ISO 22868 and the declarations that name no test
STIHL and Makita declare their pole saws under ISO 22868, the noise test for portable hand held forest and garden machinery. Makita cites it as "ISO22868(ISO11680-1)", naming the pole pruner safety standard alongside it.
Each gives two quantities. LpA, sound pressure, is taken where your ear sits, at the bottom of the shaft beside the battery and trigger. LwA, sound power, is everything the saw radiates in total. STIHL's K value, the uncertainty, is 2 dB(A); Makita's is 3.
Husqvarna's US product pages give a pole saw both figures and name no test and no K value. EGO's European manual gives a K value but also names no test. Those two brands are ranked together, apart from the ISO 22868 group, and the page says so wherever a claim depends on it.
STIHL's gas pruners carry another label. The HT 105 and HT 135 declare Lpeq and Lweq, and the manual says the measurements "include idling and rated maximum speed with the same duration of exposure". An average across running states is not the battery LpA, so the gas figures form a third group.
The ranking runs on the ear figure, with sound power printed beside it rather than merged into one list, as in our chainsaw guide. The HTA 86 shows why: 77 dB(A) for your ear, 93 of sound power. Those two numbers stay in separate columns for reasons set out under sound power vs sound pressure.
What is the quietest pole saw?
The STIHL HTA 86, at 77 dB(A) for the operator's ear under ISO 22868, with the HTA 50 and HTA 66 one decibel behind at 78.
| Group, ear figure | Saw, dB(A) |
|---|
| ISO 22868, battery | STIHL HTA 86 77; HTA 50 and HTA 66 78; HTA 135 83 with 1/4 inch P chain or 88 with 3/8 inch P; Makita GAU01 and GAU02 90; XAU02 92; XAU01 93 |
| ISO 22868, gas (Lpeq) | STIHL HT 105 92; HT 135 93 |
| No test named, battery | EGO PS1000 82; Husqvarna 530iPT5 83; 530iP4 88; 330iKP 95.1 |
| No test named, gas | Husqvarna 525PT5S 89; 122LKP 89.2 |
Sound power follows a similar order inside the ISO 22868 group. STIHL's HTA 66 and HTA 86 declare 93 dB(A), the HTA 50 94, the HTA 135 96 or 102 depending on chain, and the four Makitas 103 to 105.
STIHL and Makita guarantee no sound power ceiling
On hedge trimmers and chainsaws, makers promise a guaranteed sound power level that no unit will exceed, a ceiling set by 2000/14/EC, the EU's outdoor noise directive. For pole saws, STIHL and Makita declare none.
STIHL's declarations of conformity for the HTA 50, HTA 66 and HTA 86 cite the machinery, EMC and RoHS directives and give no guaranteed figure. Makita's manuals print the directive's symbol in a legend, with no guaranteed value in the noise section.
Two brands print one anyway. EGO's PS1000E manual declares a guaranteed 100 dB(A) "according to 2000/14/EC", and Husqvarna's US pages print a guaranteed figure for most models: 98 for the battery 530iPT5 and 530iP4, 107 for the gas 525PT5S. Compared only with each other, the two Husqvarna battery saws tie for the lowest guaranteed dB(A) figure here, two below the EGO.
Sixteen decibels separate the battery saws
The spread at the ear under one test runs from the STIHL HTA 86 to the Makita XAU01, and chain pitch alone moves one STIHL by five.
Inside STIHL's range, the small HTA 50 and the HTA 66 and HTA 86 cluster at 77 to 78 dB(A). The HTA 135, STIHL's heavier professional pruner, declares 83 with 1/4 inch P chain and 88 with 3/8 inch P, five decibels apart at the ear and six in sound power. On an HTA 135, the chain you fit changes what you hear.
Makita compares its 18V X2 saws with a 30cc gas pole saw. Their declarations sit close to gas too: 90 to 93 at the ear under ISO 22868, overlapping the 92 and 93 of STIHL's gas pruners under the same test.
Husqvarna's professional 530iPT5 prints 83 at the ear, while its consumer 330iKP prints 95.1, the loudest battery ear figure among the declarations that name no test.
With a K of 2 or 3, a one decibel step between two STIHL pole saws may not be audible in the branches. The HTA 86, HTA 50 and HTA 66 are a group, not a podium.
The larger gaps are real.
Is a gas pole saw louder than a battery pole saw?
Yes, on one maker's paperwork. STIHL's gas HT 105 declares 92 dB(A) Lpeq at the ear and 105 dB(A) Lweq, against the HTA 86's 77 and 93. Even allowing that the gas figure averages in idling, the gap at the ear is about 15 decibels.
Husqvarna's gas 525PT5S prints 89 at the ear and a guaranteed 107 on its US page, and the dielectric 525DEPS lists 91 at the ear. Whichever figure you read, a gas pole saw is hearing protection territory.
DEWALT's US manuals for the DCPS620 print no noise figure. Its UK product emission data for the European DCMPS567 declares LpA 82 and LWA 92, K 3, and a guaranteed 95 under 2000/14/EC, but prints the unit as plain dB, and that model could not be tied firmly to a current US saw, so it stays apart.
Milwaukee's US manual for the M18 FUEL 3013-20 prints no figure, and its European page for the M18 FTPS30 listed specifications with no noise data. Greenworks' US page for its 40V 8 inch pole saw prints none. Husqvarna's 120iTK4-P page, which prints 80.6 dB(A) at the ear, is marked discontinued.
Any of the DCPS620, the 3013-20 and Greenworks' 8 inch saw could be quiet. Their makers' US documents do not say.
