Milwaukee Reviews

As usual, you cant miss with Milwaukee products.Almost all my power tools are Milwaukee Red.Price was fair,shipping good.Can't complain.

This is an exact duplicate of the cord which came with my Milwaukee Magnum Hole Shooter corded drill when it was new. It was very convenient to just twist off my badly cut cord and then twist on the new replacement. I am told that it fits all other corded Milwaukee power tools interchangably. Then there is a very solid feel to the connection at the base of the drill handle. I couldn't have chosen a better quality drill than Milwaukee. It is one of the better choices I've made for my shop.

I only have two of the Milwaukee Contractor's bits and I love them, I will buy this set soon. I use them for cutting the many holes required to run house electrical and plumbing. They are perfect for the hard to reach out of position holes that you can't push on a auger bit to cut through. They will eat their way though the center of a tree with a 3' extension.

Since they are self feeding they will not stop untill you let off the trigger and you need a reverse on the drillmotor to back them out of deep holes. Chips will back up and plug deep holes so use the reverse and clear out the chips on deep holes.

If you're not using bimetallic blades...well, you should. They're so much tougher and long lasting than plain steel they'll pay for themselves just in time saved changing broken blades. For cutting metal they're the only choice. This set is a good choice to accompany a new saw.

The concept looks so simple that I wondered why no one had thought of this before. It wasn't until I received this set, that I realized how complex these bits are.

There are several cutting surfaces on each bit that allows the bit to guide through the wood with ease. Even the angled holes that they advertise. These have become my number one boring bits.

I should have ordered the 5 piece set to begin with, as I have already ordered the 2 that this set does not come with. I hope Milwaukee will make some larger sizes as well.

Anyone who runs electrical or plumbing lines through framing will find these indispensable. Especially those odd hard to reach runs, in corners, around columns and supports, or anywhere you need to bore a hole.

The new flat bottom type batteries that power these tools, make this a very handy light, I can set it down, (hands free) aim it with the swivel, and it'll shine anywhere I need it to. A nice change from the stick type battery, from my old cordless drill, light combo.

I use to own a Makita flashlight that used rechargeable batteries, and after that experience, I stayed far away from them. The charge was only good for quick uses... never anything substantial. For years afterwards I use a Maglite whenever I needed a flashlight, but would go through batteries way too often, which became an expensive option. After purchasing a Milwaukee V28 drill, I decided to get the V28 flashlight to go with it. Within three days of getting it, I ended up working on a plumbing problem and spent over three hours under a house at night. After that, I'm convinced the V28 flashlight is the best flashlight ever made. It's VERY bright, and being able to adjust the position of the beam using the pivoting head is a fantastically useful feature. Another feature that I didn't see mentioned is the ability to adjust the 'spread' of the beam like on Maglite flashlights... extremely useful. After three hours, the power didn't even begin to fade.

If you plan on using a Milwaukee 5615, 5616, or 5619 router to do any type of routing needing a template guide (e.g., from the Porter-Cable 42000 kit), this accessory base is mandatory. A template guide is inserted into the base, which is designed to receive a guide -- a template guide screw ring holds the guide in place.

The sub-base is constructed using the identical material of the standard base, and it fits the router perfectly. The only difference is the size of the center hole. This is a high-quality item and you should have no qualms about buying one.

It's a radio. Period. Not a charger. It plays music and has really good sound. I have not tried to max it out, annoy the neighbors or deafen the dogs, but I can play it loud enough and it sounds good. You won't hear it over your circular saw, but you can pound nails and listen. It looks almost bulletproof with a big roll cage.

Tuning is good - holds a stong signal where an older radio I had always drifted. Big knobs make it easy for adjusting volume and tuning, but the tuning knob clicks as you turn it, so you will not surf often by spinng the dial. Does have a seek feature, which is handy. Nice big display for clock and station ID. Weather radio is neat, but volume and quality is lower, so you need to turn it up and deal with some annoying hum - I think from the station. Don't forget to turn it down before going back to the AM/FM radio or they will be LOUD. It has a slight fade-in when it changes preset stations. Nice so you don't get a big blast of sound.

It has color coded EQ settings - off for no bass boost, green for a little, orange and then red for the most. More of a visual check that someone hasn't changed it that it actually giving you any information. Um, ok I'm on orange?

I took one star off for two things - presets only cycle up and pass through power cord. Can't cycle down or go directly to a preset. So you always go "around the horn" to get back to the previous preset. And the pass through power cord only allows non-grounded plugs. So if you put this plug in the outlet first, get your adapter or a tool that doesn't have a grounded plug. You can't cheat it either - it has a molded guard so you can't plug in a three prong plug with only two prongs inserted. I don't have any Milwaukee cordless tools, so I have no info on run time by battery.

This is the new version of Milwaukee's jobsite radio. In addition to AC power and 12-18 volt NiCad batteries, it also runs on Milwaukee's new 28 volt lithium batteries. (Milwaukee plans to market 18v lithium batteries that will work with its already-existing 18v tools. I presume, from the item description, that those batteries will also work with this radio.)

>>>NOTE: This radio, like the previous Milwaukee jobsite radio, does **NOT** charge the cordless tool batteries it runs on. I emailed Milwaukee about this, and was told that they did not incorporate a charger because the focus of this radio is sound quality and radio reception.

I run my radio on Milwaukee's v28 lithium batteries. I would expect the same performance from Milwaukee's other batteries, with the exception that Milwaukee states that this radio will run longer per charge cycle on the v28 batteries. I'll edit this post to include the average run time for a v28 battery after I've used it several times.

Both the reception and sound quality on this radio are fantastic. The sound quality is so good (and loud, if you want it loud) that you'll be glad to listen to this radio anywhere, any time. If you like bass, the Punch EQ offers 3 levels of bass-boost. The first, or lowest, level is plenty for me. I usually listen with the bass boost off entirely.

I previously owned a Bosch PowerBox jobsite CD/Radio. The PowerBox offers many more features (including charging batteries), but I eventually returned it due to its extremely poor radio reception (even with their new external antenna) and inferior speakers.

The Milwaukee's 12 volt DC output jack (like your car's cigarette lighter plug) allows you to use the radio to power an Ipod, satellite radio, cell phone charger, etc. I particularly like the fact that this plug works when the radio is running on battery power (the Bosch PowerBox's 12v plug only works when the PowerBox is plugged in and running on AC current).

The nylon bag on the back of the radio is removable and measures 11" x 8.5" x 2.5", so it's large enough to store quite a bit of stuff (Ipod, CD player, CDs, patch cables, cell phone lighter-plug cable, etc.). The bag has dual zippers so you can leave a small opening at the top for your external audio device's connecting (patch) cable without risking the device falling out. There is also an elastic strap inside the bag to hold things in place, with spaces for 3 pens/pencils.

The LCD clock readout is visible even when the radio is off. In fact, it's visible even when the radio is unplugged and there is no battery pack in it. It's powered by two "AA" batteries (included).

This radio shuts down automatically when whatever rechargeable battery pack you are using gets low. This is important because you NEVER want to completely discharge any cordless tool battery. Doing so can cause cells within the battery to reverse polarity and become ineffective. The battery might still work if this happens, but it won't be producing as much voltage.

The soft-grip handle is comfortable and the rubber-whip style antenna is perfect for a jobsite radio. You can also attach an external antenna to a provided external connector, but the reception is great so I don't see much need for this.

To connect an Ipod or other audio source, you'll need a cable that goes from the output of your audio source to radio's auxiliary input. For an Ipod, this would be a simple patch cable with a (male) stereo mini plug on each end.

A few extra features would make this an ideal radio for any occasion. Padding in the nylon bag would be great (after all, the radio is designed to survive falls and abuse). A remote control would be useful (especially if you're working on a roof or using it in your garage or home). And a "sleep" timer and headphone jack would also be nice.

Some of the features I suggest might seem out of place on a jobsite radio, but I think this radio could find a market with people who will never even visit a "jobsite." The sound quality is there, and the styling offers a real "wow" factor. This radio could be great as a permanent fixture in a kid's room, basement, garage, etc.

Regardless, I give this radio 5 stars because it is the best jobsite radio I've ever heard. More importantly, it is compatible with Milwaukee's v28 lithium-powered cordless tools, which are, without doubt, the best cordless tools on the market.