How many decibels is a string trimmer?
Two figures, never mixed. LpA is the pressure at the operator's ear, the buyer's own ear on a tool held at arm's length. LWA is sound power, the whole machine's acoustic output, on which EU directive 2000/14/EC forces a guaranteed ceiling printed after a measured value and an uncertainty K.
| Trimmer | At the ear (LpA), dB(A) | Guaranteed sound power, dB(A) | Where it is printed |
|---|
| STIHL FSA 57 | 74 | 91 | US manual |
| Husqvarna 520iLX | 76 | 89 | US product page |
| STIHL FSA 86 R, AutoCut head | 77 | 93 | STIHL document server |
| STIHL FSA 60 R, current revision | 77 | 93 | STIHL manual |
| EGO ST1511T kit (EU ST1510E-T) | 78.1 | 95 | EGO EU manual |
| STIHL FSA 45 | 80 | Not quoted here | STIHL manual |
| Husqvarna 525iLST | 80 | 93 | US product page |
| STIHL FSA 80 R | 81 | 96 | STIHL manual, IEC 62841-4-4 |
| Husqvarna 525iLK | 86 | 95 | US product page |
| STIHL FS 56 RC-E (gas) | 93 | 105 sound power, ISO 22868 | STIHL manual |
EGO's telescopic model shows the layers inside a declaration: measured 90 dB(A) with K of 4.9, guaranteed 95. The guaranteed number is a legal ceiling, not an average.
A trimmer declaring 74 LpA and 91 guaranteed LWA is not contradicting itself.
The sound power vs sound pressure explainer has the full mechanics, and our leaf blower guide runs on the same regime.
STIHL does it in every manual. Pressure, power, the standard (EN 50636-2-91 or IEC 62841-4-4), K values and a Declaration of Conformity, with separate rows per cutting head: it is the category's gold standard.
Husqvarna prints both numbers directly on its US product pages, but only for the pro 500 series. Its consumer 40V line omits the sound group entirely.
EGO declares fully in the EU and publishes nothing for its US model numbers. Our EGO figures therefore carry an explicit regional flag, and an EU figure is carried over only where EGO's numbering and specs show the same tool. The EU ST1510E, at 72.6 dB(A) at the ear, fails that test, because EGO's UK page lists it with a non-telescoping aluminum shaft and EGO US sells its number only as split or telescopic shafts. The ST1610E-T fails too, since its manual describes the LINE-IQ feed that EGO US sells on the ST1623T rather than the ST1611T.
Our page of EGO's published noise figures applies the same rule across the whole range, and finds that the EGO tool with the lowest declared figure at the operator's ear is a string trimmer, the 15 inch POWERLOAD on an aluminum telescopic shaft.
STIHL has one oddity. Its FSA 60 R manuals disagree across revisions, 81 dB(A) at the ear in the 2021 US document against 77 in the current one, and both are quoted with their document numbers.
STIHL declares its battery hedge trimmers in the same full way, ear figure and guaranteed ceiling, and our hedge trimmer guide ranks them on it. If crisp borders along a path are the main job, a dedicated edger is the alternative, and our lawn edger guide compares the edgers and edger attachments that carry a maker figure.
Ryobi, Greenworks and DeWalt list no decibels
Nor do Milwaukee, Makita, Toro or Worx, for any US model we checked, across manuals and product pages. Several declare for EU siblings under different model numbers, which we refuse to map across regions.
Ryobi earns a special mention.
An entire product line is named Whisper Series and marketed as 72 percent quieter than gas, without one decibel on a maker page or in the manual we checked. A percentage against an unnamed baseline ranks nothing, the same rule that filed Dyson in our hair dryer guide.
How loud is a gas weed eater?
93 dB(A) at the operator's ear and 105 dB(A) of sound power under ISO 22868, for STIHL's entry gas trimmer, the FS 56, in STIHL's own manual.
Against the battery set's 74 to 86 at the ear, that is the difference between wearing ear protection by habit and needing it by the numbers.
Where to buy STIHL, EGO and Husqvarna trimmers
STIHL sells through dealers, so its picks anchor the ranking without an Amazon link. EGO is the category's Amazon native, and Husqvarna's pro tools cycle through official Amazon stock. EGO's US store served us Canadian pages without dollar prices, which leaves its entries with no maker list price.
