Milwaukee has introduced a 4-gallon wet/dry vacuum on the M18 FUEL line, the 0971-20, at $299. Its most useful feature is unglamorous: a sliding tank that pulls out to be emptied while the vacuum stays where it is in a PACKOUT stack, rather than having to be lifted off first.

Milwaukee quotes 70 CFM of airflow and 60 inches of suction from a POWERSTATE brushless motor with REDLINK PLUS electronics. On a REDLITHIUM FORGE HD12.0 pack it puts runtime at up to 47 minutes in maximum-runtime mode and up to 32 minutes in maximum-power mode — two figures rather than one, which is the honest way to quote a vacuum, since the gap between them is what a user actually chooses between on site.

The other addition is VACLINK, Milwaukee's wireless dust control. A remote ships in the box and starts the vacuum from the hose end; the same system lets compatible tools trigger extraction as they spin up, which is the arrangement that makes on-tool dust collection worth having at all.

The rest of the specification: a 9ft hose, a HEPA filter, and a three-year warranty. Milwaukee says the controls sit outside the unit so it can be operated without being pulled from a stack. In the box are the vacuum, the VACLINK remote, a HEPA filter, a 1-7/8in expandable hose, a crevice tool, a utility nozzle and a dust-extraction hose clip adapter.

Availability

Available now at $299 as a bare tool — the price excludes a battery, and the runtime figures above are quoted on a FORGE HD12.0 that is not included. The announcement was issued from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with US pricing.

Where it sits

This is a storage-system product as much as a vacuum. Milwaukee's argument is that a 4-gallon vac is only convenient if emptying it does not mean dismantling the stack it travels in, and the sliding tank is the answer to that rather than to any question about suction. It runs on the same M18 packs as the rest of the line, which Milwaukee puts at more than 300 tools.

The airflow and runtime figures are Milwaukee's own and we have not tested them.

Based on a press release from Milwaukee Tool, published 13 August 2026.