Ego feels your pain and has come up with the answer – a pro-spec cordless whipper snipper that self winds. Simply grab a decent length of Ego’s industrial strength 2.4mm nylon line, feed it through the head and hold the ‘Powerload’ button. Voila, the entire line is mechanically rolled up in just 10 seconds. This is groundbreaking stuff, dude. A design which is slowly growing in popularity, bladed strimmers generally have two nylon blades on the head of the strimmer which spin at speed. As they spin, they generate a lot of cutting power. As the line wears down, new line needs to be fed into the cutting head from the spool. Sometimes this is done manually, but most cordless trimmers have a system in place to make this process automatic or semi-automatic.

The battery that came with this cordless grass trimmer had a run time of around 30 minutes, but you can’t expect too much from a 2.0Ah battery. The fact that it charges in just one hour is a huge plus, and you always have the option of purchasing a larger battery. Ah batteries will greatly extend running time, but weigh and cost considerably more, so they’re not always the best option. The WORX GT 3.0 would be considered a mid-range cordless trimmer. It costs a little more than some of the budget options, but it’s not as pricey as high-end models. Nevertheless, it offers just as many, if not more, features as several of the high-end strimmers out there. For this reason, it’s one of the best cordless strimmers overall. Overall, there’s no denying that this strimmer’s design is impressive. Granted, at first glance, it may not look particularly exceptional, but take a closer look and you’ll see that numerous features have been crammed into this compact tool. Handles – an ergonomic handle is a great plus, and a second handle further down the shaft makes strimming much easier. The second handle balances out the weight to avoid ending up with one aching arm. The design of the second handle can differ, and some people find a real handle more comfortable than just a raised hand-hold.If you're in the market for a lawnmower, you can find a helpful guide to 10 of the best lawnmowers. Looking for a model that takes care of mulching too? We've got mulching mowers covered here. And if you've got a lot of lawn to look after, take a look at our ride-on mowers here. Upon opening the box, you’ll see that there are only a few components to assemble, which is a good thing since the instruction manual isn’t very clear. Assembly is relatively simple and only took me about 10 minutes. I tested this model on the verges of our village road and was able to keep going for up to 20 minutes before needing a rest. Its power is astonishing, especially when operating at high revs. Yes, it’s noisy and even a bit scary, but you won’t find anything that’s more efficient at clearing heavy brush. It even comes with a metal tri-blade for cutting through stiff stalks like bamboo and small bushes. If minimal assembly appeals to you, then you’ll love this strimmer. It’s pretty much already assembled – open the box and you’ll have the strimmer up and running in less than five minutes.

Like all the best strimmers, the Ryobi’s trigger features variable speed control which is a boon when scything through different types of foliage. And when the going gets really tough, simply swap the 30cm auto-feed line for the 20cm Tri-Arc brushcutter blade which is capable of annihilating everything in its path.Protective clothing such as ear defenders for louder motors with more power can be useful, particularly if the job is going to take a while. This is particularly relevant for a petrol strimmer, but certain electric trimmers can also be very loud. This strimmer comes with a Power for Alliance 4Ah battery and charger and that means it can be used with any 18v garden tool from a variety of other manufacturers, including Bosch, Gardena and FlyMo.

If you’re after a new cordless grass trimmer, there are a few things to bear in mind to make sure you’re getting the best one. The information below should give you an idea of what to look out for, and also what to avoid: How Grass Trimmers Work Sturdy boots are a must, and you should avoid wearing loose trailing clothes that could get caught in the strimmer. The standard cut path on this trimmer is set to 30 cm, but you can reduce it to 25 cm simply by turning the line cutter around inside the blade guard. It’s a clever little extra that gives you more control over your cutting and takes some strain off the battery for higher efficiency. A cutting style that you get on with – as mentioned above, strimmers can use either cutting line or cutting blades. Keep this in mind when shopping, and decide if you’re more comfortable (physically and economically speaking) replacing wire or blades when it wears out. If you don’t wear the battery all the way down, you’re unlikely to need to recharge it before using it again; the lithium-ion batteries used in cordless tools hold their charge relatively well. Of course, charging before use will make sure that you get the most run-time possible from your cordless machine.I also noticed that this strimmer didn’t feel quite as powerful as some of the others that I tested. It came with a 2.0Ah battery, which gave me about 20 minutes of strimming time. This may be all you need if you have a small garden, but I would recommend purchasing a larger battery for medium or large spaces. This same battery can of course be used with other Ryobi One+ tools. You get a 2.0 Ah battery included with the trimmer, which is about powerful enough to run on top speed for about 20 minutes. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it should be enough to tidy up a small to medium size garden. You can, of course, run the trimmer in eco mode that will stretch the run time out a bit though. Being a lightweight strimmer, with so many adjustable parts, the Terratek cordless trimmer was easy to use. However, it does vibrate considerably, which is a bit of a concern. A telescopic shaft and adjustable handle will help improve comfort . Also, a second handle makes controlling the strimmer easier, particularly on more powerful models (30 – 36 V). Derek has real-world tested 61 products for DIY Garden, and is one of our most experienced testers.

Since its inception in 1689 – an impressive 334 years – Swedish brand Husqvarna has produced a diverse number of products, from shotguns and sewing machines to off-road motorcycles and a wide range of mostly high-end garden products, including robot mowers, ride-on mowers, chainsaws and strimmers. The company also owns garden watering products brand Gardena. All of this great design meant that I had high expectations when I first gave the strimmer a try. It cut grass well, both short and long, and didn’t have a problem with light, mostly dried weeds either. However, it really struggled with tough weeds. This isn’t one of the best strimmers to choose if you’re planning on clearing dense and overgrown vegetation.Safety: The main safety feature strimmers can have is a safety switch alongside the trigger. Models with a safety switch – and even better, an ambidextrous and easily accessible one – we deemed safer, so we rated them higher. It’s not just the low weight that helps here, it’s the clever design of the GT50’s adjustable handle and cutting assembly. The whole thing is so well dialled, ergonomically speaking, that it feels like an extension of your arms. That’s one good reason for consideration before we even touch on arguably the best bit – the cutting method. That said, you could easily swap out the 2.0Ah battery for something more powerful, which is especially easy to do if you already own other battery-powered Bosch power tools as of course the same battery can be used across their cordless range. With a larger battery, it would work well in large gardens too. If you’re cutting overgrown areas, protective glasses are important because strimmers can throw up stones and other sharp objects.