Tool Box Buzz

Milwaukee M18 Hand Vacuum

3.5/5

Manufacturer: Milwaukee
Model number: 0882-20
Price: 128.00
Power source: M18 Cordless
Weight: 4.3

Milwaukee M18 Compact Vacuum 0882-20 Review

What’s red, looks like a tea kettle and sucks?  Give up?

Its the Milwaukee M18 Hand Vacuum, it doesn’t actually suck in a bad way, it’s 40 CFMs suck up dirt and dust such as, drywall dust, and saw dust. We recently took this vacuum on some service and punch list calls, as well as put it to the test in our workshop.  Read more to see what we think.

Milwaukee M18 Vacuum Runtime

Portable cordless vacuums are ideal if you need a small, easy-to-maneuver vacuum for quick-pickup tasks on a job site or in the work shop. Their perfect for poking into small spaces that the larger accessories on full-sized vacuum cleaners can’t access. The one downside to these small cordless vacuums is that they have a relatively short runtime.

This Milwaukee M18 Hand Vacuum will run for 25-minutes on a M18 5.0 Ah battery and 43 minutes with the 9.0 Ah battery. While not an amazing amount of runtime, its a lot better than some of the cordless vacuums I’ve used and tested in the past.

Using the Milwaukee M18 Compact Vacuum

The Milwaukee M18 compact vacuum has a pistol grip and trigger with a trigger lock on feature. This allows you to place the vacuum down, leave the tool and use both hands moving items to clean around them with the hose and wand.

For us size matters – this vacuum is small and compact, it weighs 4.3 pounds, and is easily carried, transported or positioned. Additionally it easily fit into confined spaces allowing you to clean those hard to reach spots.

The accessory kit for this vacuum has two extension tubes to allow you to hold the vacuum or use it with the tubes for hand held cleaning. After using the extension wand I think Milwaukee should make them longer to avoid bending over as much – think aching back.

This unit is not just a hand held vacuum.  Alternatively, you can put the unit down, attach the 4-foot hose, lock the trigger on and use the unit as a stationary vacuum. This might be useful for hooking up to a tool for a short duration of sawdust collection.

For example, I recently used the vacuum attached to my edge planer.  I had to plane a door, and instead of removing the door, I was able to take 5 short passes off the top of the door. With the vacuum attached to my planer, I captured 95% of the sawdust.  A quick vacuum of the floor under this door and I was in and out – fast service call!  It worked well in this instance and allowed me to avoid removing the door and from bringing in my larger heavier vacuum system.

In the workshop I have found a ton of uses for the Milwaukee M18 contact vacuum. Its perfect for small amounts of sawdust, spills or for cleaning in between major cleanings. I especially like that the hose stretches from 3-feet to 6-feet. This 1-1/4″ diameter hose has a solid construction feel, and a memory allowing it to recoil back to 3-feet after extension.

Capacity

Both sides of the tea pot, I mean vacuum have clear plastic windows that allow you to visually monitor the container capacity. The canister capacity is similar to a good night of beer drinking – it has a 36 ounce capacity.

Applications

While small in comparison to most job site vacuums this vacuum has its place:

• Small spills, debris
• Punch list jobs
• Quick dust collection for tools
• Portable, fast clean ups
• Shop clean up

Filter

The Milwaukee M18 Hand Vacuum comes with a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter. It is not a HEPA vacuum but this filter does a nice job at trapping smaller particulate and keeping it inside the sealed canister.

The debris chamber canister is easily opened and secured by a secure locking latch and sealed with a rubber gasket. Inside the canister is a easy to empty HEPA filter cartridge canister.

Milwaukee M18 Compact Vacuum Accessories

• 4’ -6′ Hose
• (2) Wand extensions
• Crevice Tool
• Floor Tool

Milwaukee M18 Hand Vacuum Specifications

• Air Volume 40 CFM
• Inlet Diameter 1-1/4”
• Canister Volume 36oz
• Filter: Removable HEPA
• Weight 4.3lb

Milwaukee M18 Compact Vacuum 0882-20 Video Review

The Milwaukee M18 compact vacuum has its place in the shop and on the jobsite. It’s a quintessential vacuum for folks that perform punch list and service related jobs. The Milwaukee M18 Hand Vacuum sells online for $128.00

1 Comment

1. Tom

   December 15, 2016 at 10:41 am

   I have the M12 version that we use around the house or bring on long trips to keep the car less dirty. It is a decent little vac.

   The big issue I have is the availability and cost of the filters. Home Depot carried the vac, but not filters. I ordered 4 and with shipping, they were about $8-9 each. HD carries them online now, but they are still $5 each. What I would really like is a washable HEPA filter

   Reply

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