Among them many new Milwaukee Tool outdoor power equipment products that were introduced late last year and this year, the new Milwaukee M18 Blower ($279), which uses a brushless motor and powered by a new Milwaukee 9.0 Ah High Demand battery, was one of the more impressive products.
In the past, battery-powered handheld leaf blowers have always had problems with battery life, considering they use up a lot of power, but the new Milwaukee M18 Blower has jumped over that hurdle with a new battery power supply that will get you through your entire job.
Milwaukee M18 Blower Design
Design-wise, the Milwaukee M18 blower is an inline axial, which prevents more loss between the intake and the output. The M18 Blower feels well-balanced in the hand. No heavy motor to struggle with on one end, and the tube is dipped slightly downward while you grasp the handle so it’s easy to point it at the ground when you’re clearing leaves and debris. It’s also incredibly light weight, about half the weight of a gas blower.
Features
For this type of outdoor tool, the Milwaukee M18 blower has quite a lot of features. Firstly, the motor is brushless. Secondly, and as mentioned, it has an axial design, which takes air directly from behind the impeller and pushes it straight through the motor and out the blower tube, which is an extremely efficient way to move air and sustain the power.
The Milwaukee M18 Blower’s max air speed tops out at 100 MPH, but the blower moves 450 CFM (cubic feet per minute). That’s a lot, and combined with the run-time, it’s a super balance of speed and power.
The trigger has a cruise control dial on the top of the handle, which lets you dial up the speed from zero to the max, providing a full range of speed. It’s worth noting that if you have the Milwaukee M18 Blower set at full max before you turn it on, when you do power it up, it’s going to skid away from you. That’s how powerful it is.
Use
When using the Milwaukee M18 Blower, the cruise control function came in handy, allowing for easy blowing without concentrating on how hard I was squeezing the trigger. Additionally, I got a lot of consistent air volume, allowing me to reach debris 6-10 feet away with very effective clearing.
A lot of blowers are super loud, but the Milwaukee M18 Blower was not deafening. In fact, the noise decimal range was lower than other battery-powered blowers, and much lower as compared to gas blowers. And there was also very little vibration on the Milwaukee M18 Blower. It’s very comfortable to use, even for longer periods of time.
Finally, regarding run-time, we got about 25-minutes out of the blower at full-blast, and around a whopping hour-and-a-half on low. Milwaukee’s 9.0 Ah battery pack definitely performs, and you can give it a good charge in less than 30 minutes, which is nice when you’re trying to complete a job and you run out of juice.
Bottom Line
The Milwaukee M18 Blower is probably the best blower on the market these days, complete with ergonomics, great run-time, super air flow speed, and above all POWER! Many handheld blowers use higher voltage batteries, but Milwaukee has stuck with the same 18V platform, and the M18 Blower represents a solid entry into the world of performance blowers.
The Milwaukee M18 Blower 2728-21HD runs $279, and you can purchase it at Home Depot. For more information, visit Milwaukee’s product page here.
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