A reciprocating saw is built to tear through things: studs full of nails, cast iron drain pipe, window frames, tree roots. The blade slams back and forth up to 3,300 times a minute, the gearbox that turns the motor's spin into that stroke rattles, and the blade itself rings against whatever it hits. It is one of the loudest tools on a remodeling job, and it is often used in a small room or overhead, close to your ears.
Seventeen reciprocating saws sold in the US carry maker noise figures we could read and match to the US model. Thirteen are declared under the current standard, EN 62841-2-11, and at the operator's ear those run from 80 to 91 dB(A). Three Milwaukee saws have figures from 82.9 to 85.4 with no standard named, and one DEWALT has a figure only under the older standard.
The test behind the numbers
Makers selling in Europe declare reciprocating saw noise under EN 62841-2-11, the standard for handheld reciprocating saws. It gives two quantities. LpA is sound pressure at the operator's position. LWA is sound power, the tool's total output. Each comes with a K value, the uncertainty: 3 dB for Makita and Milwaukee, 3 or 5 dB for Bosch and DEWALT, and 5 dB for Hilti.
The standard's vibration test has two parts, cutting boards and cutting wooden beams, and the documents we read print vibration figures for those tasks. For noise, every document we read gives a single pair of figures for each saw, with no work mode attached. We compare those pairs directly and do not assign them to boards or beams.
We rank on LpA and show LwA beside it. Both come from the same test, but they measure different things and never belong in one ranking. The sound power vs sound pressure explainer covers why. Figures under the older EN 60745 standard, and Milwaukee's figures, which name no standard, are ranked only within their own groups.
None of it is printed for US buyers
Not one of the seventeen saws has a noise figure in the US documents we opened. Makita, Milwaukee, DEWALT, Bosch and Hilti all print their figures in Europe instead: Makita in its EU manuals, Milwaukee in the product data on its EU pages, DEWALT and Bosch in their European and UK instructions, and Hilti in its European operating instructions.
Where the model number is the same in both markets, as with Makita's corded JR3051T and JR3070CT, DEWALT's DCS369, DCS382 and DCS387 and Hilti's SR 6-22 and SR 30-A36, the match is direct. Bosch makes the rest easy to check, because the US and European saws share a part number family: the US GSA18V-083B carries part number 06016A5017, and the manual for the European GSA 18 V-LI C gives 3 601 FA5 0.. with the same 3,050 strokes per minute. For Makita's cordless saws and for Milwaukee we paired each US saw with the European one that has the same stroke, speed and size. Each catalog entry states the pairing and the evidence. The corded declarations describe 230 V European tools, and the US versions run on 120 V.
Compact and one-handed saws
The quietest saws here are also the smallest. Makita's DJR183, the twin of the US XRJ01Z, declares 80 dB(A) at the ear and 88 sound power. Its 12 V sibling, the JR103D behind the US RJ03R1 kit, declares 81 and 89. Both have a 1/2 inch stroke and cut up to 2 inches, so they are pipe and trim saws, not demolition tools.
Bosch's GSA 18 V-LI C, the twin of the GSA18V-083B, declares 82 and 93 with a longer 0.83 inch stroke. DEWALT's one-handed DCS369 declares 84 and 95 in its 2019 European manual, and Bosch's newest compact, the GSA 18V-24 behind the US GSA18V-24N, declares 85 and 93.
Full size saws
Among the saws we rank with a stroke of 1-1/8 inches or more, Hilti's SR 6-22 declares the least at the ear, 86 dB(A), with 94 sound power and an uncertainty of 5 dB(A). DEWALT's DCS382 follows at 86,5 and 94.5, printed with a decimal comma for the first figure, and Makita's XRJ05Z twin, the DJR187, at 87 and 95.
The heavier saws declare more. Makita's 40V max GRJ01Z and Hilti's 36 V SR 30-A36 both declare 88 and 96, and Bosch's orbital GSA18V-125N, through its European twin the GSA 18V-32, declares 90 and 98. Makita's two corded saws, the 12 amp JR3051T and the 15 amp orbital JR3070CT, declare 91 and 99 each, the most in this guide. Hilti is the only maker here with a price on its own US store: $329.00 discounted net for the SR 6-22 tool body, and from $569.00 for the SR 30-A36.
Milwaukee's European pages list a sound pressure and a sound power level for each saw, but name no standard or test condition, so we rank the three Milwaukee saws only against each other. The M12 CHZ, the European M12 FUEL HACKZALL that matches the US 2520-20, lists 82.9 dB(A) at the ear and 93.9 sound power. The M18 FHZ, matching the 2719-20 HACKZALL, lists 84.7 and 95.7. The tool-only M18 FSZ, matching the 2821-20 SAWZALL, lists 85.4 and 96.4, though one kit version on the same page lists 88.15 and 99.15. We quote the tool-only figures and note the difference.
One saw on the older standard
DEWALT's UK manual for the compact DCS387, sold in the US as the DCS387B, declares 87 dB(A) at the ear and 98 sound power under EN60745-2-11, the older standard. We keep it in its own group rather than rank it against the EN 62841 saws.
Three saws have figures that their own makers' documents contradict. DEWALT's European manual for the 60V MAX DCS389 declares 84 dB(A) at the ear and 95 sound power with a K of 5, while its UK Type 1 manual declares 87 dB(A) and 95 with a K of 3, and its 2026 Product Emission Data sheet gives 87 and 95 with a K of 3 in plain "dB". DEWALT's 12 V DCS312 declares 84 dB(A) and 95 in a 2020 European manual, and 87 and 95 in plain "dB" in a 2025 UK manual. Hilti's US page for the corded SR 30 lists an "A-weighted emission sound pressure level" of 92 dB (A), while the operating instructions linked from Hilti's UK site, for the same 4.8 kg, 2,650 strokes per minute saw, give 78.1 dB(A) at the ear and 98.1 sound power under EN 62841. Hilti's US manual prints no figure. We show these figures as published and leave all three out of the rankings.
What the spread means
Eleven decibels separate the quietest EN 62841 declaration we rank from the loudest at the ear, and almost all of it follows the size of the saw. Short-stroke compacts declare the least, full size cordless saws sit in the middle, and the corded saws declare the most. In use, the blade matters as much as the saw: a sharp blade with the right tooth count for the material cuts faster and rattles less than a dull one, and holding the shoe firmly against the work keeps the saw from hammering. Whatever the saw, a long demolition day calls for hearing protection, and every maker here says so.
We did not measure any of these saws. Every figure is the maker's own, quoted as published, with the standard, K value and document identified wherever the maker identified them.
