Which strimmer to buy

The short answer is no. In terms of safety, the electrical components found in battery-powered trimmers are isolated, unlike their corded counterparts, but there is still a risk of starting a fire or giving yourself a nasty electric shock when working with wet grass. You will also be working with an uneven surface, as soggy grass tends to get trodden down more easily, which will only lead to an uneven cut. Plus, wet grass can clump together and cause blockages to the blade. IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust.

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It is easy to switch between trimming and edging functions with just one click of a button. The advantages of this strimmer are that has an adjustable telescopic handle, along with an auxiliary handle all designed to making this strimmer easier to use. It does come with a Bosch 3-year warranty. It is ideal for light to medium strimming or doing the edges of your lawn, and on medium to larger gardens, this will do a good job.

This one is really light to handle and suitable for most strimming tasks but is not suitable for heavier strimming. The advantages of this strimmer are that it has been designed for small to medium sized gardens. The watt motor is the average size for a strimmer and likewise the cutting width of 25cm. You can use this for light strimming and also for doing the edges of your lawn. The line is thin at 1. It is also light as it weighs only 2.

Most buyers really like this, but the disadvantages of this model is that with a thin line, it will break on any type of thick heavy grass or weeds. It works well on lighter or less dense grass and also good at the edges of your lawn. This is a strimmer best suited to the tough jobs, and it is very robustly made to last for many years. It has one of the biggest motor sizes at watts and a very good cutting swathe of 35 cm, again one of the biggest on the UK market. That said, with a cutting width of 35 cm and a W power rating the strimmer is exceptionally effective to make light work of gardening tasks.

What buyers really like about this strimmer is it has a standard nylon spool that can easily cope with thick grass, dock plants and thistles. It also has a heavy duty attachment to deal with tougher woody stem plants.

Thanks to the high torque on this strimmer, it is particularly good at getting through tougher and thicker grass or scrub. This strimmer uses a very powerful watt motor and has a cutting swathe of 33 cm, so ideal for medium to larger gardens. That said, with a cutting width of 33 cm and a W power rating the strimmer is very good.

What buyers really like about this strimmer is the automatic line feed, high-speed action, the generous 33 cm cutting swathe and the long cable reach that allow you to get the job done faster. They also liked the wheel edge guide that ensures neater lawn edges every time. Below we have listed the top 5 cordless strimmers. This is powered by an 18 Volt battery with a charging time of 2 hours but lasts for about 20 minutes of strimming.

It is also powered by a high torque gear system that can power through even the toughest overgrown areas quickly without clogging. The charge time is slow but with one charge you can cut up to linear metres, so you can complete most garden tasks without having to stop to recharge.

Buyers did like that this strimmer is very light. It is very convenient to be able to grab a strimmer like this, do a quick strim and then put it back in the shed.

There is no need to worry about leads, extension leads etc. If you can afford this Makita model, then just go ahead and buy it, as we think it is the best cordless strimmer on the market.

Please be aware though that this strimmer is sold as a tool only option. That means you will also need to own a compatible Makita 18V Li-ion LXT slide type battery and a charger and that will push the price up a lot. If you already own a Makita battery, then this is the perfect choice for you.

If not you will have to buy the battery and charger. The only benefit of doing that is that it will allow you to buy any cordless Makita tool as a tool only option, which will save you money in the long term.

Our Advice : This is by quite a distance the best selling cordless strimmer in the UK, but it is an expensive option. That said buyers absolutely love it, and it gets fantastic buyer ratings. It comes with a built in lock off lever, adjustable cutting head, loop handle and 5 position pivoting head to enable the user to adjust the cutting angle, allowing for trimming in confined spaces. It has an easy to change spool assembly with a simple bump and feed single line cutting mechanism.

Nylon cords are automatically fed out by tapping the cutting head onto the ground. The degree turning head allows the trimmer to convert to an edger with a mm cutting swathe. It also has a telescopic swathe. It is very important to note that this is a tool only. If you don't own that it will make it an expensive purchase for a first time buyer.

However, that also means you can buy any other Ryobi tool as a tool only and save money in the long term. Our Advice : There are a lot of buyers for this particular cordless strimmer. Buyers liked the adjustable cutting width of 25 or 30cm as it makes this strimmer more versatile. They also liked the "EasyEdge feature" for quick transitions between edging and trimming modes. Many buyers said they liked the telescopic adjustable handle as it provided comfort for any user height.

Even the battery comes built-in. Charge it using the supplied wall-wart charger — it takes just over three hours — and you can then trim away for around 40 minutes. At just 1. We also like the way it stores the spare blades in the handle. Admittedly, there are some compromises. Key specs — Overkill for smaller gardens, the GL is brilliant for bigger, more unruly plots. Key specs — W motor; 33cm cutting width; 2mm line plus heavy-duty lines; Weight: 3.

Some gardens need a petrol trimmer, and the Stihl FS40 is a good, affordable example from one of the biggest names in the business.

The FS40 is easy to handle, with a simple bump-feed mechanism where you bump the head on the ground to release more line. However, at 2. Still, this is the kind of rock-solid, heavy-duty trimmer that will last for years. Key specs — 2 stroke engine; 0. The Terratek 20V Cordless Strimmer is a great value product that combines both trimming and edging capabilities in one strimming package. As the name suggests, this strimmer is completely cordless, which is great in terms of ease of use and convenience as you don't have to deal with extension cables.

What separates this wireless unit from many others, though, is that it comes as standard out of the box with two batteries, meaning that you've got twice the amount of juice for strimming.

Each battery last about 40 minutes, so you've got an hour and a half of non-stop strimming power on tap. Battery recharge time isn't particularly fast at hours, but we can't see anyone needing more strimming after 90 minutes of action. The Terratek 20V Cordless Strimmer is also light, weighing in at just 2kg, and comes with large 25cm trimming diameter and quick change blades.

These blades just snap in and out of the blade housing, making replacing them easy. Then throw in the fact that this system can also edge, has an adjustable height of 95cm to cm, and comes with a 2-year warranty, and it's clear to see it is a very strong all-round package. And especially so at its budget price point. Is there anything more faffish than having to wind springy nylon line around a strimmer spindle?

You know the scenario. For some unknown reason the line suddenly stops feeding through while you're trimming so you remove the lid on the line feeder and — zing — the whole lot springs out in one big tangled mess. So you chuck the whole damn lot into the shed where it still resides to this day. Ego feels your pain and has come up with the answer — a pro-spec cordless whipper snipper that self winds. Voila, the entire line is mechanically rolled up in just 10 seconds.

This is groundbreaking stuff, dude. The strimmer itself is equally amazing. What you will notice is how superbly well it performs. Unlike most strimmers that have just one short line spinning around, this one has two and a combined cutting area of 38cm.

This not only speeds up the process noticeably but it also makes it more efficient, which in turn leaves more time for important leisure activities like lobbing water bombs at the kids.

Its small unassuming cutter head, meanwhile, features a brushless motor that will likely go on running longer than you will. The 2. If you have a large lawn and the financial wherewithal, then this is unequivocally the weed whacker for you.

The Worx WG is one of a few two-in-one tools on our list, acting as a grass trimmer and wheeled edger in one. A degree pivoting head also makes it easier to trim tricky spots, so if you have lawn furniture, a trampoline, or a tricky-shaped garden, it may be a good buy. You can see how this strimmer stacks up to our number one choice in T3's Terratek 20V vs Worx WG comparison feature.

There's a lot of value delivered in the Flymo Contour E electric line trimmer, and not least because it can act as both a grass trimmer and edger in one unit. It cuts with a 2mm nylon cord, which is 10 meters in length, and delivers a mid-tier cutting width of 30 centimetres, which will be more than enough for most gardens. This is especially true as this model delivers a dual auto line feed system, meaning that it is more robust than cheaper strimmers.

Other reasons to buy include a telescopic handle, which makes getting to hard to reach things easier, as well as a built in wheel mechanism that makes edging around curved borders and around walls and fences easier, too. The downsides to this strimmer are really only two-fold: firstly, it is not an wireless strimmer, so you have to deal with a power cord, and secondly its build is very ABS plastic heavy.