The 7 Best Strimmers for Professional Looking Borders

Owning one of the best strimmers can make a huge difference in achieving a perfectly finished edge to a lawn.

Grass strimmers, also known as trimmers, are practical and handy for when you can't get your lawn mower to cut certain areas of your garden, such as overhanging grass. This is because strimmers are versatile machines which can be used to create beautifully neat lawns, trim around shrubs and garden ornaments, and tackle overgrown areas. 

Finding the best strimmer depends on a few things, namely the size of the area you need to cover, whether you want a corded or cordless strimmer, and whether you need to trim hard to reach areas, such as under bushes. But once you've found the best strimmer for you and your lawn, you'll find that it provides a clean, smart finish that enhances the overall look of your garden design.

With all budgets considered, these are seven of the best strimmers available to buy now. 

The Best Strimmers You Can Buy Now

The Black+Decker STC1820PC-GB is one of the best cordless strimmers around. Arguably the key reason for this is the two power settings: boost mode which helps you cut through tough weeds, light shrubs and long grass, and the eco setting which is optimal for lighter gardening work. 

The efficiency of boost mode is achieved through Black+Decker's E-drive technology, a high-torque gear system which helps to tackle tougher jobs without clogging, and it is really is incredibly effective on shrubs and overhanging grass. 

It has a fast cutting speed of up to 7,400 RPM and comes fitted with an easily adjustable secondary handle to give you additional control while trimming.

Moreover, it features an automatic cord feed so you won't need to bend down and stop when the cord slips too. It's relatively lightweight too, which is great for bigger jobs, and it's still comfortable to use, and surprisingly quiet.

The 18V battery (included) takes around 4-to-5 hours to fully charge and can run for roughly 30 minutes.

Raw power is the name of the game with the EGO SST1510E. The 56V battery is the most powerful on this list (incredibly, it's a cordless strimmer), making this model an essential purchase for a quick fix if your garden has become overgrown. 

The 38cm cutting area (also the largest on this list) means that the EGO SST1510E is effective at tackling tough garden work n large gardens. 

Plus, in what EGO markets as a world-first, there is a Powerload button which activates a loop-handled line trimmer: simply press and the entire line is rolled up in around 10 seconds, so you don't have to wind it back on to the spool. It's groundbreaking stuff. 

It's a little heavy, but there's a single-shoulder harness included to improve comfort, and while it's on the expensive side, this is a heavy duty trimmer that's well worth the investment. 

The battery lasts around an hour and takes roughly 30 minutes to charge.

If you're looking for a cheap and cheerful strimmer that's reliable, lightweight and easy to use, you can't go wrong with the Flymo Contour 500E.

Its 25cm cutting width makes it a great choice for regularly sprucing up smaller gardens, and the 500W motor - while not overly powerful - is very reliable. 

It comes with strimming, edging and shrubbing modes, and the latter allows you to adjust the angle of the head to access hard-to-reach places, such as under garden furniture or bushes. 

It's also delightfully quiet, which your neighbours will thank you for, and the handle and telescope shaft are easily adjusted, which is handy for compact storage.

Bosch's UniversalGrassCut strimmer has an ergonomic V-shaped handle design that helps you keep your back straight while using it, encouraging a natural posture. Seeing as gardening can be tiring work for even the fittest of us, this is a really useful feature.  

What's more, the design lets you adjust the height of the handles, which is handy if multiple people in your family will be using it. And the ease of use is increased further through its InteliFEED feature - this automatically feeds the spool line for interrupted work without manual adjustments.

There's also a clever foot pedal button and handle twist which makes it easier to switch between edging and trimming. 

You can buy the strimmer with the battery (charger included) or buy it without the battery and Bosch's Power for All battery system means you can use your Bosch batteries across a wide range of their tools. The strimmer takes around an hour to fully charge, and has a battery life of around 40 minutes. 

This corded strimmer from Black+Decker is one of the best around for manoeuvrability, courtesy of a Wheel Edge Guide which helps you trim and edge with precision.

Despite its 'heavy label' it's actually lighter than you might expect, and the aforementioned Black+Decker E-drive technology, which boosts the belt drive efficiency to ensure consistent torque, makes it easy to tackle overgrown lawns. 

It's also the second cheapest strimmer on this list, if budget is a key consideration, with another benefit being the ergonomic adjustable handle to ensure ease of use. 

One complaint with this strimmer though is that even though it features an automatic single line feed features, the spools of strimmer line get used up a bit too quickly. 

The cordless Worx WG163 acts as a strimmer and wheeled edger in one, an impressive 2-in-1 that is good value for money. It combines auto line feed with command line feed, providing an uninterrupted supply line from the spool. 

At the touch of a button you can select the either the grass trimmer or the wheeled edger. The latter is incredibly effective for helping to trim uneven areas of your lawn and edge trim in a straight line, so you should avoid catching the cord on the edges of your patio.

The 90° pivoting head is another standout feature. This makes it easy to trim tricky spots such as low shrubbery areas, while an adjustable spacer guard protects the tops of flowers and plants.

The strimmer utilises Worx's Command Feed spool system which, at the tap of a button, feeds more of the cord through, so you get a bit more manual control without having to mess with the spool. 

Two li-on batteries come as part of the package, which will give you around an hour's use before requiring another charge. 

The Ryobi OLT1832 is a fantastic option for all-round use. It is easy to operate, features clever adjustable settings and can effectively tackle a variety of cutting jobs. 

With the flick of a switch you can transition between edging and trimming, and because the cord can be adjusted between 25 and 30cm of reach, it will also deal with weeds and thicker grass. It also comes with an auto feed mechanism if the line breaks.

It's lightweight, at 2.3kg without the battery (2.7kg with), making it the lightest on the list. And the telescopic head can be angled in three ways to ensure comfort and ease of use.

You can buy the strimmer with the battery and charger or without. 

How to Buy the Best Strimmer

Strimmers can be pretty complicated tools, especially if you're unfamiliar with how they work. So to help start you off on assessing which type is best for your lawn, consider these factors:

Corded or cordless?

The benefits of cordless models is that you're not restricted by a power cable, so you have more freedom of movement. They're also more effective for medium-to-larger size gardens. Make sure you know how long the battery lasts, though, so you aren't caught out during a longer gardening job. 

Corded models meanwhile are generally more powerful and tend to be cheaper. They're also well-suited for those with smaller lawns who only need the cord to travel the length of your garden, you'll just need to make sure you have a power source nearby.

The line-and-spool plastic

Many trimmers cut using a string-like line that rotates at speed, but this line can often break, especially if you buy a strimmer with a thinner line which is more likely to break when it catches harder materials. 

For this reason it's better to opt for a strimmer with a thicker line, ideally 1.2mm. However it's possible to avoid your line breaking through keeping the head of your trimmer clean (dirt build-up can clog up the line-feed mechanism).

And of course you can look for strimmers with bump and auto-feeds, which pushes out more line automatically, saving you the time and effort of fiddling with the spool to get more out each time.

Cutting width

This will be a factor for those cutting large areas of grass. The more premium models have cutting widths up to 42cm, but 25cm should be sufficient for regular use of smaller gardens.

How We're Testing The Best Strimmers

There's a lot to consider when buying one of the best strimmers and the Homebuilding & Renovating team is getting hands-on experience with the products in this buying guide to help you feel confident in choosing the right strimmer for you. 

In our ongoing independent reviews we are testing the ease of use and power to gauge each strimmer's efficacy, and assessing key factors including battery life (for cordless models), weight and value for money. We’re also reviewing everything in-between from additional features to which strimmer is most beneficial for you depending on your requirements.

Our team is passionate about DIY and home improvement (which probably won’t be a surprise) so we already have detailed knowledge about the brands that make these drills. Moreover, we have taken into account user reviews when compiling this buying guide, and gleaned key information from our sister sites such as Real Homes and Ideal Home to help you find the best strimmer for your home.