How many decibels is a circular saw?
From 90 to 99 dB(A) at the ear, for the fourteen saws here. In Europe a circular saw is declared under EN 62841, and saws of this kind have their own part, EN 62841-2-5, the one Festool, Bosch and Metabo cite.
Every declaration carries two figures. LpA measures pressure at the operator's spot, behind a saw gripped at arm's length. LWA, sound power, covers the noise the whole saw sends out in every direction. The K printed with them is the uncertainty, 3 dB for every saw here except one.
The ranking runs on LpA, with LwA beside each saw. The TS 60 K's 90 at the ear and 101 sound power come out of one Festool test, but they describe different things and never meet in one ranking; sound power vs sound pressure explains why they cannot be mixed.
Only Festool names a cutting condition. It declares separate figures for sawing wood and sawing metal, and for every saw that lists both, the two match, so we quote the wood figures. Metabo, Hilti, Bosch and Milwaukee each declare one figure per saw with no condition. Hilti's, Metabo's and Bosch's manuals name EN 62841, Metabo's and Bosch's add part 2-5, and Milwaukee's page names no standard at all. With one declaration per saw, and Festool's wood and metal figures identical, all fourteen are ranked together with each figure's source marked.
What is the quietest circular saw?
Festool's TS 60 K and Metabo's KS 18 LTX 66 BL, both declared at 90 dB(A) for the operator.
| Saw | Type | LpA at the ear | LwA |
|---|
| Festool TS 60 K | Corded track saw | 90 dB(A) | 101 dB(A) |
| Metabo KS 18 LTX 66 BL | Cordless circular saw | 90 dB(A) | 98 dB(A) |
| Festool TS 75 | Corded track saw | 91 dB(A) | 99 dB(A) |
| Festool HKC 55 K | Cordless circular saw | 91 dB(A) | 99 dB(A) |
| Festool TSC 55 KS | Cordless track saw | 91 dB(A) | 99 dB(A) |
| Milwaukee 2831-20 (M18 FPS55) | Cordless plunge saw | 92.4 dB(A) | 103.4 dB(A) |
| Festool TS 55 F | Corded track saw | 93 dB(A) | 101 dB(A) |
| Festool TSV 60 K | Corded track saw, scoring blade | 93 dB(A) | 101 dB(A) |
| Metabo KT 18 LTX 66 BL | Cordless plunge saw | 93 dB(A) | 101 dB(A) |
| Metabo KS 18 LTX 57 | Cordless circular saw | 95 dB(A) | 103 dB(A) |
| Festool TSC 55 K | Cordless track saw, twin battery | 96 dB(A) | 104 dB(A) |
| Hilti SC 6WP-22 | Cordless plunge saw | 98 dB(A) | 106 dB(A) |
| Hilti SC 6WL-22 | Cordless circular saw | 99 dB(A) | 107 dB(A) |
| Bosch GKT18V-20GC | Cordless track saw | 99 dB(A) | 107 dB(A) |
Sound power runs in a different order. The TS 60 K is joint lowest at the ear yet declares 101, while the TS 75, HKC 55 K and TSC 55 KS declare 99 and Metabo's KS 18 LTX 66 BL 98. That column is the one for a shared room.
A handheld saw is not the only tool for these cuts. For ripping sheet goods at a bench, our table saw guide ranks the seven jobsite and compact saws with a maker declaration, and for crosscuts and angles our guide to miter saws ranks fourteen more under EN 62841-3-9.
Festool's US pages drop the noise rows
Festool's US site carries the same specification tables as its international site, minus the noise rows, and Festool does not say why. The figures here come from the full noise table it publishes for every saw internationally.
Each US article is matched to its international twin by power or battery voltage, no-load speed, blade diameter and cutting depth, and those agree for every saw here. Weight agrees too where both pages give it, except the TSC 55 KS: 3.538 kg in the US, 3.30 kg internationally. Names differ only in suffix letters, so the US TS 60 KEB-F-Plus is the international TS 60 KEBQ-Plus. One caveat: the corded declarations describe the 230 V tools, and the US tools run on 120 V.
On those figures the newest brushless TS 60 K is Festool's quietest saw at the ear.
The cordless line splits in two. The single battery TSC 55 KS declares 91, the twin battery TSC 55 K 96, five decibels more, with a tighter K of 1.5. Because festoolusa.com shows no prices, the prices here are the compare at figures listed on Festool USA's reconditioned tool store.
Metabo's pages and manuals disagree
Metabo prints noise figures on its US product pages, the only maker here that does. As with its sanders, those figures do not match its manuals.
For the KS 18 LTX 66 BL the page says 90 at the ear and the manual 87. The KT 18 LTX 66 BL plunge saw reads 93 against 89.5, and the KS 18 LTX 57 95 against 92. Sound power agrees, or nearly. Ranked on the higher page figures, the KS 18 LTX 66 BL still ties for the lowest ear figure and keeps the lowest sound power in the survey.
Hilti, Bosch and Milwaukee declare more
European declarations put the Milwaukee M18 FPS55 at 92.4 dB(A) at the ear, the Hilti Nuron saws at 98 and 99, and the EU twin of Bosch's track saw at 99.
Hilti sells its Nuron saws direct in the US under their European names. The EU manuals declare 98 dB(A) at the ear and 106 sound power for the SC 6WP-22 plunge saw, and 99 and 107 for the SC 6WL-22 circular saw, and the UK pages repeat the ear figures. The US pages and manuals print none.
Bosch's US PROFACTOR track saw, the GKT18V-20GC, has an EU twin now sold as the EXKT18V-52G, and the two manuals share speed, blade, blade thickness and depth. Under EN 62841-2-5 the EU manual gives that saw 99 dB(A) at the operator and 107 sound power.
Milwaukee's European page for the M18 FPS55 plunge saw carries 92.4 dB(A) and 103.4. It is matched to the US 2831-20 by platform, blade and speed range, with a flag on the match because the two documents give maximum depths 2 mm apart, and the US page shows no maker price. The Milwaukee EU circular saws with figures that we checked use 190 mm blades, unlike the 7-1/4 inch US saws, so they were not mapped.
