Here we review what we believe to be the best hand held grass trimmers in the UK market right now. These hand held devices come in a few different types. They are ideal for those who like to tend to their lawn with some care.
The typical electric or cordless strimmers are great for getting the job done quickly. However they can also spread grass all over the place, and also damage the lawn and flower beds, if not used properly.
With a manual trimmer, you will be slower, but the tidy up will be much faster, and you can be really fussy about the look that you want.
What Are the Different Types of Hand Held Trimmers?
Let's have a look at what is available for cutting grass, trimming edges and trimming shrubs and bushes. The most popular choice at the moment is the cordless style. They operate off a rechargeable battery and do a fabulous job, in our opinion.
You do of course have the single handled grass shears which are quite popular, the hedge clippers which can also be used for trimming the edge of your lawns and the long handled grass shears. Just below we look at those in a lot more detail.
The 4 Types of Trimmers and Edgers
Single Handled Grass Shears
Cordless Grass Shears
Hedge Clippers
Long Handled Lawn Shears
Let's have a look at each type in a lot more detail. It depends on what task you want to get done, and how quickly you want to achieve that.
Single Handed Grass Shears
These have been around for years, and many people like them. Electric strimmers are faster for sure. However when doing the edges of lawns, they fire the grass everywhere. Tidying up then becomes a bigger chore than it should be.
Using a manual one like this means the grass drops off, but it is easy to quickly tidy it up. All of them are a one handed operation. These cost around £15-20, and work very well as long as they have a smooth action and really sharp blades.
The big disadvantage is that you have to bend over to use them, and they can get sore on the hands after a while. They do however give you full control, and are quite fast once you get used to their operation. They also allow you to get into areas where larger tools will not allow you because of their size.
Cordless Grass Trimmers, Shears and Edgers
These have burst into popularity. They give you all the benefits of hand clippers, but with the assistance of a powerful battery. Y
You can buy shears like this which are operated by hand as we have shown above. In other words you pull on a lever, and that makes the blades move, and cuts the grass or trims the edge of a lawn or flower bed.
With this type, instead of having to use you hand, which can get sore, you pull a trigger and let the battery do the work. By quite a long way these are my favourite type. They can actually change the way you do gardening forever.
They work on grass, but also on smaller shrubs and hedges. A typical one can help cut shrubs up to around 5 mm in thickness. The main disadvantage of these is that they cost around £40-50, so not the cheapest option.
Hedge Clippers
If you don't already own a set of these, we will bet your parents or grandparents do.
Before the invention of anything electrical, these were all that were available. We still find these really useful for certain areas of our gardens.
We also find them handy to use at my allotment. They can handle grass with ease, hedges with ease, and even shrubs with ease.
Today of course, there are all types of features on these, including spring loaded handles, telescopic handles, self-sharpening blades etc.
A big price range here. You can pay as little as £7 and all the way up to £50 for the higher end gardening brands.
Long Handled Lawn Shears
Most people will be familiar with these long handled or telescopic lawn edgers. For any gardener who likes a nice tidy lawn edge, and doesn't want a bad back, these are the ideal solution.
Due to the length of the handle, you can easily stand, and allow the blades at the bottom to trim the edges.
You will find these in homes up and down the country. Any gardener who has had a bad back, is very likely to own a set of these.
Some people also use these to trim grass where the mower can't reach, but they are no really designed for that. They vary a bit in price from as cheap as £15, and up to £50 for a high quality pair.
