Milwaukee, WI
5 Expensive Milwaukee Tools Users Say Are Worth Buying – SlashGear
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There’s no way around it: Milwaukee is an expensive brand. The toolmaker produces a lot of niche tools that specialized professionals rely on, as well as more common work tools and small, portable alternatives for DIYers and renters, and none are known for being especially affordable. For that, you’ll want to look at cheaper brands like Ryobi, Hercules, and Kobalt instead.
However, purchasing an expensive tool doesn’t mean you’re wasting your money. Sure, buying into the Milwaukee ecosystem is a serious investment, but sometimes that investment pays off in spades. That’s true for a lot of the more expensive Milwaukee tools, but the five examples on this list represent the most beloved products made by the brand that the community absolutely recommends, even if they have a big price tag attached.
Of course, you should check for any active promotions. If you shop at Home Depot, for example, you can often get a Milwaukee tool with a battery included at no extra cost.
M18 Fuel Hammer Drill and Impact Driver Combo Kit
This kit, which includes the M18 Fuel Hammer Drill, the Impact Driver, and two M18 XC 5.0Ah batteries, is normally $400. It is not the cheapest way to get a drill and a driver, and even Milwaukee itself sells a more affordable hammer drill and impact driver bundle as part of the M12 portable productivity system lineup.
That said, $400 is a good price for a kit as versatile and powerful as this, at least according to professional reviewers and those who own it. The bundle has a nearly perfect review score on Home Depot, and Pro Tool Reviews called the M18 Fuel Impact Driver in this kit “the best all-around impact driver we’ve tested to date.” While the publication didn’t have quite the same words for the drill, it was still highly recommended, especially for its overall value.
That’s the secret to this bundle. While it isn’t cheap, the reason users so often recommend it is that, compared to buying its individual components, the kit is a steal. The two included batteries are usually sold for $170 each, while just one of these tools costs more than $200, making this combo kit, model number 3697-22, the cheaper option by far. Plus, the kit often goes on sale, and sometimes it comes with the High Output 6.0Ah M18 battery pack as a “free gift,” which is worth $200.
M18 Fuel Oscillating Multi-Tool
Sold for $250, most users say the M18 Fuel Oscillating Multi-Tool is worth the price, even if other brands’ alternatives are quite a bit cheaper. DeWalt even sells a whole kit with battery, a charger, a bag, and an oscillating multi-tool for less than just the Milwaukee tool. Professional reviews of Milwaukee’s tool are very positive, with Pro Tool Reviews listing its relatively slow tool-free blade change as the only negative. Meanwhile, users simply love it, with many comparing it favorably to DeWalt’s version. At the time of writing, this tool is offered in a bundle with a High Output 6.0Ah M18 battery at no additional cost. According to users, this kind of deal happens pretty often.
While it seems to be aimed at carpenters (lots of enthusiastic users are, in fact, carpenters), there’s a lot you can do with a Milwaukee oscillating multi-tool. However, you need to get the right blades and attachments first. You can buy Milwaukee blades. However, with much less attention from users, it’s hard to say if they’re worth the higher price. Thankfully, a number of Ryobi attachment sets work on Milwaukee multi-tools, and they’re way cheaper than Milwaukee’s originals. A 16-piece set of blades and accessories from Ryobi will cost you about $50, significantly less than Milwaukee’s $70 eight-piece blade kit.
M18 Fuel Hackzall Reciprocating Saw
While it’s now a somewhat common term for all small reciprocating saws, Milwaukee invented and owns the name Hackzall. It’s no surprise, then, that the company makes some of the best versions of this versatile one-handed tool. Its versatility means you’ll likely be using it more often than other cutting tools. Users recommend you pick the best of the best, the M18 Fuel Hackzall. This is a brushless tool, meaning (among other things) that the motor is less likely to fail; great for something you’ll get a lot of use out of.
The Fuel Hackzall is more expensive than non-M18, non-Fuel Milwaukee versions, as well as other brands’ alternatives. DeWalt’s Atomic Brushless reciprocating saw is technically just as expensive (both are sold at $200 when not on sale), but you can get DeWalt’s for free “with a qualifying purchase,” like a big pack of batteries and chargers.
Still, users say the Milwaukee is absolutely worth the price for the pivoting shoe and power. It gets 4.8 out of 5 stars on Home Depot, is recommended by many of its users, and has great professional reviews as well.
M18 Fuel 1/2-inch Controlled Mid-Torque Impact Wrench
Why is an impact wrench that only goes up to 250 ft-lb of torque priced at $1,599.00? As you might imagine, the 1/2-inch Controlled Mid-Torque Impact Wrench isn’t a normal impact wrench. “Controlled” in the name refers to the ability to set a target torque via the One Key app without worrying that the tool will overtorque: an ability that few impact wrenches have, and one that Milwaukee claims to have perfected. And every single user review on Home Depot is a full five stars, wholeheartedly recommending this tool to those who need it.
According to Milwaukee, rather than relying on the imprecise method of counting the blows performed by the tool, this impact wrench uses sensors and “machine learning developed algorithms” to achieve higher repeatability. In this context, high repeatability means that repeated uses of the tool under similar circumstances create very similar results. Setting the torque to 100 ft-lb might not result in that exact number (that’s accuracy), but it will produce the same number every time.
If you were confused by its price, you weren’t the only one. Users ask about it quite often on the Milwaukee subreddit, and the answer is always the same: For someone who works on large-scale installation projects where precise torque levels are necessary, this tool (or the higher and lower torque models) is absolutely worth the money. As Milwaukee points out, the controlled torque line is designed for utility-scale solar projects like solar farms. And as noted by Pro Tool Reviews in its buying guide for this product, a trusty controlled torque impact wrench can save lots of time by removing the need to finish each bolt with a manual torque wrench.
M18 Fuel Gen-2 Mid Torque Impact Wrench
More users recommend the Fuel Mid Torque Impact Wrench over the high torque version, since it’s not as heavy and can still handle most of what you can throw at it. With up to 650 ft-lb of breakaway torque, 2,575 max rpm, and a dedicated function to maximize torque when removing tough bolts, it shouldn’t have any problems with removing lug nuts from cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks.
Some users point out that it can struggle with nuts stuck with rust, but most owners seem to agree that, even at $279, the Mid Torque 1/2-inch Impact Wrench is worth its price. It has a near-perfect review score on Home Depot, with a 4.9-star average from over 2,500 user reviews. Users on forums praise the weight-to-power ratio, and professional reviews place it near the top of the pile for mid-torque impact wrenches.
When using it with a large 5.0Ah battery, it weighs only around five pounds, while the head is only about six inches long, which helps it fit into tighter spaces. With four power modes and an auto shut-off to prevent overtightening, it’s a relatively precise tool, too.
Before the Violent Femmes became a world-famous band with a multi-platinum record, they started the same way any other group would in Milwaukee: playing wherever they could.
Local clubs weren’t interested in their unique musical style, so they took to playing on sidewalks and street corners until they were first discovered while performing outside of a Pretenders concert at the Oriental Theater in 1981.
They self-funded their first album, which went on to sell more than 7 million copies.
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The story of the Violent Femmes’ Milwaukee origins and improbable rise to fame is the subject of a new book in the long-running music book series called “33⅓.”
Author Nic Brown joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to share the significance of the band’s self-titled debut album and what he learned from interviewing band members and producers.
The following was edited for clarity and brevity.
Rob Ferrett: For people who aren’t familiar with the Violent Femmes, how would you describe their music?
Nic Brown: They occupy this overlapping realm of folk, punk and jazz — which I’d call a Bermuda Triangle for anybody, but they pull it off because their songs are so great. Gordon Gano, the primary singer-songwriter, had this incredible collection of songs when the band formed, and they’re so well put together that they could have worked in any setting, really.
The Violent Femmes themselves had one of the most unique arrangements of instruments possible, and that’s the biggest surprise for people when they see them. A lot of what’s most unusual about them is often invisible on a recording, but they’re a one-of-a-kind band. Their debut record is a one-of-a-kind record. It didn’t sound like anything else then, and it still doesn’t sound like anything else today.
RF: What were their early public performances like?
NB: They had a hard time getting gigs. They busked, and they had instrumentation that made it easy for them to do that, and that was by design, too. Victor DeLorenzo, the drummer, played standing up with brushes, with just a snare drum and then what he calls a tranceaphone, which is a metal bushel basket placed on top of another drum. Gordon (Gano) would play guitar on the street, usually an acoustic guitar. And then Brian Ritchie would play an acoustic bass guitar, which to most people sounds like stand-up bass, like what you’d see in a jazz trio. It looked more like a mariachi-style bass, and Brian’s point was, he couldn’t haul a stand-up bass around. He didn’t even have a driver’s license.
They had instruments that were made to play on the street, and the fact that they spent so much time playing on the street is part of the reason the band works so well. There are few performance spaces less forgiving than a street corner in Milwaukee, or anywhere. They honed this act on the street corners so that they could make their songs work in that setting. And because of that, when they finally got into the studio to record their debut album, they were a really well-oiled machine, despite the fact they hadn’t spent much time on actual stages.
RF: What was it like for them to try to get a record deal and record their first album?
NB: It was failure after failure, really. They tried to get a record deal before they went into the studio. They had one very small label out of New York that was interested, but that fell through, so that’s why they eventually recorded it themselves. They had a lot of pressure from some people who did recognize a spark there to do that ’80s rock ‘n’ roll production with the more processed sound and synthesizers, and they had a surprising amount of confidence at the age that they were at to stick with their sound.
Eventually, there was a label called Slash Records, a small punk label in California, and they turned the band down. But two employees at Slash loved this recording so much that they kept playing the cassette in the offices until the owner finally said, “OK, I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to sign this band, not because I want to, but because I’m so sick of hearing my employees playing it every day.” So that’s how they ended up getting their record deal with Slash Records.
They say it’s the worst record deal any band could ever have signed. But they did what they had to, the record came out, and the rest is history, right?
RF: It took four years before the album went gold and then another four years to go platinum. How did it pick up popularity and go viral in the pre-internet era?
NB: I describe it as going viral over eight years via cassette. Young people connected with the songs and shared dubbed cassette tapes. They say this album has sold 7 million copies, and I say you need to ask Maxwell how many blank tapes they sold between 1983 and 1991 and add in about 30 percent of that.
A lot of people don’t know what the album cover looks like. I had a guy recently tell me that the album cover is whatever guy’s handwriting wrote “Violent Femmes” on the blank tape, so it was a real organic word-of-mouth build-up over eight years.
RF: How unique was Brian Ritchie’s bass playing in what you described as a “lead bass” role in the band?
NB: This is probably the most bass-forward recording in popular music history. Brian Ritchie is an incredible musician, and so this thing happens on these songs where the melodic statements that aren’t happening with Gordon’s vocals are usually made on the bass guitar, and then Brian Ritchie takes long bass solos, unaccompanied by any other instrument.
They sound so natural and great that you actually don’t even think they’re bass solos. Often, if there’s a bass solo happening, that’s when we might skip the song. I’m sorry to say, but that doesn’t apply to Brian Ritchie’s work. He’s the lead.
RF: As a musician yourself, what drew you so enthusiastically into writing this book?
NB: The book series that it’s part of, “33⅓,” is just a classic series, and guys like me were always dreaming about what record I would pitch to write about. This album had always been in my head as that record. I published a memoir about three years ago about my career as a musician, and in it I mentioned how important this album was.
One of the members of the Femmes management read that memoir and actually reached out to me about maybe doing a project with them at some point. So this simmering dream of mine to pitch a “33⅓” book rose to the surface, and I thought, I’m gonna go for it. It was sort of a double-dream for me to have a book in the series and to be able to write it with the participation of all three members and the producer. It’s a fan’s dream come true.
AUBURN — It’s tough enough to win an NCAA regional championship, and considering the circumstance Auburn baseball put itself in, it’s rather miraculous the Tigers will be playing for one on Monday, June 1 (5 p.m. CT, TBA).
The fourth overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Auburn dropped its regional-opener four days prior, losing to 4-seed Milwaukee and tasked with working itself out of the field’s elimination bracket.
Since then, Auburn’s rattled off three-straight victories, sending 3-seed NC State and 2-seed UCF packing before besting the Panthers in a rematch that started late Sunday and didn’t end until the early hours of Monday morning.
It’ll wind up being a three-game set between the Tigers and Panthers, who go to battle one last time in a winner-take-all contest, with a super regional berth on the line.
BUY TICKETS FOR AUBURN BASEBALL’S NCAA REGIONAL HERE
Here’s everything you need to tune into Auburn’s upcoming contest, including viewing options and more:
How to watch Auburn baseball vs Milwaukkee today: TV, streaming
STREAM AUBURN BASEBALL HERE
It’s not yet known where, or if, Auburn’s NCAA regional championship will be nationally televised, but it’ll stream on ESPN+, which can be accessed with an ESPN subscription.
Mark Neely and former Auburn pitcher Gregg Olson are expected to be on the call, handling play-by-play and color commentator duties, respectively.
Listen live to Auburn baseball vs Milwaukee on the radio
Today’s game will be broadcast live on WMSP-AM (740) in Montgomery and WGZZ-FM (94.3) in Auburn. The radio call can also be streamed online. Andy Burcham and Brad Law are expected to be on the call.
When does Auburn baseball play Milwaukee today? First-pitch time, probable starters for NCAA regional
- Time: 5 p.m. CT
- Date: Monday, June 1
- Location: Plainsman Park (Auburn)
Here’s who the Tigers and Panthers will have toeing the rubber:
- Auburn: TBA
- Milwaukee: TBA
Auburn baseball’s 2026 schedule: Results, times, how to watch
| Date(s) (Times) | Opponent | Results | TV (Streaming) |
| Feb. 13-15 (5:30, 6, 2 p.m.) | Youngstown State | G1: 2-1, AU; G2: 2-1, AU (10); G3: 17-2 AU (7) | N/A (SECN+) |
| Feb. 17 (6 p.m.) | Cincinnati | 8-0, Cincinnati | N/A (SECN+) |
| Feb. 20 (7 p.m.) | Kansas State* | 5-1, Auburn | N/A (FloSports) |
| Feb. 21 (3 p.m.) | No. 14 Florida State* | 8-5, Auburn | N/A (FloSports) |
| Feb. 22 (10:30 a.m.) | No. 11 Louisville* | 10-3, Auburn | N/A (FloSports) |
| Feb. 25 (6 p.m.) | West Georgia | 4-3, Auburn | N/A (SECN+) |
| Feb. 27 – March 1 (6, 2, 1 p.m.) | Nebraska | G1: 9-8, NU (10); G2: 15-4, AU (7); G3: 12-3, AU | N/A (SECN+) |
| March 3 (6 p.m.) | Samford | 6-2, Auburn | N/A (SECN+) |
| March 6-8 (6, 6, 1 p.m.) | Winthrop | G1: 10-0, AU (7); G2: 6-0, AU; G3: 8-1, AU | N/A (SECN+) |
| March 10 (6 p.m.) | UAB | 17-2, Auburn (7) | N/A (SECN+) |
| March 13-15 (6, 4, 1 p.m.) | at Missouri | G1: 2-0, AU; G2: 4-3, AU (10); G3: 9-2, AU | N/A (SECN+) |
| March 17 (4 p.m.) | No. 3 Georgia Tech | 9-2, Auburn | N/A (SECN+) |
| March 20-22 (6, 6, 2 p.m.) | No. 2 Texas | G1: 4-3, AU; G2: 7-6, UT; G3: 5-0, UT | N/A (SECN+) |
| March 24 (6 p.m.) | South Alabama* | 10-0, Auburn (8) | TBA |
| March 27-29 (6, 7, 1 p.m.) | at No. 23 Alabama | G1: 11-1, UA (8); G2: 3-2, UA; G3: 3-1, UA | SECN (G1); (SECN+) |
| March 31 (6 p.m.) | at No. 3 Georgia Tech | 13-3, Georgia Tech (8) | ESPN2 |
| April 2-4 (6, 6, 2 p.m.) | No. 16 Arkansas | G1: 10-2, AU; G2: 3-2, ARK; G3: 8-3, AU | ESPN2 (SECN+) |
| April 7 (6 p.m.) | Jacksonville State | 15-4, JSU (8) | N/A (SECN+) |
| April 10-12 (6, 7, 2 p.m.) | Kentucky | G1: 12-5, AU; G2: 5-4, UK; G3: 11-0, AU (7) | SECN (G2, G3); (SECN+) |
| April 14 (6 p.m.) | Alabama State | 13-0, Auburn (7) | N/A (SECN+) |
| April 16-18 (6, 4:30 p.m., 11 a.m.) | at No. 18 Florida | G1: 6-3, UF; G2: 5-3, AU; G3: 8-5, AU | SECN (G1, G2), ESPN2 (G3); (SECN+) |
| April 21 (6 p.m.) | at Samford | 14-2, Auburn (7) | TBA |
| April 24-26 (6, 6, 2 p.m.) | No. 13 Oklahoma | G1: 6-4, AU; G2: 2-1, OU; G3: 14-4, AU (8) | N/A (SECN+) |
| May 1-3 (7, 2, 1 p.m.) | at No. 7 Texas A&M | G1: 18-5, AU (7); G2: 5-4, AU; G3: 4-3, A&M | SECN (G1); (SECN+) |
| May 5 (6 p.m.) | at UAB | 10-2, Auburn | TBA |
| May 7-9 (7, 7:30, 3 p.m.) | at No. 16 Mississippi State | G1: 10-3, MSU; G2: 5-4, AU; G3: 13-2, AU (7) | ESPNU (G1), SECN (G2, G3); (SECN+) |
| May 12 (6 p.m.) | at No. 25 Jacksonville State | 4-1, Jacksonville State | TBA |
| May 14-16 (6, 6, 2 p.m.) | No. 4 Georgia | G1: 2-1, UGA; G2: 9-7, UGA; G3: 14-4, AU (8) | N/A (SECN+) |
| May 20 (8 p.m.) | (14) LSU^ | 3-1, Auburn | SECN (SECN+) |
| May 22 (8:25 p.m.) | (3) Texas A&M^ | 7-0, Auburn | SECN (SECN+) |
| May 23 (4 p.m.) | (7) Arkansas^ | 2-1, Arkansas | SECN (SECN+) |
| May 29 (Noon) | (4) Milwaukee% | 13-8, Milwaukee | N/A (ESPN+) |
| May 30 (2 p.m.) | (3) NC State% | 17-13, Auburn | ESPN (ESPN+) |
| May 31 (2 p.m.) | (2) UCF% | 9-3, Auburn | ESPN2 (ESPN+) |
| May 31 (10:10 p.m.) | (4) Milwaukee% | 9-1, Auburn | N/A (ESPN+) |
| June 1 (5 p.m.) | (4) Milwaukee% | TBA (ESPN+) | |
| Record: 41-20 (17-13 SEC) |
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter. To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Panthers Putting Together a Great Run in the NCAA Tournament – World Baseball Network
The Milwaukee Panthers are in the driver’s seat in the NCAA Tournament’s Auburn regional. The Panthers have two wins over the Auburn Tigers and UCF Knights and made it to the regional final.
The Panthers are looking to make it to their first super regional in program history.
From a rocky start to a red-hot Horizon League Tournament run
Milwaukee did not have a smooth start to the 2026 college baseball season. The Panthers were 5-22 overall on April 3 and had an uphill battle to climb to end the season.
From April 3 to the end of the regular season, Milwaukee went 17-9. However, they still had a below-average overall record of 22-31. The Panthers needed to win the Horizon League Tournament to make it into the NCAA Tournament as an automatic bid.
The Panthers posted a solid conference record of 14-10 in 2026. This gave them the number two seed in the Horizon League Tournament, which was played at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton, Ohio.
Milwaukee defeated Northern Kentucky and the tournament host, Wright State, twice to win the tournament title. They outscored their opponents 23-7 across those three games. The 2026 Horizon League Tournament title is the first conference tournament title for the Panthers since 2010.
Milwaukee’s wins over Auburn and UCF
An automatic bid placed Milwaukee as the fourth seed in the Auburn regional. The Panthers faced off against the Tigers on Friday, May 29.
Milwaukee got off to a huge, early lead on Auburn. Heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Panthers had a 10-0 lead on the Tigers. Milwaukee would go on to win 13-8.
Joey Spence, John Hadley VI, and Grant Ross led Milwaukee offensively with three hits apiece. Spence had two doubles in the game and an RBI. Hadley VI had a double and a triple against Auburn.
Charlie Marion and Bradyn Horn both had three-run home runs early on in the game that were huge for the Panthers. Those home runs allowed them to gain a big 10-0 lead early.
The magic did not stop on Friday for Milwaukee. On Saturday, May 30, the Panthers defeated the UCF Knights in the “1-0” game by a score of 13-6.
Ross continued his big performance in the regional. After a three-hit game against Auburn, the Milwaukee third baseman hit a home run and a double against UCF. He finished the game with two hits, three RBIs, and five runs scored.
Marion finished with a multi-hit game against the Knights. Milwaukee’s center fielder, Dylan O’Connell, had two doubles in the game that led to four RBIs.
Up next for Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Panthers will play the winner of the game between Auburn and UCF in the Auburn regional final on Sunday, May 31.
The Auburn-UCF elimination game is at 3 p.m. ET at Plainsman Park, and the game can be watched on ESPN2. Milwaukee’s game against the winner will be at 8 p.m. ET. That game will be on ESPN+.
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
PHOTO: Via Dominic Kibler on Instagram (@dominic.kibler)
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