A nail gun is loud in a different way from a saw. It is quiet between shots, then each nail lands with a sharp crack right in front of you. That makes nailer noise hard to put into one number, and the makers do not agree on how to do it.
Sixteen brad, finish and pin nailers sold in the US carry maker declarations we could read. They come in five different forms, and we rank inside each form only.
The test behind the numbers
Makers selling in Europe declare nailer noise with two quantities. LpA is sound pressure at the operator's position. LWA is sound power, the tool's total noise output. Each comes with an uncertainty, K.
The standards differ by tool. Cordless nailers fall under EN 62841-2-16, which replaced the older EN 60745-2-16. Air nailers fall under ISO 11148-13, which Makita prints as "ISO11148-13 (EN12549)". Some makers, like HiKOKI, declare a single-event figure, the sound of one firing, marked LpA,1s,d and LWA,1s,d.
We rank on LpA and show LwA beside it. The two measure different things, and never belong in one ranking. The sound power vs sound pressure explainer covers why. We also keep each standard apart, keep Milwaukee's figures apart because its pages name no standard, and keep HiKOKI's single-event figures apart because they are per firing and printed in dB without "(A)".
The ranking, by declaration
EN 62841-2-16, the current standard for cordless nailers: Makita XTP02Z pin nailer at 81 dB(A) and 87 sound power. It is the only one here.
EN 60745, the older standard: Makita XNB01Z at 79 (no sound power given), DEWALT DCN650B at 82 and 93, DEWALT DCN660B and DCN662B at 83 and 94, DEWALT DCN680B at 84 and 95, and Makita XNB02Z at 89 and 100.
Milwaukee's European pages, no standard named: 2746-20 at 81.1 and 92.1, 2841-20 at 84.52 and 95.52, and 2839-20 at 85.13 and 96.13.
ISO 11148-13 (EN 12549), pneumatic: Makita AF353 at 92 and 101, AF506 at 99 and 109, AF635 at 104 and 113, and AF601 at 104 and 115.
EN 60745 single-event, in dB: Metabo HPT NT1850DES and NT1865DMS, sharing one HiKOKI declaration of LpA,1s,d = 81 and LWA,1s,d = 92.
Inside the groups the order is clear. In the EN 60745 group, Makita's XNB01Z is lowest at the ear, and DEWALT's DCN650B has the lowest sound power of those that declare one. In the pneumatic group, the small AF353 pin nailer is seven decibels under the next Makita. Makita's XNB02Z declares six decibels more than DEWALT's DCN662B at the ear, for the same kind of tool.
None of it is printed for US buyers
Not one US product page or US manual we opened for these sixteen nailers prints a noise figure on its own. The figures come from each maker's European documents, and we match each US nailer to its European twin with the evidence in its listing.
Makita sells its four air nailers under the same model numbers on both sides of the Atlantic, and the US and EU manuals agree on pressure range, nail range, size and weight. Its cordless nailers change names: the US XNB01 is the European DBN500, the XNB02 is the DBN600, and the XTP02 is the DPT353. Here too the manuals match on nail sizes, dimensions, voltage and weight.
DEWALT sells the same model numbers, with a B suffix for the bare US tool. Its EU manuals come from DEWALT's UK service site, and the US manuals and pages agree on gauge, angle and nail range. One DEWALT is an exception to the rule above: the US page for the DCN662B links a manual in English, Russian and Ukrainian, and its English table prints the same 83 and 94 dB(A) as the European one.
Milwaukee, and a question of generation
Milwaukee's European pages list the figures as product data. For the 18 gauge M18 FN18GS, only the kit entry carries them; the bare tool entry lists none. We match that nailer to the US 2746-20 by its 16 to 54 mm nail range, 1.2 mm diameter and 110 nail magazine, which match the US manual exactly.
The two finish nailers need a caveat. Milwaukee's US site marks the first generation 2742-20 and 2743-20 as no longer available and replaced by the 2841-20 and 2839-20. The European pages do not say which generation their figures come from. The nail angle, diameter, length range and magazine match the current US manuals, and that is the match we use.
HiKOKI's European manual covers the NT1850DE brad nailer and the NT1865DM, NT1865DMA and NT1865DMB finish nailers, and gives one noise declaration for all four. Metabo HPT, the US name of HiKOKI, sells the NT1850DES and NT1865DMS kits, and its owner's manual covers the same model names with the same nail ranges and sizes. That owner's manual prints no noise figure.
What the spread means
With a K of 3 on most figures, nailers a decibel or two apart may sound the same in use. DEWALT's four cordless nailers, at 82 to 84 dB(A), are a group, not a podium. The bigger gaps are real: Makita's XNB02Z against DEWALT's DCN662B, and the AF353 against the AF601 in the pneumatic group, where the gap is twelve decibels at the ear.
A declaration is one standardised test, not your whole day. Wood species, nail length, how firmly you press the nose and how many nails you fire an hour all change what you hear. An air nailer also brings a compressor with it. Use the figures to compare nailers inside a group, not to predict your exposure.
The silent aisle
Milwaukee's M12 23 gauge pin nailer, the 2540-20, has no page in Milwaukee's European sitemap, and its US manual prints no noise figure. The European page for the M18 FN16GS, the straight 16 gauge nailer, lists no noise values, so we have no figure for the US 3020-20. DEWALT's DCN623B pin nailer has no figure in its US manual, and a search of DEWALT's UK service site found no DCN623 to read. Makita's European FN001G, a 40 V max 18 gauge brad nailer, declares 86 dB(A) and 92 sound power under EN62841-2-16, but the XGT nailer pages we opened in the US, the GNB01Z and GNB02Z, are framing nailers, and we did not find its US twin. Makita's AF505N is marked discontinued in the US. SENCO's manuals for its 2-1/8 in. 18 gauge brad nailer and its FinishPro 25XP print no noise figure, and neither does the BOSTITCH BTFP12233 manual. For RYOBI we could not open a document that ties a figure to a US model. These nailers may be quiet or loud. Their makers' US documents do not say.
We did not measure any of these nailers. Every figure is the maker's own, quoted as published, with the standard, K value and document identified wherever the maker identified them.
