At their event this summer, Milwaukee was making all kinds of to-do about their new brushless motors. We were quite literally taken behind a tall black curtain (the kind from which strippers normally pop out) into a hushed little area and shown the brushless rigs. It was our first glimpse of the M18 fuel lineup. I should have been paying more attention to what Steve and the guys were saying, but once behind the curtain I was still hoping for strippers.
Luckily, Milwaukee breaks it down in their press release:
Milwaukee Tool continues to revolutionize cordless power tools with the introduction of M18 FUEL – an exclusive line of extreme-performance cordless power tools designed, engineered and built by Milwaukee to deliver unmatched productivity. As the clear leader in cordless tool development, Milwaukee has integrated three ground-breaking technologies: the POWERSTATE brushless motor, REDLITHIUMbattery technology, and REDLINK PLUS Intelligence, to provide a new class in durability, run-time and performance for the professional tradesman.
What that means is Milwaukee coupled their 18v Red Lithium-Ion batteries, the new Powerstate brushless motors, and the equally new Redlink plus — a new ‘tronics set that uses the energy from the battery more effectively — and stuffed it into a slightly smaller package. What it means for us, the end users, is more power that lasts longer with motors that don’t need near as mush (read: any) fussing over.
From everything we’ve heard thus far, the new packages start shipping in Jan. ’12 and will run about the same pricing as the current lineup. We’ll see if it holds up to the marketing claims and plays well with the current lineup’s battery packs vs. chargers during our upcoming hands-on testing.
Milwaukee Electric [Website]