Milwaukee M18 Cordless Wet/Dry Vacuum
The Milwaukee M18 vacuum is a cordless wet or dry vacuum , uses the 18 volt tool battery from Milwaukee, has a large 2 gallon tank, utility hose with two attachments and a blower feature.
Ease of Use/Performance: 24/25
Convenience/Storage 24/25
Appearance/Design 24/25
How much I enjoy 23/25
Total: 95/100
The Milwaukee M18 Cordless Wet/Dry Vacuum model 0880-20 is a shop vac or household quick pick up tool for those smaller jobs or work shop cleaning tasks. The Milwaukee M18 vacuum uses the M18 battery common to the Milwaukee 18 volt cordless tool system so any M18 batteries will work in it.
The Milwaukee Cordless Wet/Dry vacuum comes with the vacuum, filter, a 1 1/2 inch vacuum hose, crevice tool and wide utility nozzle but not a battery or charger. This was an odd decision but makes sense if you have purchased previous M18 tools and have plenty of batteries plus a charger.
The Milwaukee Vacuum sells for about $100 and a battery set with charger and battery costs about $120 to $180 depending on the model you purchase. The Milwaukee vacuum can run on any M18 battery that is an 18 volt battery from Milwaukee which has three different versions both NiCad and Lithium-Ion.
All three versions use one of two chargers that cost about $70 so the total cost you can expect to spend for the vacuum, a battery and charger would run from $220 to $280. This may seem like a lot, okay it is a lot of money but any rechargeable costs about the same but you have the possible benefit of already having batteries.
If you have other Milwaukee tools or are looking for some new ones purchasing the same system would make a lot of sense and several of the M18 tools come with 2 batteries. You can also purchase the M28 28 volt version but batteries cost about $10 more while the vacuum and chargers cost about the same as the M18 version.
The Milwaukee vacuum does feature a large 2 gallon tank that easily holds plenty of dirt and wood chips or sawdust for shop and garage use or around the house cleanup. The top opens with two catches much like a tool box to hold the battery with spots for the tools and the bottom tank uses two large catches on each side.
The tool box sized vacuum is 17 by 9 inches and 12 inches tall with easily half the entire vacuum being the debris tank so you have plenty of space to hold dirt. Each end has either the intake or blower port where you can connect the included hose that is the standard vacuum hose size for household vacuums.
The Milwaukee M18 vacuum comes with a flat nozzle for cleaning up a wider swath than the round hose end and a crevice tool but the common 1 1/2 inch size means any tools from other vacuums will fit. I have a wide assortment of tools from previous vacuums and the variety I have fits readily on the Milwaukee vacuum for a nice home cleaner.
This again was the main reason I wanted to try out a cordless vacuum, walking around the house and getting those dust bunnies and hair from my pets without having to drag out the corded vacuum. The Milwaukee vacuum is the best vacuum I have reviewed so far and easily beats out my small Black & Decker corded vacuum as my quick cleanup tool.
The Milwaukee vacuum uses a round filter cartridge inside the debris tank to keep dust and dirt out of the motor and the filter is washable for easy cleaning. The filters are available, along with the vacuum and batteries, from several sites and stores for about $20.
The Milwaukee M18 vacuum has an internal float that seals against the motor intake when liquid inside the tank rises high enough in the tank to prevent the liquid from going into the motor. This same system is common to all wet/dry vacuums and works very well to prevent the liquid from going into the electrical components and short circuiting the motor.
I have been using the Milwaukee vacuum for a couple of months and have been very satisfied with its performance and battery life is great at about 10 to 11 minutes of continuous use. The vacuum is powerful enough to pick up gravel and sand while I was mixing some concrete for a small step in my garage and cleaned the mess inside the garage door.
I have been using the vacuum constantly inside my house almost exclusively but I have used it for odd jobs, it is definitely going to be my inside tool for pet hair on a daily basis. I do not think I have found any better tool for daily cleaning in a convenient and handy vacuum for those hair balls, nefarious dust bunnies and general dust around my mostly wood floored home.
The Milwaukee M18 vacuum works very well at odd jobs like when I was installing my front porch windows recently and had to cut all the wood trim and support wood for the new windows. I was able to easily use the portable vacuum without ever having to mess with moving power cords around as all my tools were cordless.
I can easily see why construction crews are so quick to use cordless tools when they can to keep the hassle of running power cords to jobs sites. I have also used the vacuum while pouring some concrete in my garage in two places for the sand and gravel that spilled into the garage on the floor while preparing the job.
The vacuum handled the job easily and is handy to use for these smaller jobs instead of having to use a broom and pickup the debris with a dust pan. I can easily see the many varied uses of a good portable vacuum that has good suction with a larger tank, much larger than those Dust Busters.
I highly recommend the Milwaukee M18 Cordless Wet/Dry Vacuum for a tough and versatile vacuum that does also come in the 28 volt version if you use that tool series.