What does DEWALT's Noise Rating mean?
DEWALT's Noise Rating is a spec row on its US blower and pruner pages that gives one decibel value per tool, without naming a distance, weighting or test standard anywhere in the row.
The row is real data to DEWALT: its leaf blower category even offers Noise Rating as a shopping filter, from 58 dB to 96 dB. On each product page the same number sits in the specifications table, and on some pages it resurfaces in feature text, such as the DCBL722 being "ideal for noise sensitive regions and properties".
Footnotes supply the only context. The DCBL724 page defines its figure as the "Noise level for bystander at 50-ft radius of DCBL724", and the DCBL777 page measures its claim of 78% less noise than a named gas blower "for bystander at a 50-ft radius". Both suggest DEWALT thinks in bystander terms at 50 feet.
A suggestion is not a method. The DCBL724 page cites ANSI B175.2 for its airflow measurement yet never attaches that standard, or any other, to a decibel. So this page treats the rows as DEWALT's own internal scale: fine for ordering DEWALT tools, unusable for cross-brand comparison.
Which DEWALT leaf blower is the quietest?
The DCBL724 is the quietest DEWALT blower, rated 58 dB on DEWALT's own row, four decibels under the next model and nine under the loudest handheld yard blower it sells.
All seven rated blowers, lowest DEWALT rating first:
- DCBL724, 20V MAX XR handheld, 550 CFM: 58 dB
- DCBL722, 20V MAX XR handheld, 450 CFM: 62 dB
- DCBL777, 60V MAX handheld, 760 CFM: 63 dB
- DCBL570, 60V MAX backpack, 855 CFM: 64 dB
- DCBL770, 60V MAX handheld, 423 CFM: 67 dB
- DCBL772, 60V MAX axial handheld, 600 CFM: 67 dB
- DCE100, 20V compact jobsite blower, 100 CFM: 96 dB
Two patterns stand out. Within the 20V pair, the newer DCBL724 is both quieter and stronger than the DCBL722, so the only reason to pick the older model is its lower weight or a kit deal. Within FLEXVOLT, the DCBL777 undercuts the DCBL770 and DCBL772 by four decibels while moving the most air.
The DCE100 belongs in a different mental bin. At 100 CFM it is a dust and chip blower for the jobsite, and its 96 dB row shows how wide DEWALT's scale runs once quiet stops being a design goal.
Since none of the ratings carries a stated basis, hold them against other quiet leaf blowers only through each maker's own terms, not number against number.
How loud is the DEWALT backpack blower?
DEWALT's only battery backpack blower, the DCBL570, carries a 64 dB Noise Rating alongside 855 CFM and a 160 MPH top air speed, the largest airflow of any DEWALT-rated tool.
That combination makes it the odd one out among backpack leaf blowers: competitors tend to publish a 50 foot bystander figure under ANSI B175.2, while DEWALT gives its backpack a bare number.
Mode matters and goes unstated. The DCBL570 runs in turbo or ECO, and DEWALT does not say which setting produced the 64 dB. Running in ECO plainly moves less air and less noise, but DEWALT publishes no second figure to prove how much.
Does DEWALT rate anything besides blowers?
Yes. The DCPR320 handheld pruner and the DCPPR320 pole pruner each carry a 75 dB Noise Rating, making them the only US DEWALT outdoor tools outside the blower wall with a decibel row.
Both are powered bypass loppers for branches up to 1-1/2 in rather than saws. The handheld version comes as a kit with a 2.0Ah battery at 5.4 lb; the pole version repeats the same rating at the end of a 9 ft pole and claims "up to 1,100 cuts per charge".
The shared 75 dB hints at a shared cutting head, but DEWALT states each figure separately and we treat them that way. As with the blowers, no distance or standard accompanies either number.
How loud are DEWALT mowers, trimmers, chainsaws and hedge trimmers?
DEWALT prints no decibel for any current US mower, string trimmer, chainsaw, hedge trimmer, pole saw, edger or brush cutter, either on dewalt.com or in the manuals we opened.
We checked the product pages for the DCMWP234, DCMWSP256 and DCMWSP700 mowers, the DCST922, DCST925, DCST926, DCST970, DCST972, DCST975 and DCST980 trimmers, the DCCS621, DCCS623, DCCS670, DCCS672 and DCCS673 chainsaws, the DCHT821, DCHT823 and DCHT826 hedge trimmers, the DCPH673, DCPH675 and DCPH820 pole hedge trimmers, the DCPS620, DCPS671, DCPS673 and DCPS675 pole saws, the DCED470 and DCED472 edgers and the DCBC580 and DCBC581 brush cutters. No Noise Rating row appears on any of them.
The manuals hold the same silence. The US instructions for the DCBL724, DCBL777 and DCBL570 call for "ANSI S12.6 (S3.19) hearing protection" and warn that noise "may contribute to hearing loss", with no measurement behind the warning, and the DCPPR320 manual asks for hearing protection without a figure either.
Anyone shopping those categories on noise has to look at makers that do publish, in the battery lawn mower, cordless string trimmer, chainsaw and hedge trimmer guides.
Why do DEWALT's European decibel figures stay off this page?
DEWALT's European range runs on separate catalogue numbers, so its declared LpA and LWA values never attach to a model DEWALT sells in the US.
In Europe the declarations are thorough, because 2000/14/EC and EN 62841 demand them. The manual for the DCMWP500 and DCMWSP550 mowers, for instance, declares an emission sound pressure of 77 dB(A) with 3 dB(A) uncertainty, a measured sound power of 84 dB(A), and a guaranteed sound power of 88 dB(A) certified through DEKRA.
None of that transfers. The US mowers are the DCMWP234, DCMWSP256 and DCMWSP700; DEWALT's British catalogue lists the DCMWP134 and DCMWSP156 instead, and its service database returns nothing for US numbers like DCBL722, DCHT820 or DCST922.
The near-matches are the trap. Europe's DCMST922 is a 54V, 42 cm bull handle string trimmer; the US DCST922 is a 20V MAX 14 in folding trimmer. Three shared digits, two unrelated tools, which is exactly why a figure moves between regions here only when the maker ties the models by its own numbering, and DEWALT does not.
Can a DEWALT Noise Rating satisfy a city blower rule?
No. Most municipal blower rules reference a bystander measurement under a published method, usually ANSI B175.2 at 50 feet, and DEWALT's Noise Rating row cites no method at all, so an inspector has nothing to accept.
The DCBL724 comes closest, since DEWALT's footnote describes its level at a bystander 50 feet away. Even there the page stops short of naming the standard the ordinance names.
If your town enforces a limit, read the ordinance's exact wording, then ask DEWALT support for test documentation on the specific model, or choose a blower whose maker prints the standard outright. Our decibel chart helps translate the numbers into everyday sounds either way.
