
Milwaukee - M12™ Bluetooth® Jobsite Speaker w/ PACKOUT™ Compatibility
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Mar 17, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
13
5
"I could hear it loud and clear, with bumping bass. ... When on full, it sounds like somebody is throwing a loud house party."
"After using it, I can confidently say it has superior sound quality to my Anker soundcore and Amazon echo speakers that I have mostly used in the past. ... I have to say, I ’m pretty surprised at how good it sounds. ... I’d say for use in a shop or work environment, it’s quite good given how much background noise there could be."
"I've been using the m12 packout speaker and I love it. It sounds great. ... doesn't get as load as the m12."
3
0
"I like that it has packout compatability though. That was a very nice touch."
"Also, the packout feature is really cool."
"I like that it has packout compatability though. That was a very nice touch."
5
0
"And, you don't have to worry about the batteries wearing out or going bad and turning the speaker into a paperweight."
"I stuck an m12 cp 2.0 I had available and have not yet needed to charge it after 6 hours of continuous use."
"The benefit is the battery. ... Other brands are basically toast when the battery dies. ... M12 should be around a while."
6
0
"It’s a great speaker for what it’s designed to do. ... The other day I had it going for several hours with a 3.0 battery and it still shows fully charged."
"And, you don't have to worry about the batteries wearing out or going bad and turning the speaker into a paperweight."
"I stuck an m12 cp 2.0 I had available and have not yet needed to charge it after 6 hours of continuous use."
2
0
"I did accidentally run it over with a hay wagon and it’s still working as designed"
"It’s really sturdy. It feels like I can drop it over and over and be okay. ... It has several different options for mounts as well as being able to be placed vertically or horizontally too so that should help with stability."
Disliked most:
1
2
"every Milwaukee speaker has Bluetooth issues and is always hard to connect"
"every so often there will be a break in the music like a distortion or a glitch where it kind of cuts out for a second. ... it kind of sounds like when you walk too far away from your Bluetooth speaker when you have your phone in your pocket and it starts to cut out."
0
2
"Hooked up to my phone none of them seemed loud to me in the garage. ... Yeah my shit never seems to get that loud."
"there were also some songs that the speaker couldn't handle the bass for, and it would distort out. ... only a handful, but the M18 packout speaker handles the same bass-heavy songs fine. same with the M12/M18 Jobsite speaker I have."
"when you are turning up the volume on your Bluetooth connected device, every time you hit max volume it cuts the volume of the music down to I think 50% for a second or two. ... the fact that I'm trying to get to max volume and it's lowering it even for a second or two really irks the hell out of me."
1
1
"there were also some songs that the speaker couldn't handle the bass for, and it would distort out. ... only a handful, but the M18 packout speaker handles the same bass-heavy songs fine. same with the M12/M18 Jobsite speaker I have."
1
1
"Yeah, I got in on that deal too. I bought two, in the hopes that the "audio link" feature could make them work in proper stereo. However, that wasn't the case, so I returned one set. ... Audio link works, but it simply duplicates the mono audio to each speaker. I was hoping it could be setup somehow for proper stereo mode, where one is the left speaker, and one is the right speaker."
4
2
"Hooked up to my phone none of them seemed loud to me in the garage. ... Yeah my shit never seems to get that loud."
"Not as loud as a JBL"
"I’m still not sure what i want to do about a speaker in the future. I want something that bumps"
Yes, that and longer runtime away from outlets, since you can have multiple batteries charged to swap. The M12 packout speaker is quite good.
Be careful, if you say that a Milwaukee speaker has the same or better audio quality than another brand like JBL, you're automatically labelled as deaf by certain people here. I had a brief discussion with another user here who told me I was just wrong and my hearing sucked when I dared say that the M12 packout speaker sounded just as good as JBL speakers I've heard. I say brief, because my different view offended them so much that they blocked me. I don't claim to be an audiophile, but I appreciate good sound, and I will give Milwaukee the credit they deserve for that speaker.
No, I understood your first comment. The M12 packout speaker supports volume sync with the phone. The volumes are one in the same. They are not 2 different volume controls.
Yeah, I got in on that deal too. I bought two, in the hopes that the "audio link" feature could make them work in proper stereo. However, that wasn't the case, so I returned one set. They accidentally refunded me for both. Oops. That said, I don't really have a use for the batteries, so I'll probably try and sell them locally. But, the speaker is quite good, and certainly better than you'd expect from a tool company. It's also built a lot better than your typical audio brand speakers, and would definitely survive a fall or other accident better.
Milwaukee's speakers can be hit or miss. Some good, some bad. It's obvious you've never actually given this one a chance, since your assessment simply isn't accurate for this one.
>I have heard it, as a matter of fact. It suffers from the same sound distortion and bass issues as all of the other Milwaukee speakers that I've heard, and produces far inferior sound quality to similarly sized speakers from UE or JBL. It sounds like the one you listened to was defective. Mine does not have those issues. It compares favorably to multiple JBL and UE speakers that I've listened to. >It's obvious that you don't give a shit about audio quality Interesting assumption. Wrong, but hey, you do you boo. >and like to make asinine assumptions about other people's points of view and experiences. Says the poster who just made an asinine assumption about my views and experiences.
I have it, and it sounds just as good as the JBLs I've heard, which are considered very good amongst speakers this size. And, you don't have to worry about the batteries wearing out or going bad and turning the speaker into a paperweight. Those complaining about the lack of bass are simply expecting too much out of a speaker this size. The Bose speakers make it "sound bigger," but at a huge cost to actual sound quality. I'd rather have good sound, than fake, bloated bass.
Don't get me wrong; I love good bass. The key is **good** bass, not fake, bloated bass.
Well, for many of us, we already have way too many batteries. They'd just go unused and rot away.
The new Milwaukee M12 pack out speaker that launched last year has insanely good sound quality. Definitely stepping up their game and in my opinion every bit as good as a JBL. Plus swappable batteries that JBL doesn’t have
I got the Packout M12 for the batteries. My local drug dealer (Do it Best), threw in two 5.0s. Speaker + Batts for $129.
https://preview.redd.it/kpsy1ypu3bof1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeb717526519e0bcdcd5c35a064902f4200e1bbb My M12 Packout version has Treble/Bass controls settings under the cover. The larger speakers give a little better bass response. It’s not audiophile, but was a fun build.
I've been using the m12 packout speaker and I love it. It sounds great. I have a Marshall speaker of similar size, and I think the Marshall sounds better, but doesn't get as load as the m12. Also, the packout feature is really cool. It feels pretty premium and I've heard people say it's comparable to JBL speakers.
I bought this on a HD glitched bundle that ended up being like $65 bare tool. I like it, but honestly, it doesn't really sound much different than the M12 Bluetooth radio. I like that it has packout compatability though. That was a very nice touch. But if you already have the m12 radio, imo I don't think it's really worth it.
Have you messed with the audio settings? My speaker already had the bass levels raised out of the box. After lowering it and playing the same song through both speaker and radio, I couldn't tell much of a difference. I would say though, the bass boost on the new speaker is noticeably better. But for the most part, they're very close imo.
I bought this on a HD glitched bundle that ended up being like $65 bare tool. I like it, but honestly, it doesn't really sound much different than the M12 Bluetooth radio. I like that it has packout compatability though. That was a very nice touch. But if you already have the m12 radio, imo I don't think it's really worth it.
Have you messed with the audio settings? My speaker already had the bass levels raised out of the box. After lowering it and playing the same song through both speaker and radio, I couldn't tell much of a difference. I would say though, the bass boost on the new speaker is noticeably better. But for the most part, they're very close imo.
If all you will use it for is the Bluetooth speaker and not the radio the newer cylindrical m12 for its size is ok, my coworker has it and it’s significantly louder than mine- I have the older style m12 that’s rectangular and has a radio. I have to say I wasn’t blown away by the sound quality but it isn’t bad. If I were to choose between the two having neither I’d buy the newer one he has, as I really very rarely listen to radio. All that said I was working in a garage for months during the winter and wanted something that was gonna make some real noise and I have m18 and m12 batteries. I tried every m18 radio they make other than the flat packout one and returned all of them. Hooked up to my phone none of them seemed loud to me in the garage. I had recently been looking at JBL because I thought it might be a better value but never got around to pulling the trigger on one. Sadly I’ve just said fuck a radio lately (very unlike me) and have just been going AirPods all day. Pros and cons to that of course but I definitely prefer a radio experience all things considered if you can find one that’s a good fit for your work environment.
I own both the 2891-20 and the 2954-20. Both are great speakers that have their own strengths and weaknesses. The 2891 has great range and clear sound, even when it gets really loud (to a certain point). It's great for clear sound across a bigger room thanks to the drivers pointed in different directions. It's also got an AC plug and can be run off both M18 and M12 batteries. And it can get very loud.. the volume control on the source device can be adjusted separately from the speaker itself, which has it's own volume control. So you can max out your phone's bluetooth audio output, and still turn up the volume on the speaker itself. However, the speaker itself doesn't have any playback controls outside of Play/Pause, which means you can only change tracks on your source device. The bass on this speaker is also pretty weak, especially for how loud it gets. The 2954 sounds great. The standout is the bass, for sure. It thumps a lot harder than the 2891, but it doesn't get quite as loud because the volume is based off of the bluetooth audio output. Still plenty loud enough to fill a moderately sized ballroom or gym. Audio quality is great, but it doesn't cover the broad range that the 2891 does. Bass and treble can be adjusted on the 2954, which is very nice - I don't think you can do that on the 2891. The handle on the 2954 is also very useful if you don't want it to just sit on the floor. I haven't tried the Audio Link feature yet because I only have the one 2954, but I imagine that it works well. If I could only have one of these two speakers, I'd get the 2954 for sure. If it's going to stay on your stack, I'd absolutely go for the Packout speaker.
Nice! Really been thinking about getting one after watching all of "jagist reviews" on YT doing some side by side comparisons....then I won a big Milwaukee bluetooth speaker at work yesterday. It's...ok, and I'm grateful. Just makes it harder to justify spending money on a speaker when I got a serviceable one for free lol
Milwaukee hands down. No worries about the internal battery failing and turning the whole unit into a useless brick. I
so I got this to test out through this sub, and my only complaints are when you are turning up the volume on your Bluetooth connected device, every time you hit max volume it cuts the volume of the music down to I think 50% for a second or two. and I know that's to note that it has reached Max volume, but the fact that I'm trying to get to max volume and it's lowering it even for a second or two really irks the hell out of me. but I'm one of those people who would rather not listen to music if it has ads, I can't stand the interruptions. Also, this may just be my unit, but every so often there will be a break in the music like a distortion or a glitch where it kind of cuts out for a second. it always comes right back, but it kind of sounds like when you walk too far away from your Bluetooth speaker when you have your phone in your pocket and it starts to cut out. this isn't really a problem just something I thought was weird, the little light that's on the speaker kind of just comes on and goes brighter or goes dimmer whenever the hell it feels like it. I was not able to watch it and figure out why it would do something specifically, I couldn't find any causation with anything I was doing that was consistent. and yeah I know these are all first world problems but I am an audiophile, and I can be very particular about my speakers/headphones. edit: there were also some songs that the speaker couldn't handle the bass for, and it would distort out. only a handful, but the M18 packout speaker handles the same bass-heavy songs fine. same with the M12/M18 Jobsite speaker I have. overall, I liked the speaker, but there was room for improvement for me to put forward a glowing review of it.
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