5 Milwaukee Power Tools Users Say You Should Steer Clear Of

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Out of all the major power tool brands on the market today, few can match Milwaukee for the sheer number of products in its catalog. That said, while the brand has a reputation for build quality and performance, as well as a long history of developing game-changing power tool technology, even the most impressive brands have come out with a few stinkers here and there.

While most of Milwaukee's tools tend to be rated very highly, there are a handful of offerings that the company's most devoted fans admit have missed the mark. One of the best ways to find out which of these tools should be avoided is to take a look at what users have had to say about them. By examining the weighted review scores on sites with aggregate rating systems, such as Home Depot,  Ace Hardware, and Amazon, you can get a feel for which products have had the lowest customer satisfaction.

Then, by examining the actual reviews, you can see if any patterns emerge that might suggest poor build quality, lackluster performance, or some other recurring issue that has caused users to give it a low score. Once you know what's dragging down its score, it's much easier to decide if you want to risk it or if you think it's a tool that's best avoided. Here are a handful of Milwaukee products that you're better off avoiding.

The Milwaukee M12 Compact Vacuum isn't the lowest-rated product that the company makes, but it has received several consistent complaints from users across multiple platforms that suggest it probably isn't as good as it could be. Since it's part of Milwaukee's M12 portable productivity system, it's not as powerful as the larger and more expensive vacs in the M18 system — and, if you've ever turned on a vacuum cleaner and seen your lights flicker, you know vacuums need a lot of power to do their job. 

Milwaukee states that this hand vac can deliver 33 CFM of suction controlled via a lock-on switch and has a runtime of up to 29 minutes on a single XC4.0 Ah battery. It also comes with a range of attachments, has a clear viewing window, and a reusable 42-pleat filter.

This one has a 3.4 out of 5 rating on the Milwaukee website and a somewhat less alarming 4.2 on the Home Depot site, though only 75% of reviewers there said that they'd recommend it to others. Most of the positive reviews highlight the vacuum's compact size and portability, while a majority of the negative comments had to do with its lackluster suction and weak overall performance. Some even claimed that the vacuum struggled with dust and other light debris. Redditor u/youincolor even started a thread for it, stating, "I've had this for like 4 years but never bother to try to use it because it literally can't suck up a spiderweb. [...] The filter is basically brand new but even if I take it off I can feel it sucking nearly nothing."

Another Milwaukee product you'll want to avoid is the 10:1 Infrared Temp Gun. This is a tool that promises to measure surfaces from -22 to 752 degrees Fahrenheit. The 10:1 distance ratio means that it can measure something with a 1-foot radius from approximately 10 feet away. It also has an LCD screen, a configurable temperature alert system, several user modes, and a nose bumper. There are a wide variety of applications for a tool like this, from gauging temperatures in metalworking to identifying cold spots in your home where insulation might be leaking. With so many features and applications, you'd think that this would be a great tool to have, but most users seem to disagree.

This tool has an embarrassing 1.6 out of 5 rating on Milwaukee's website, a 3.3 on Home Depot with a 45% recommendation rate, and a 1.7 out of 5 on Acme Tools. There are several complaints about the tool showing inaccurate temperatures, with the tool regularly being off by more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit. For example, one review on the Milwaukee website claims that it's consistently 15 degrees under. What's worse is that there isn't any way to recalibrate it. This would be bad enough, but several others have also reported issues with the guidance laser abruptly ceasing to function, making the tool all but impossible to aim. 

Next up, we have the Milwaukee Rover Magnetic Flood Light. This is a relatively simple portable bar light powered by AA batteries. It has a 12-foot drop rating, a rotating metal pocket clip, and two output modes: High Mode, which produces 300 lumens for up to five hours, and Low Mode, which is only 100 lumens but lasts up to 16 hours. It has two magnets built into the top and back of the light, which allow you to stick it to metal surfaces. 

The Rover Magnetic Flood Light is rated 1.4 out of 5 on Milwaukee's site, a strangely much higher 4.2 on Home Depot's page in spite of its low 60% recommendation rate, 1.5 on Acme Tools, 1.6 on Northern Tool, and 1.6 at Ace Hardware. Except for the Home Depot rating, this paints a pretty clear picture of general customer dissatisfaction, especially with the reliability.

There are several complaints about the housing being made of cheap-feeling plastic and the locking thread over the batteries breaking easily. Several users have stated that it consumes AA batteries much faster than it's supposed to. But it seems the biggest recurring issue is that the light will suddenly stop working, eventually only staying on for a few seconds after activation before turning itself off — even with fresh batteries.

Users generally aren't fans of Milwaukee's M18 Switch Tank 4-Gallon Backpack Sprayers, despite the company's claim that the kit offers "the industry's first interchangeable tank design with no manual pumping." This is not only convenient but also allows a user to minimize cross-contamination by using separate tanks for substances that shouldn't be mixed. 

The sprayer itself has a 5-mode knob that allows you to control an adjustable pressure range from 20-120 PSI with a 25-foot spray distance. Milwaukee states that a Redlithium M18 XC3.0 battery is enough for 12 full tanks of spraying on a single charge. It also has Viton critical seals, a dual diaphragm pump, a transport handle, a wide-mouth opening and strainer, and wide straps to spread the weight. Unfortunately, it seems that this product also has some significant quality issues.

The backpack sprayer has a 1.8 out of 5 rating on Milwaukee's site, and a 2.9 out of 5 on Home Depot, with a worryingly low 33% recommendation rate. The big issue seems to be that the seals aren't quite up to snuff, with many users reporting tank leaks. This isn't just an inconvenience, but can be dangerous when dealing with chemicals that aren't safe to touch. Some users' tanks developed leaks less than one year after purchase, while others have had issues from day one. Several owners reported clogging issues as well.

The Milwaukee M18 Compact Heat Gun isn't as consistently disliked as many of the others on this list, but there are still enough consumer complaints to raise some eyebrows. On paper, this compact heat gun promises some decent specs. Milwaukee claims that it has a High Performance Heating Coil, which allows it to reach its full operational temperature in just seven seconds. It also has a guarded nozzle, a built-in LED light, a ladder hook, and supports Milwaukee's Redlink Intelligence system.

The M18 Heat Gun has a 3.9 out of 5 rating on Milwaukee's site, 3.8 with a 68% recommendation rate on Home Depot, 3.9 on Acme Tool, and 3.9 on Ace Hardware, showing a degree of consistency across platforms we haven't seen on many other Milwaukee tools. People generally seem to approve of the compact design and the portability of a battery-powered heat gun, but there are a few issues that are hard to ignore.

The biggest complaint of the M18 Compact Heat Gun is that it simply isn't hot enough. One review, for example, claims that it can only just about melt solder in connectors, but is too weak to heat 1-inch conduit for bending. Others have expressed irritation at the fact that the gun doesn't have a trigger lock function. That means users have to keep the trigger depressed manually the entire time that they're using it, which can be fatiguing on bigger projects.

To make this list, we started by searching the Milwaukee sections of major retail sites like Amazon, Home Depot, and Ace Hardware. We then ranked the options by the aggregate customer review scores, then started at the bottom, looking at the lowest-rated items that the company makes. We limited our search to items that had a significant number of reviews, so that a single bad review wouldn't tank the entire product score, while also keeping an eye out for products that reviewed poorly across multiple platforms.

After identifying a number of products, we went through the reviews themselves, looking for common problems that were repeated by multiple users. Multiple reviews citing the same complaints are a strong indicator that there is a genuine flaw in the tool's design or that there is an issue with quality control, so looking for these is one of the best ways to inform potential buyers of which Milwaukee tools they might prefer to avoid.