Herculodge Review of the Milwaukee 2590-20 M12 Worksite Radio

I hadn’t bought a radio in a while. I couldn’t. Not with the house already crammed with dozens of radios and baby supply gifts rendering my tiny 1,500-square-foot house a makeshift daycare center.

Before I could buy a radio, I had to sell one. I ended up selling my C Crane CSW because of its mediocre AM and harsh speaker sound.

A reader intrigued me with high praise for the Milwaukee 2590-20 M12 Worksite Radio. Incorporating DSP technology, its FM was supposed to be stellar in spite of a measly 6.5-inch rubber-coated telescopic antenna. For a look of the radio's "guts," refer to the Milwaukee PDF file. 

My radio, costing $99 with free shipping on Amazon, arrived yesterday.  I took the small radio out of the box. Yes, it’s small, measuring 7 inches in height and 10.5 inches across. With Gotham City flares and a unabashed red color, a construction worker should be able to spot it amidst the dust and rubble of a jobsite.

The first thing I had to do was get a Phillips screwdriver and remove the back-up battery compartment on the bottom. A single AAA battery keeps time and presets when the radio isn’t powered.

I played a few stations around 8 P.M. and was impressed that the weak KPCC 89.3 came in loud and clear regardless of the position of the FM antenna. Was it the DSP technology compensating for the lack of antenna size? I can’t say for sure. Other FM stations came in loud and clear with the exception of 88.9 KXLU, perhaps the weakest station on the dial. The DSP proved futile in the face of this lethargic college radio station and I got a lot of static. So for hard-to-find stations, let’s be clear: The 2590-20 is no FM powerhouse like the Grundig/Eton S350DL or the C Crane CSW. But to be fair, I don’t listen to 88.9 and I’m sure the 2590-20 will meet 99% of people’s FM needs.

On AM, I got excellent reception but, ironically enough, the strongest AM station 640 showed up with a little background hum. Rotating the radio minimized the unwelcome sound, but I could still hear it. Go figure.

The speaker sounded loud and clear. I was very happy with the sound on both music and talk. So far so good.

But then the presets. They’re a drag. The same odious presets on the C Crane CSW, which I had just happily sold. You get 10 presets (numerals 0-9) for both AM and FM. But there are no individual preset buttons, just one preset toggler that you scroll and you can only scroll upward. This isn’t a pure preset system. This should have an industry-wide name. Call it SEMI-PRESETS. So readers be warned.

Comparing the Milwuakee 2590-20 to the Tivoli PAL

I decided to wait until the next morning and compare the Milwaukee Worksite radio to another commonly used “on-the-job” radio, my analog Tivoli PAL. I also wanted to see differences in day and nighttime reception.

Funny, the notorious aforementioned KXLU came in with surprising clarity on both the 2590 and the PAL. I’d give a slight FM edge to the 2590, which grabbed 89.3 with no antenna adjustment. With the analog PAL, you spend a lot more time locking in FM stations.

AM was almost a draw. I got slightly better reception on 640 with the PAL, but the 2590 had better reception on 710 ESPN. Also I should add here that background noise on 640 was less evident in the morning than it was last night. Other AM stations were about equal. Both radios barely received 1260, which on a scale of 1-10 I ranked a 4 for both. In contrast, using my Sangean PR-D5, with a 200mm ferrite, as a benchmark, I ranked 1260 with a 9 score.

Both the PAL and the 2590 are capable performers on both AM and FM and should meet most workers’ reception needs.

Both the PAL and the 2590 have an auxiliary for playing an iPod or some other MP3 player. The PAL has a headphone jack; the 2590 does not. The 2590 has an iPod cradle and connector; the PAL does not. However, my large iPod, which holds 40 gigs, is too thick for the 2590 cradle which holds MP3 players of these maximum dimensions: 2 and 1/4 wide; 4 and 1/2 tall and 3/4 thick.

The 2590 has SEMI-PRESETS and the PAL does not. Let me say, the worst thing about the PAL is finding stations and locking them in. This weakness made the PAL lose to my now-sold CCrane CSW in an outdoor radio comparison. 

Speaker Sound

While the 2590 gets loud and sounds good on both talk and music, I have to say it fell short of the PAL sound. The music tones were far warmer and richer on the PAL. Of course, sound is subjective, but there was a bit of tin and chilliness in the 2590 that I might not have noticed had I not done a side by side sound comparison with the PAL. However, in general the 2590 produces a lot of sound for such a small radio and I believe it will meet most people’s listening needs. Also, the 2590 has an equalizer, which the PAL does not, and the cold tones may be the result of too much treble. I got up from my computer just now, reduced the treble and did “warm up” the 2590’s sound a bit.

Price

The PAL comes with a rechargeable battery but the price is ridiculously and offensively expensive. As I post this, the PAL costs $220 on Amazon.

The $99 2590 does not include the M12 12-Volt Lithium-Ion battery pack, which costs about $40. Also you have to buy the charger for the 12-Volt battery, another $44. So with a slightly better speaker sound, is the analog PAL worth $36 more than the 2590? Putting myself in the shoes of a construction worker, I’d buy the digital Milwaukee 2590 over the PAL unless I could find a new PAL in the $150 range.  

Post-Review Thoughts:

Something doesn't sit well with me: The entry price of $99 seems deceptive when you consider you have to spend another $90 for the 12-V battery and the charger. This radio is in actuality a good $190.  

Comments

[Moogbass]

Great review!! I wonder if you extended the PAL's antenna to the length of the Milwaukee's rubber antenna (about 6") and NOW compared FM reception... would that be fair??

I still want to try the Milwaukee with a proper metal sectioned antenna (30"-36"), but here it rests at work. I keep forgetting to take it home to try.

[herculodge]

It seems a shame to handicap it with such a short antenna and those presets . . . ouch.

[Val]

With extended telescopic antenna some frequency could be overloaded .I had try this witch Electrohome lunchbox 

[herculodge]

Moogbass, I forgot to ask you this: Does the 12 V lithium battery recharge automatically in the radio when the radio is plugged in?

[Kevin S]

Excellent review! I think that the noise on 640 might be KFI's IBOC rumble. I hear it on 1530 out of Sacramento and others as well, even all the way up here near Seattle. It seems to be an unwelcome artifact of IBOC encoding which some stations have figured out but others have not. Remarkably, I think the sharper DSP filtering on the newer sets actually accentuates the rumble.

As for the FM performance on the little whip antenna, the newer Tecsun DSP sets are also like that - incredibly sensitive even if you don't extend the whip antenna out all the way.

I am a bit troubled at your self-imposed limit on the number of radios, though... :-)

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Kevin, I think you're right about the IBOC because even my PR-D5 gets that rumble on KFI.

I didn't know my radio acquisitions seemed so limited. Oh well.

[Moogbass]

Jeff--No, the Milwaukee radio does not charge the battery. Black and Decker/Dewalt owns the patent on such a device and defends it vigorously. I don't know when the patent expires. BTW the Dewalt jobsite radio is horrendous...

I didn't purchase mine for portable use, so not having the battery doesn't bother me. I have the big "classic" boomboxes for portable use, ...and to make the iPod crowd nervous!

For those that don't own any Milwaukee 12V lithium tools, but still want the radio with battery, I recommend the following: buy the 2492-22 drill/radio combo kit and sell the drill and one battery (two are included) on eBay. They usually bring about $80. Everyone wins here, some tool user gets a new drill and battery for cheap, and radio fanatics (I mean that in a good way!) get the radio, charger, and one battery for cheap.

Regarding the sound: those little speaker surrounds are stiff when new. I ran mine for a few hours at a loud volume (using a station with known good sound quality), and then adjusted the bass and treble to my liking. The sound improved quite a bit after a few hours. Really, it sounds so much better than my PAL, but as you said this is subjective and varies person to person. I think my PAL is going on eBay...

[Moogbass]

Also...

I agree with your radio preset comments. I much prefer the 1-9 keypad approach. I usually tune into 91.7 WMSE (Milwaukee's (the city) School of Engineering station) and leave it there. I don't find the MANY "classic rock" stations around here particularly uplifting and don't tend to channel surf...

I find the Milwaukee's wall adapter and ultra, ultra stiff cord odious (love that word!). It seems the internal wires are solid copper instead of stranded!

Sorry for the long winded posts...

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Moogbass, thanks. I should add the cost of the charger to my review.

[John]

I have one of these that works as a portable but I would not think of it something you would want on a job site. Just not rugged enough. http://cgi.ebay.com/TEAC-R-2W-PREMIUM-EDITION-AM-FM-CLOCK-RADIO-ALARM_W0QQitemZ160367013781QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item25569e6f95
It has so many built in feature that the PAL lacks and the price is hard to beat. I do not listen to AM but seems to be about equal to my Model one for FM. Does not have as good as sound as the Model one. I like these little radio a lot and have bought 2. They are becoming a little hard to find. BTW as a bedside clock radio it is not so good as the display is VERY bright. It is a very good blackout radio.

[Tom Welch]

I would not have an issue with this radio's presets since I only listen to NPR on the FM dial all day. I'm sure the design decision to use software rather than buttons for presets has to do with reducing production costs.

About 40% of the costs of manufacturing a radio is in the controls portion. That's why you'll never see a Sony ICF 2010 produced again, this radio had a ton of buttons to push.

BTW, I've recently got into listening to airband radio and AM dxing in the evenings.

[Gary]

Jeff - Do you get the noise on KFI at night, during the day, or both?

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Gary, for KFI the day is the issue on my PR-D5 and the Milwaukee. My Panny RF-888 has no noise no matter what time I test it.

[Gary]

I get IBOC hiss on KFI and KNX during the day on some of my radios. (It seems most prominent on my CCR-SW.)

At night, when fading occurs, I sometimes get noise that reminds me of factory machines running. It's very annoying. Other times, it sounds like a rushing sound. I wish IBOC on AM would just go away.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

No hiss on my CCR-2. I also turn up the bass and treble all the way to maximize the speaker fidelity. Very nice.