Earlier today someone asked me about what I knew about any new Milwaukee M28 cordless tools coming out.
What new M28 tools?
Milwaukee had made it very clear that their focus is on M12 and M18 cordless power tool platforms. That’s also part of the whole point of their 9.0Ah battery pack. The upcoming M18 9.0Ah battery pack, and tools designed around its greater power delivery potential, is their answer to demanding applications.
Okay, so there is a new rotary hammer, model 0757-22. Well, it was new.
Last year, in mid-May 2015, Nathan wrote in:
I was browsing new tools at Home Depot’s website and stumbled across an M28 FUEL SDS hammer drill. Looks like they may be making the next steps to incorporate FUEL tools in their M28 lineup!
The link is still up, take a quick peek:
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
What do you see? Zero reviews, a testament, I believe, to the waning popularity of the Milwaukee M28 lineup in the USA. A lot of users bought into the M28 lineup, and competitors’ higher voltage lineups, for the greater power. But with today’s 18V brushless Li-ion power tools offering plenty of power and even corded-rivaling performance, there’s less a need for higher voltage tools.
Do you disagree? M28 and 36V tool users, please chime in!
The 0757-22 M28 rotary hammer isn’t even widely available in the USA. Not all Milwaukee dealers carry it, at least from what I’ve seen, even after being available for a year now.
I’m sure some M28 users bought it and are quite happy with its performance. Maybe it even performs better than the M18 Fuel rotary hammers.
You know, Milwaukee didn’t even announce this tool when it first came out. Or since then. It’s not like they wanted to sweep it under the rug, but they weren’t shouting about it from rooftops either.
Oh, and sorry Nathan, I meant to get back to you. I asked questions about the rotary hammer and the M28 lineup at Milwaukee’s 2015 media event, and I think I forgot to get back to you directly. I’m sure I mentioned it somewhere that Milwaukee declared their focus on M12 and M18 lineups, but I still owed you a response. Sorry.
Back to the point. Last year, Milwaukee said something along the lines of there not being any new M28 tools on the roadmap, but that they would also continue to support the line.
They didn’t even show off the new M28 Fuel brushless rotary hammer at last year’s media event.
When asked about the new M28 rotary hammer specifically, they said something about the M28 lineup still having a strong following overseas.
At the time, I drew the conclusion that they released the new M28 Fuel brushless rotary hammer here in the USA only because they had already developed it for a foreign market. I think I recall it being Australia where M28 tools were still in strong demand, keeping the line alive.
So… yeah…
There won’t be any M28 brushless tables saws, miter saws, or other high demand tools.
M18, on the other hand…
We know that Milwaukee will be introducing their new M18 Fuel cordless miter saw at the upcoming media event.
If you ask me, an M18 table saw is possibly also in the works, one that’s designed to work with their 9.0Ah batteries.
In a conversation with Milwaukee, after briefly demoing their new M18 Fuel brushless cordless nailers, they said something that stuck in my mind, and hard.
Milwaukee had said that they will be hitting the carpentry and remodeling trades hard in the next few years.
So, what’s on the typical carpentry or remodeling pro’s cordless power tool wishlist?
I think that a cordless table saw is definitely on the list. I know that I for one am hopefully for a full-sized HEPA vac, but developing such a high-drain continuous-use tool is going to be ripe with challenges, if not impassable hurdles.
To sum things up, M28 is still alive, but there’s nothing new, and I would be incredibly surprised if there are any new releases anytime soon. M18 is Milwaukee’s focus right now, along with M12, and that’s where the innovations will come from.