Milwaukee M12 Radio + Charger
Sometimes a song will come on the radio that will make me nostalgic. Recently a song came on the radio that brought me back to spring 1993. I was in 9th grade and spent spring break framing for the first time. My friend who was 19 would pick me up and he’d play that album all day through an open pick-up truck door. At the end of the day we’d have to jump start the truck, the next day? We’d do it all over again. That was my first time walking wall plates and hanging facia, it was raining and really not fun at all, but I had a blast.
Since then I’ve had the opportunity to review jobsite radios for trade magazines. Music is hugely important to us on the jobsite because it directly affects our mood. Often we’ve had neighbors compliment us on the music or ask us how we frame in foul weather and still sound happy. Its the music.
Radios have come a long way since the first “jobsite” radio we bought. In the past we just needed good FM reception. I recently started using the Milwaukee M12 Radio/Charger. This little radio is the perfect size for the jobsite. I’ll get into that in a moment.
Features. We don’t listen to the radio anymore and haven’t for years. I used to keep my music library on an IPOD and we’d listen to that. For the last 5 years or so we’ve streamed music from our phones. We can listen to whatever we want with zero commercials.
The Milwaukee M12 Radio+Charger connects to our phones through Bluetooth© 4.2, so everyone on the crew has paired their phone. Then whoever has the best cell service can stream music. Some days we want to listen to 80’s rock, other days it’s a Spice Girls radio station (try it before you knock it) and other days its live Dave Matthews Band. The point is, we can connect to whatever we want to keep the spirits high.
This unit will also charge all Milwaukee M12 batteries, though we don’t bother. We’re basically a cordless jobsite and don’t want to run a cord to the unit, we just charge batteries in the van. If you want to adjust the quality of the sound, you can long press and hold the AM/FM button to adjust bass and treble. For those that want to listen to the radio, there are 10 total presets available.
One major feature I like is the fast 2.1A USB port for charging devices. I charge my phone and my GoPros off the radio. The GoPro is my go to for filming jobsite content for Instagram and YouTube.
Size. This radio is little but sounds great. What I really like about the size is that I can take it anywhere on the jobsite. If we are sheathing the roof, the radio gets a spot up high. We recently spent 2 days in a crawlspace of a home and brought the radio down there with us. I can also hang it up out of the way to protect it from the elements, even though it has an IP54 rating.
The Milwaukee M12 Radio + Charger costs $119 at Home Depot. If ours died today, I’d be heading to pick another one up. It is way too convenient not to have.
One final note, when it comes to playing music, respect those around you. We don’t crank the radio and bug the neighbors and we try and pick music that the other trades are ok with or let them pick. No swearing or foul language goes a long way to showing respect for the neighborhood.
Thank you to The Home Depot for partnering with me on this review.
