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There’s a fine (usually nylon) line between a good-looking garden and a great-looking one, and it’s attached to the best strimmers or brush cutters on the market.
These tools form an essential part of any garden armoury, tackling everything from delicate jobs, such as delivering a nice crisp edge (which escapes most mowers’ blades), to taking on tougher tangled patches of thorns and ivy that quickly encroach on areas of the garden that don’t get much footfall.
What’s also essential is the strimmer has an effortless feed mechanism, as a broken line is inevitable, and you don’t want to have to keep stopping to ensure there is enough cord spinning around for the machine to do its job effectively.
No matter how efficient the feed, you will eventually run out of line, so, we assessed each model on how easy it was to respool – all the machines in our edit made the job of resupplying the line headache-free.
There aren’t too many extras when it comes to strimmers, apart from the overall ergonomics of each machine – from the shoulder strap or harness to the hand holds – so, we needed to find out if we could work in comfort, without having to fight the machine, as we put the finishing touches to lawned areas and battled the brush in our garden.
How we tested
We had an acre of land on which to test all the machines. Within that space, there were dense patches of unruly vegetation, as well as a lawned area that had just been mown. We put each machine through its paces, using it to edge borders, taper up to walls, fences and around trees and scythe through areas that were hip height in long grass and choked with scrub.
Why you can trust us
Jon has been a feature writer since 1996 and has been contributing reviews to IndyBest since 2017. he specialises in everything about the great outdoors and has tried and tested everything from puffer jackets and walking boots to lawnmowers and cordless drills.
The best strimmers for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Ryobi RY36LT33A-120 grass strimmer: £399.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Spear and Jackson S4528ET strimmer: £62, Argos.co.uk
- Best for city gardens – Stihl FSA 57 strimmer: £144.99, Sam-turner.co.uk
- Best for space-saving – Husqvarna aspire T28-P4A strimmer: £155, Toolstoday.co.uk
