vacuums.
Milwaukee claims that the M12 Fuel vac is noticeably quieter than other competitors in the space, and after some testing of my early sample I definitely have to agree.
But more than that, you also have a high/low power switch, and so you could dial down the power if or when quieter operation or longer runtime is needed.
Under the lid, you have built-in storage space for the included crevice and wide nozzles, and the vac can also accommodate M12 XC batteries for longest runtime than their compact batteries.
The rear of the vacuum has a curious design that makes sense once you look at the accompanying accessory – a mounting dock.
You can attach the mounting accessory to carts, walls, or other such vertical surfaces.
Here’s what everything looks like together. Users supply appropriate fasteners for their wall or cart surfaces. The vacuum removes as easily from the mount as it connects.
M12 Fuel Vac Quick Specs
- Model 0960-21 kit, 0960-20 bare tool
- M12 Cordless System
- Brushless Motor
- 1.6 gal Capacity
- Wet/Dry Pickup
- HEPA Filter
- ETA October 2020
The kit comes with an XC 6.0Ah battery, charger, HEPA filter, crevice tool, utility nozzle wall mount accessory.
The M12 Fuel vac was designed with portable productivity in mind, and to be used in all the kinds of wet or dry pickup tasks you typically have to lug around a larger and heavier 18V-sized or compact corded wet/dry vac for.
At this time, this is the only 12V-class wet/dry vacuum on the market, and it features “18V performance” to boot.
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Compact Vacuum
This is the new Milwaukee M18 Fuel Compact vacuum.
It doesn’t look like much, you might say.
What about now? Oh, the hose and tapered nozzle aren’t practical for your use?
What about now, with a crevice nozzle directly attached to the tool?
Or how about now, with an extension wand and powered floor brush nozzle?
The new Milwaukee M18 Fuel Compact vacuum is designed to be versatile in any environment, and to provide the best spot cleanup performance.
The M12 Fuel and M18 Fuel Packout vacuums discussed above should be able to handle most of your typical jobsite cleanup and dust collection needs. But what about your specialty needs? The times when you need a brush, floor brush, or other such accessory?
This Compact vac was designed to be primarily handheld, and optimized for size. Milwaukee Tool engineered this vacuum and its accessories to be used upright, at waist level, and even overhead.
Special care was taken to ensure there are no chokepoints, with a 1-1/4″ minimal airflow path throughout, which means less clogging. This also includes the powered brushroll.
The M18 Fuel Compact Vacuum is a smaller-sized vacuum. Does this mean it will clog easily? No! The vac features two-stage debris separation, which divides small and large debris into the canister and before entering the filter.
Like the other tools, the cordless Compact vacuum has a high/low power switch.
The vacuum comes with a floor nozzle, powered floor nozzle, flexible hose, crevice tool, utility tool, brush tool (which will be available for separate purchase for use with other vacuums), accessory holder, HEPA filter, and foam pre-filter. It is designed for dry pickup only.
M18 Fuel Compact Vac Specs
- Model 0940-20
- M18 Cordless System
- Brushless Motor
- 32 CFM Air Volume
- 80″ Water Lift Sealed Suction
- 0.25 gal Capacity
- Weighs 4.35 lbs
- Dry Pickup
- HEPA Filter (49-90-2012)
- ETA October 2020
Where to Buy?
The following retailers have set up Pipeline landing pages where you can view all of the new tools after they’re announced, and preorder when available.
Buy Now via CPO Tools
Buy Now via Tool Nut
Buy Now via Acme Tools
Will Milwaukee’s New Cordless Vacs Change Jobsite Cleanup?
You tell me. Do you think any of these vacuums will be more versatile than your current cleanup tools? Easier to use? Faster? More portable? More convenient? Let’s hear your thoughts.
Nils
I have the Dewalt cordless vac. You would think it’s too weak to be useful but for small projects it’s my go to. So nice to quickly clean up a little drywall dust or some wood shavings.
That multi version looks nice, I wonder how it’s power compares to the newer dyson cordless vacs
Tim E.
Some back-of-the-napkin numbers: the Dyson v10 produces 151 airwatts. The top of the line V11 produces 185. Using ASTM F558 – 13, Airwatts = 0.117354 x airflow (in CFM) x water lift (in inches of water column). Random posts I’ve found online put the measured airflow of the v10 around 40CFM. That would give us a water lift around 32″.
Doing the reverse for the milwaukee stick vac, at 32 CFM and 80″ water lift, that gives us 300 airwatts. So roughly twice as “powerful” as the Dyson V10. Take that with a giant huge absurdly large grain of salt though, we’re using manufacturer specifications. Airwatts should be a common ground to combine CFM and water lift numbers into a power number comparable across brands, but we don’t know how either company gets their numbers, what standards they follow, etc. And the numbers don’t make sense.
Put that in a bit more context, doing the calculation for the packout vac (50CFM, 47″) gives us 275 airwatts. The M12 vac (45 CFM 42″) gives us 221 airwatts. Something’s going on. I find it a little hard to believe that the M12 vacuum produces more suction power than the top-of-the-line Dyson.
Let’s consider electrically instead (which is very much less accurate to do unfortunately, but may give more “realistic” numbers). The Dyson v10 motor is supposedly rated at 525 electrical watts. A 6Ah M12 battery is around 65 watt hours. Pulling even 500 watts out of the battery would drain it in 8 minutes. Go down to an M12 1.5Ah battery, that’s around 16 to 17 watt hours. 500 watts would drain that battery in 2 minutes. Lithium ion batteries aren’t really intended to go from full to drained in 2 minutes. Assuming vacuum efficiency is equal (a big assumption since dyson has years of vacuum specific R&D under their belts), for the M12 to be producing more airwatts than the dyson, they’d have to be pulling equivalently more electrical power. That just doesn’t check out.
So lets use completely random numbers I’m making up instead. A lot of vacuums are designed to run 4-6 minutes per amp hour for the connected battery. An M12 1.5Ah battery let’s say would be intended to run the vacuum for about 7.5 minutes, quite short, but not altogether terrible considering the small capacity. 1.5 Amphours * 10.8 Volts / 7.5 minutes = 135 electrical watts. So based on that and a lot of assumptions about equal efficiency again, 135 watts for the M12 / 525 watts for the V10 * 151 airwatts for the V10 equals 40 airwatts for the M12. Not even 1/3 as powerful as a V10 using those random numbers.
We can back up the electrical numbers a bit. We do know Dyson rates their V10 to run for 6 minutes at the maximum power setting. The battery in a V10 is rated at 2.6Ah, and 25.2 volts (65.2 watthours, which funnily enough is roughly equivalent to an M12 6Ah battery). 65.2Wh/6 minutes = 655 watts. Given the non-specificity of “around 6 minutes” given the tightness of the calculations, and that 655 is actually bigger than 525, it seems reasonable for the v10 to be sporting a 525W motor. So that still leaves the unknown of how milwaukee designed the tradeoff of runtime on the M12 vac. Redoing the calculation at 2-3 minutes per amp hour (which would drain a 1.5Ah in about 4 minutes let’s say, pretty harsh on that poor battery), The M12’s motor would be rated at 243 watts. Still less than half the power of a dyson v10.
Tim E.
Sorry, didn’t include my guess calculation for the M18 stick vac. Let’s take the same 4-6 minutes per amp hour assumption, use an M18 2.0Ah battery (doesn’t actually matter what capacity we pick, since the math comes out the same). That 2Ah battery let’s say will last for 10 minutes. That gives the M18 stick vac a motor power of 2Ah*18V/10min = 216 watts. Dropping the runtime with a 2Ah battery to 8 minutes (which would be 20 minutes on a 5.0, etc.) ups that number to 270 watts. Still about half, a little over half, the electrically rated power of a dyson v10.
Tim E.
Another comparison point though I forgot to put, those numbers above all are using the maximum power for those Dysons. 6 minutes is the runtime in “max” or “boost” mode. For the newer models, we usually run them on mid power, which is about 1/4 the power of max (determined based on a runtime ratio of 6 minutes high / 28 minutes medium). Assuming things are linear (they aren’t), 1/4 of 525 watts is 131 watts. Using that number, the numbers assuming 5 minutes runtime per amp hour of battery, and still many assumptions about vacuum efficiency and such, that would make the M18 stick vac about 1.6x as powerful as a dyson v10 on medium.
Mark
your formula for air watts is for a particular orifice. It does not work when using different data points (Max CFM and Blocked inches). In that instance, an approximate calculation is (max cfm x blocked inches)/30= Max Air Watts
Tim E.
My point exactly, we don’t know how they measured or rated. Even with your formula, 32CFM*80in/30 = 85.3 airwatts. More in line with what I might have expected, but also doesn’t line up with the official spec. Milwaukee supposedly rated it at 98 airwatts. Using 25 as the bottom number would be an overshot but closer calculation. Still fudgey in any case since nobody knows the measurement methodology and standards, just have to go off what we are given and guess. The electrical spec guesses actually put it somewhat close. Oh well, fun guessing exercises in the absence of comparable specs right after the release 😀
Tim E.
Another site said 98 airwatts for the M18 stick vac. That’d put it about 2/3 as powerful as a dyson v10 in boost. About 2x as powerful in high as a v10 in mid, in theory.
Aaron
Interesting comparisons. I have an older Dyson V6 Animal that we use as the primary vac in our modestly sized house and couldn’t be happier with the performance. I can’t imagine the sucking power the newer models must have. That said, I’m well invested in the M18 system, so if the Dyson ever kicks it or battery life gets too short, I’d consider this stick vac as a replacement.
A determining factor will be noise levels, however. I go to great lengths to protect my hearing. My M18 cordless vac (0880-20) is as loud or louder than any Shop Vac I have ever used (and not nearly as powerful). I do not use it without hearing protection on. Hope these new models are quieter.
Lance
This Milwaukee looks like it will weight a ton compared to a Dyson. Not likely a good candidate for use in the house. Also, I would imagine (hope) that Milwaukee has designed the powered roller head to work best under construction and/or workshop sites rather than meticulous hardwood floor cleaning or deep carpet cleaning.
Aaron
That’s possible. However, if they managed to make a stick vac that can suck up construction debris like sawdust, shavings, and small fasteners, I’d still be interested in having one, but in my basement workshop instead!
SL
I like my Dewalt because the DCV581H is Corded and Cordless.
When I run out of batteries on road trips, I can still use it plugged into the inverter or on shore power as the batteries get recharged. Space is a premium for road trips with kids.
Chris
Will they now be 3D printing their filters or is that a picture of a pre-production model?
Stuart
This is an existing SKU, although I believe it’s being updated slightly to be washable in addition to cleanable. It’s not uncommon for a prototype to be used for photography purposes, and if so perhaps the subtle texture went unnoticed.
Brian
Chance these new vacs have the same nozzle size? Likely zero…. Chance the M18 ones have the same nozzle size or the recent ones backpack & wet/dry V2? Maybe 50/50. My issue is there is no consistency of nozzle size on the vacs or size of the dust port on the tools.
nwbytom
@Stuart, looking for a shop/garage vac. I’ve been eyeing the backpack vac but this compact vac Model 0940-20 looks interesting and a contender for my needs. Did you get any info on where the 0940-20 is supposed to sit in their line up of M18 vac options or if they gave any other comparisons? ? Cheers!
Tim E.
Can you be more specific on your needs beyond shop/garage vac? For shop/garage, unless you have utility carpet out there, the powered brush head of the 0940 might be overkill for you. Since that seems to be the star of the 0940 and a main reason to get it, you might be better looking to one of the other vacs if you’re just doing concrete.
One of the M18 wet/dry vacs would be more equivalent to a “typical” shop vacuum, but you still make a lot of tradeoffs with cordless. A corded rigid shop vac will likely cost less, last longer overall, have higher capacity, and suck a lot more than any cordless vac you can find.
If you do want something cordless and on the M18 line, consider if you’re going to be doing wet pickup at all or not. If you are, then that limits your choices to either the 0880 or the packout vac. If you’re looking dry only, then you start at the 0882 “teapot” vac, nice because it has a hose still if you need, but also pipes and a floor nozzle for doing floors. The next step up for dry I’d put this 0940, the suction is more tailored to the floor nozzles, and you’re paying for the “stick vac convenience” and powered brush head. It is the only powered brush head in Milwaukee’s lineup though, so likely worth it for that alone if that’s a typical use case. The Backpack vac 0885 I’d put pretty out at the top of the pile, it’s expensive, but has more capacity than the other two non-wet vacs by a significant margin. It’s 55CFM is higher than other milwaukee m18 vacs, but still has 76″ water lift. It’s rated at 159 airwatts, so almost 1.5x as powerful as the 0940. But it lacks that powered brush head. It has a bigger hose and bigger floor nozzle than the 0882, plus the verstility of taking it off the backpack harness is nice. The wet/dry vacs probably fall in above the 0940 and below the 0885, they’ll likely be a bit more powerful than the 0940, but lack the floor cleaning attachments and similar that you get with the dry-only vacs (though you should be able to get 1.25″ pipes and a floor nozzle from HD or similar if desired, or get the ones from the 0882 as separate parts). A lot of people are very happy with the 0882 though, myself included, and it’s half the cost of the new fuel vacs (though same cost as the 0880 wet/dry currently, both at $99).
Robert
I’m a big Milwaukee guy but I went to purchase the M18 table saw and found it made in China, nope refuse to buy it I’m extremely disappointed in Milwaukee on that one
MarylandUSA
Milwaukee’s 2020 vacuums proudly state “Made in USA.” That’s marketspeak for assembled in USA from parts made in Milwaulkee’s giant new plant in Mexico. But at least the vacs are made in North America, and most other Milwaukee tools will also be, by 2021.
King duck
I’m in for the m18 compact. I’ll wait be fore replacing my wet/dry vac
Rich
I’m in as well, 18V. I would preorder but CPO and Toolnut require wait until they notify stock availability. Boo. Acme doesn’t yet show 0940-20 M18 FUEL Compact. I swore I wasn’t going to go Red but have the Hedge trimmer and it works very well (quite heavy though). I have Ryobi, Worx, Makita, Bosch. Light duty homeowner stuff.
The Compact is exactly what I’m looking for to pickup household dust (tons of the dang stuff), for electronic boxes that have knobs on front, keyboards. I actually just picked up the Milwaukee Backpac for reaching high ceilings and general perimeter cleaning or when on ladder.
So far I’m rather pleased with Milwaukee and that coming as real skeptic – a convert of sorts but I never liked their marketing and some other thing. But their tools are pretty nice. All 18V FUEL.
(as an aside the FL12 Bosch LED 12v is my favorite battery device- I need 2-3 more of them) Need a sale they seem to be $49 now, bare.
SL
I’m literally still waiting for Milwaukee’s competitor to the Dewalt’s DCV581H.
A Cordless *AND* Corded!! combination vacuum.
Why is this important? Because it means I can take my vacuum with me on road trips. As a parent, it’s incredibly important to have something in the car or the van to vacuum up the kids crap every day when they eat and spill stuff all over the place. Try picking up individually the bowl of cheerios off the floor after your son or daughter kicks the entire bowl into your wife’s face as you helplessly watch from the driver seat rear view mirror barreling down the highway.
I mean yes, it’s funny, but it’s not funny when she tells you to pull over at the next rest stop to clean it up. Especially after your 3yo’s butt crushes them to powder under his butt for 30 miles.
And this is because the battery is DEAD in the Milwaukee Vacuum. The Dewalt, we just plug it into our inverter and we don’t have to stop.
Dewalt just saved us an hour long rest stop.
Frank D
Growing up, we always stopped to eat, on roads trips, we took breaks and ate a sandwich at picnic benches at rest areas.
Never was there an issue with food in the car, because nobody ever ate in the car.
The cars got an oil change + checkup, cleaned and detailed before the trip. Arrived home just as clean weeks later.
We also did not have fast food or drive throughs.
Times change I guess, but it would be very simple to me: no food in the car.
Big Richard
You must’ve grown up somewhere warm. We traveled in the winter often (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.), and you can’t eat on picnic table when its covered by a foot and a half of snow. And rather than eat out with small children we ate sandwiches and snacks in the car a lot. We did drive-in movies with popcorn and the like as well.
Todd
I see the packout vac as a filter bag as an accessory. I wonder if the bag will also fit the gen 2 m18 cordless vac? ( one with internal hose storage).
Robert
Perhaps Milwaukee needs to weigh in and address all these comments officially… power comparisons, corded+cordless model, 100% Made in the USA, % Made in USMCA?
J
Given that one of the marketing points for the M12 Wet/Dry is its size, do you have the units dimensions?