The 6 Best String Trimmers of 2026 (The Line Feed Is What Matters)

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Our quick picks

Ranked by what each one is best at, not by a score we made up. Ratings are what the product showed on Amazon when we last checked — how we rank.

The rest of this page is the reasoning, the relevant specifications and the drawbacks.

Nobody abandons a string trimmer because it cut badly. They abandon it because of the line — specifically because reloading the spool involves taking the head apart, winding fresh line around a plastic bobbin in the right direction, threading two ends through two small holes, and reassembling it while kneeling in wet grass. It is the most disliked routine job in yard work, and it is why so many trimmers sit in garages with an empty head.

Which makes the line feed system the most important specification in this category, and it is the one nobody compares. There are three approaches. A bump feed head advances line when you tap it on the ground — simple and reliable, but you still have to hand-wind the spool. An auto feed head advances line by itself, which is convenient and eats line faster than you would choose. And the newest arrangement, sold under names like PowerLoad, lets you feed a length of line through the head and press a button to wind it in automatically — no disassembly, about fifteen seconds, and it is the feature that turns a trimmer from a chore into a tool.

The second thing worth understanding before you compare cutting widths: battery-powered trimmers have effectively won this category for homeowners. A modern 40 to 60-volt brushless trimmer cuts as well as a small gas trimmer, starts instantly, weighs less, makes a fraction of the noise, and does not need a carburettor cleaned every spring. Gas still makes sense on acreage and for commercial use, and for everyone else it is a solved problem.

Below are six trimmers covering budget, mid-range and large-yard use, plus a section on safety and one on the thing string trimmers do to trees that most people do not know about. If you are working through a yard, our guides to the best leaf blowers and the best chainsaws cover the rest.

Quick picks

• Best overall: EGO POWER+ 16” — automatic line loading and auto-sensing line management on a telescopic carbon fiber shaft, which removes the two worst parts of owning a trimmer.
• Best for existing tool owners: Makita XRU23Z 18V LXT — the highest-rated trimmer here, brushless, and it runs on batteries you may already own.
• Best value kit: CRAFTSMAN V20 trimmer and edger kit — battery and charger included, with a long quoted runtime.
• Best budget: BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX 2-in-1 — light, cheap, converts to an edger, and has an automatic feed spool.
• Best for attachments: Greenworks 60V 16” — a 16-inch cutting path on an attachment-capable shaft, so one battery runs several tools.
• Best for edging: WORX 20V 12” 2-in-1 — a head that tilts through 90 degrees and wheels to guide it along a path edge.

Read this first: safety, and the damage nobody warns you about

A string trimmer looks harmless next to a chainsaw and it throws debris at high speed in unpredictable directions. The injuries it causes are mostly to eyes, and mostly to bystanders. Your tool’s manual takes precedence over anything here.

Protective equipment, briefly

• Eye protection, always, no exceptions. A trimmer head spinning at several thousand revolutions per minute turns gravel, wire, glass and bits of fence into projectiles. Wraparound safety glasses at minimum; a face shield is better. This is the item people skip and the one that matters most.
• Long trousers and closed shoes. Line at full speed cuts skin readily, and thrown stones bruise. Sandals near a running trimmer is a bad idea.
• Hearing protection for gas trimmers, and worth having with battery ones if you are working for an hour.
• Gloves for grip and for handling line, which has sharp cut ends.
• Keep bystanders well back — considerably further than feels necessary, because debris travels. Children and pets indoors.
• Walk the area first and pick up stones, wire, dog toys, pet waste and anything else the head can fling. Hidden wire is the worst case: it wraps and whips.

Operating basics that also make it cut better

• Cut with the tip of the line, not the middle. The tip is moving fastest and cuts cleanly; burying the head in grass just loads the motor and shreds line.
• Know which way your head spins and work so debris is thrown away from you. Most heads rotate counterclockwise, which means moving right to left throws clippings away from your legs and leaves a tidier edge.
• Never fit a metal blade to a trimmer not rated for one. Brushcutter blades require a tool designed for them, a harness, and a different guard. Retrofitting a blade or, worse, a length of chain — which is sold by some sellers and should not be — is dangerous.
• Use the line diameter the tool specifies. Thicker line than the head is rated for overloads the motor and, on battery tools, shortens runtime dramatically.
• Remove the battery, or stop and let a gas engine cool, before touching the head. Clearing wrapped grass from a head that can start is how fingers get cut.
• Do not use it in the wet on mains-powered models, and be careful on slopes, where a trimmer pulls you off balance more than you expect.

String trimmers kill trees, and most owners never realize

This deserves its own section because it is the most common form of avoidable damage in a home landscape and almost nobody connects cause and effect.

A tree’s living tissue — the layer that transports water and nutrients — sits just under the bark. A string trimmer run around the base of a young tree scuffs that bark away a little at a time, and after a season or two of tidy strimming you have effectively ringed the trunk. The tree does not die immediately; it declines over two or three years, and by the time it is obviously failing nobody remembers the trimming.

• Keep a mulch ring around young trees — a circle of bark mulch two or three feet across, kept a few inches clear of the trunk itself. Then there is no grass to trim against the trunk at all. This is the professional answer and it is free.
• Or fit a trunk guard, a plastic sleeve around the base, which works and looks less pleasant.
• Never trim right up against the bark of anything you want to keep, including young shrubs. Leave a hand’s width and accept a little untidiness.
• The same applies to fence posts, irrigation lines, low-voltage lighting cable and plastic edging, all of which a trimmer chews through invisibly.

What we looked at

We built this list from current Amazon listings, manufacturer specifications and the recurring patterns in verified buyer feedback. We have not trimmed a season’s worth of edges with each of these, and we are not going to imply we ran timed cutting tests. What we did was assess each on the things that determine whether people keep using them: line feed system, line diameter and cutting width, shaft type, weight and balance, and battery platform.

We weighted heavily against recurring reports of line that will not feed, heads that shed the spool cap, and runtimes far below the claim. We weighted in favor of automatic line loading, attachment-capable shafts, and platforms broad enough that the battery has other uses.

Every pick holds a customer rating of 4.3 stars or better. Two honest observations about this category. First, ratings here are lower across the board than in most categories — a great many trimmers sit at 4.0 to 4.2, and the complaints are overwhelmingly about line feed rather than cutting. Second, the best gas trimmers are largely sold through dealers rather than online, so if you have acreage and want a professional gas machine, a local dealer is a better route than a marketplace.

What to know before you buy

Line diameter and shape: match the tool, not the job

Trimmer line is sold by diameter in inches and by cross-section shape, and using the wrong one is a common and quiet mistake.

• 0.065 inch: light grass and edging. Standard on small 20-volt trimmers. Breaks quickly against anything woody.
• 0.080 to 0.095 inch: general-purpose. This is where most homeowner trimmers live and where the sensible compromise between durability and motor load sits.
• 0.095 to 0.105 inch and above: heavy weeds and thick growth, and it needs a powerful trimmer to spin it. On an underpowered tool it simply drains the battery.
• Round line is the most durable and cuts least aggressively. Twisted, square and multi-sided lines have edges that cut noticeably better and break more often against fences and concrete.
• Do not exceed the diameter the manual specifies. Thicker line loads the motor, overheats it, and on a battery tool can halve your runtime. If your trimmer struggles, the answer is usually thinner line, not thicker.

Straight or curved shaft?

• Curved shaft: lighter, cheaper, and easier to swing around obstacles and flower beds. Better for shorter users. Cannot take attachments and gives less reach under bushes and fences.
• Straight shaft: better reach, keeps the head further from your feet, more comfortable for taller users, and it is the only type that accepts attachments or brushcutter heads. Slightly heavier and more awkward in tight spaces.

If your yard is small and fiddly, curved. If it is larger, or you are tall, or you want attachments, straight. Several trimmers now use a telescopic shaft, which lets you set the length properly — a surprisingly large comfort difference for anyone who is not average height.

Attachment-capable shafts are good value

A split-shaft or attachment-capable trimmer is a powerhead that accepts different tools: an edger, a pole saw, a hedge trimmer, a cultivator, sometimes a blower. You buy one motor, one battery and one charger, and add heads as you need them.

The economics are good and the practical caveat is real: an attachment on a trimmer powerhead is usually a compromise against a dedicated tool. A pole saw attachment is fine for occasional pruning and not for a day of it. If you will use one attachment heavily, buy the dedicated tool; if you want three tools you use twice a year each, the attachment system is much better value and takes up a fraction of the space.

Cutting width, battery and the trade between them

A wider cutting swath clears ground faster and drains the battery faster, and the relationship is not subtle. A 16-inch head on a 60-volt platform is a really fast tool with a battery appetite to match; a 12-inch head on a 20-volt platform is slow and will finish a small yard on one charge.

• Small yard, edges and paths only: 12 inches on a 20-volt platform is plenty.
• Typical suburban yard: 13 to 15 inches on a 40 to 60-volt platform is the sweet spot.
• Large yard, rough grass, half an acre and up: 15 to 17 inches and 60 volts or more, and buy a second battery rather than a bigger trimmer.
• Buy the battery capacity, not the voltage. A 4.0Ah battery on a 40-volt tool will outlast a 2.0Ah battery on a 60-volt one for most jobs. Voltage buys power; amp-hours buy time.
• Check whether the battery is included. Bare tools are much cheaper and useless unless you already own the platform, and the listings do not always make it obvious.

Trimmer, edger, brushcutter: three different tools

• A string trimmer cuts grass and soft weeds with nylon line, horizontally.
• An edger cuts a vertical line where lawn meets path or bed. Many trimmers rotate 90 degrees to do this, and a dedicated wheeled edger does it much better and neater.
• A brushcutter has a metal blade for woody stems, saplings and brambles, requires a harness and a specific guard, and is a different and more dangerous tool. Do not turn a trimmer into one.
• A lawn mower cuts lawn. A trimmer used to mow a lawn takes ten times as long and looks worse. This sounds obvious and people do it.

The 6 best string trimmers

1. EGO POWER+ 16” — best overall

This is the trimmer that solved the problem this guide opened with. POWERLOAD means you feed a length of line through the head and press a button, and the machine winds it on itself — no disassembly, no bobbin, no working out which direction to wind. If you have ever knelt in a damp lawn rewinding a spool, that single feature is worth the price difference on its own.

Line IQ is the other half of the idea: auto-sensing technology that manages line length as you work, feeding out what is needed rather than either running short or flinging line away on every bump. On top of that it has a telescopic carbon fiber shaft, so the length adjusts to your height and the weight stays low, and a 16-inch cutting path that clears ground quickly. EGO’s 56-volt platform is broad, so the battery also runs mowers, blowers and chainsaws. Customer rating is 4.4 stars.

Why it made the list: it removes the two reasons trimmers get abandoned — reloading line and running out of line mid-job — and pairs that with real cutting capability and a battery platform worth investing in. For most homeowners, this is the trimmer to buy.

The downside: a 16-inch cutting path on a 56-volt motor uses battery quickly under load, so budget for a larger pack or a second one if your yard is big. It is more expensive than the value picks here, and a meaningful part of that premium is the line-loading mechanism — which is worth it if you trim regularly and not if you trim twice a year. Automatic line management means it uses line rather than conserving it, so buy line in bulk. The EGO platform is proprietary, so you are committing. And carbon fiber shaft or not, a 16-inch trimmer is a substantial tool to swing for an hour.

Who it is for: most homeowners with a real yard, anyone who trims regularly, anyone already on or considering the EGO platform, and anyone who has given up on a trimmer because of the line.

See the EGO POWER+ 16” trimmer on Amazon →

2. Makita XRU23Z 18V LXT — best for existing tool owners

At 4.6 stars this is the highest-rated trimmer here, and the reason is that Makita built an actually good tool rather than a cheap one: a brushless motor running up to 6,000 revolutions per minute on a 13-inch head, with Makita quoting up to an hour of runtime on a 4.0Ah pack. It is also sold as a bare tool, which makes it very good value if you already own Makita 18V LXT batteries from a drill or a saw.

Brushless matters more on a trimmer than on many tools, because the load varies constantly as the head meets thicker grass, and a brushless motor holds speed through that better while drawing less current. The build quality is what Makita buyers expect, and the service network is a genuine advantage over online-only brands. Customer rating is 4.6 stars.

Why it made the list: it is the best-built and best-rated trimmer on this page, and for anyone already in the Makita 18V ecosystem it is dramatically better value than it looks, because the expensive part is already in your garage.

What you give up: it is 18 volts, which is the lighter end of cordless yard tools — excellent for edges, paths and regular maintenance, and less happy in tall rough grass than a 56 or 60-volt machine. It is a bare tool, so if you do not own the batteries the total cost rises above the EGO. The 13-inch cutting path is narrower, so a large yard takes longer. It uses a bump feed head, so you still hand-wind the spool — which after the EGO feels like a real step back. And runtime claims assume the largest pack; smaller packs will not get close.

Who it is for: existing Makita 18V owners, tradespeople, smaller yards, and anyone who prioritizes build quality and a service network over cutting width.

See the Makita XRU23Z on Amazon →

3. CRAFTSMAN V20 Trimmer and Edger Kit — best value kit

This is the sensible middle of the market: a 20-volt trimmer that converts to an edger, supplied with a 4.0Ah battery and a charger, with CRAFTSMAN quoting up to 63 minutes of runtime. That battery capacity is the detail that matters — most kits at this level ship with a 2.0Ah pack that runs out halfway through a small yard, and a 4.0Ah pack roughly doubles what you get done per charge.

CRAFTSMAN’s V20 platform is broad and widely stocked, which means the battery has other uses and replacements are easy to find. Customer rating is 4.5 stars.

Why it made the list: it is the pick for someone who wants a complete working setup in one purchase without buying into a premium platform. The larger battery included as standard is worth more in practice than a higher voltage with a small pack, and the edger conversion covers the second job most people need.

The part that annoys people: 20 volts is a light-duty platform — fine for grass and edges, unhappy in thick weeds and brambles. The 63-minute runtime figure assumes light load at low speed; expect considerably less when the head is actually working. The trimmer-to-edger conversion is functional rather than precise, and a dedicated wheeled edger gives a much neater line. Line feed is a bump or auto arrangement depending on version, so you are still winding spools. And check exactly which kit you are ordering, because CRAFTSMAN sells several near-identical V20 trimmer bundles with different battery sizes.

Who it is for: typical suburban yards, first-time buyers who want everything in the box, and anyone who wants trimming and edging without two tools.

See the CRAFTSMAN V20 kit on Amazon →

4. BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX 2-in-1 — best budget

This has been one of the best-selling trimmers in the country for years, and it is easy to see why: it is light, it is cheap, it converts from trimmer to edger by rotating the head, and the automatic feed spool means you never tap it on the ground to advance line. For a small yard, a courtyard, or tidying edges around paving, it is entirely sufficient, and its low weight makes it pleasant to use for anyone who finds full-size trimmers heavy.

BLACK+DECKER quotes 6,200 revolutions per minute from its POWERDRIVE transmission, which is respectable for the class, and the 20V MAX platform is one of the most widely available battery systems anywhere. Customer rating is 4.4 stars on an extremely large review base.

Why it made the list: it is the right amount of tool for a large number of yards, and buying a more capable trimmer for edging a small lawn is spending money on capability you will not use. Its weight is also a real advantage for older users and anyone with shoulder or wrist problems, who often find a 16-inch trimmer unmanageable.

Where it disappoints: the automatic feed spool is convenient and uses line faster than a bump feed, and it is also the component most complained about — when it jams, you are taking the head apart anyway. It is light-duty: thick weeds, brambles and long rough grass will stall it, and forcing it through them is how the motor dies. Runtime on the standard battery is short, so buy a second pack. The guard is small, so wear the eye protection. And it is a curved shaft with no attachment capability, so it is a trimmer and nothing else.

Who it is for: small yards and courtyards, edging around paving, older users and anyone who wants the lightest tool, and anyone already on the BLACK+DECKER 20V platform.

See the BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX trimmer on Amazon →

5. Greenworks 60V 16” — best for attachments

The specification that matters here is the attachment-capable shaft. This is a 60-volt brushless trimmer with a 16-inch cutting path, and the shaft splits to accept other heads — edger, pole saw, hedge trimmer, cultivator — so one motor, one battery and one charger cover several jobs and take up a fraction of the garage space four separate tools would.

For a homeowner with a mixed yard — grass to trim, hedges to shape, a few branches to take down, a vegetable bed to turn over — that is a good way to spend money, and considerably cheaper than buying four battery tools. The 16-inch path and 60-volt brushless motor also mean it is a capable trimmer in its own right rather than a powerhead with a trimmer attached. Customer rating is 4.3 stars.

Why it made the list: it is the most versatile purchase on this page. If your real problem is that you need four yard tools and have space and budget for one, this is the answer, and Greenworks’ 60V range is broad enough that the attachments and spare batteries actually exist.

The drawbacks: attachments are a compromise against dedicated tools — a pole saw attachment is fine for occasional pruning and tiring for a day of it, and a hedge trimmer attachment is heavier and less balanced than a purpose-built one. Attachments are sold separately, so the real cost is higher than the trimmer alone. At 4.3 stars it is at the lower end here, with complaints clustering around the line head rather than the motor. The 4.0Ah battery is adequate for the trimmer and will feel short when running a hungrier attachment. And a 16-inch head on a long straight shaft is a large tool for a small yard.

Who it is for: mixed yards needing several tools, anyone short on garage space, larger properties, and anyone building a single-battery tool set from scratch.

See the Greenworks 60V 16” trimmer on Amazon →

6. WORX 20V 12” 2-in-1 — best for edging

Most trimmers claim to edge, and most of them edge badly, because rotating a head 90 degrees leaves you freehanding a straight line down the side of a path with a spinning string. WORX added the piece that makes it work: the head tilts through 90 degrees and the tool runs on wheels that ride along the hard edge, guiding the cut. The difference between a wobbling freehand line and a wheel-guided one is immediately visible on a driveway.

It also has an instant line feed system that advances line with a push rather than a bump, and it is light and compact. Customer rating is 4.3 stars, and WORX’s Power Share platform is shared across a large range of tools.

Why it made the list: edging is the job people care most about visually and the one most trimmers do worst. If your yard is small and your priority is crisp lines along paths, a driveway and beds, this does that better than anything else here, and it costs very little.

The catch: at 12 inches on a 20-volt platform it is a light-duty trimmer — it will not clear rough or tall growth, and asking it to is how you stall it. The wheels that make edging good are also something extra to catch on uneven ground while trimming. Runtime on a small battery is short. And check whether the version you are buying includes a battery, because WORX sells many of its tools bare and the listings are similar.

Who it is for: small yards, anyone whose main concern is neat edges along paths and driveways, existing WORX owners, and anyone who wants a light tool.

See the WORX 20V 2-in-1 trimmer on Amazon →

Getting better results

• Cut with the tip of the line. It moves fastest, cuts cleanest and breaks least. Burying the head in grass wastes line and battery.
• Work right to left with a counterclockwise head so clippings throw away from you and the cut edge stays clean.
• Take tall growth in two passes — top half first, then down to the ground. One pass through knee-high grass bogs the motor and wraps the head.
• Keep the head clear. Grass wrapped around the spindle is the most common cause of a trimmer losing power. Remove the battery and clear it out.
• Soak new line in water overnight if it has been in the garage a long time. Line dries out and becomes brittle, and rehydrated line breaks much less.
• Store line out of sunlight, in a sealed bag. Ultraviolet light is what makes trimmer line brittle.
• Trim before you mow, not after, so the mower picks up the clippings.
• Leave a hand’s width around tree trunks and put mulch there instead.
• Charge batteries indoors and store them partly charged in a cool place, not in a freezing shed over winter.

Easy mistakes to make

• Skipping eye protection. Trimmers throw debris hard and unpredictably. This is the injury that actually happens.
• Trimming against tree bark. You are slowly killing the tree. Mulch ring instead.
• Fitting a metal blade or chain to a string trimmer. Really dangerous and not what the tool is designed for.
• Using thicker line than the manual specifies. It overloads the motor and wrecks battery life.
• Buying voltage instead of amp-hours. Volts give power, amp-hours give time. Most people need time.
• Buying a bare tool by accident. Check whether a battery and charger are included.
• Buying a 16-inch trimmer for a courtyard. You will resent the weight and never use the capability.
• Expecting a trimmer to clear brambles. That is a brushcutter, which is a different and more dangerous tool.
• Leaving line in the sun for a season and then wondering why it snaps constantly.

Frequently asked questions

Battery or gas?

For almost every homeowner, battery. A modern 40 to 60-volt brushless trimmer cuts as well as a small gas trimmer, starts instantly, weighs less, is far quieter, and has no carburettor to gum up over winter — which is the leading cause of dead gas trimmers. Gas still makes sense for acreage, commercial use, and anywhere you need to work for hours away from power. If you do go gas, a local dealer is a better route than a marketplace, because the good gas machines are sold that way and the service matters.

Why does my line keep breaking?

Usually one of four reasons: you are cutting with the middle of the line rather than the tip; you are hitting concrete, fences or stones; the line is old and has dried out in sunlight; or you are using a twisted or square line, which cuts better and breaks more. Rehydrating old line by soaking it overnight helps a surprising amount, and storing line in a sealed bag out of the sun prevents the problem entirely.

What size line should I use?

Whatever the manual specifies, and no thicker. Roughly: 0.065 inch for light grass and small trimmers, 0.080 to 0.095 inch for general homeowner use, and 0.095 inch and above only on powerful trimmers tackling heavy growth. Thicker line on an underpowered tool overloads the motor and cuts runtime substantially, which people misread as a battery problem.

Can a string trimmer edge a lawn?

Many convert by rotating the head, and the results range from acceptable to poor depending on whether anything guides the cut. Models with wheels that ride along the hard edge, like the WORX pick here, do a truly neat job. A dedicated wheeled edger does better again. If crisp edges matter to you visually, that guidance feature is worth choosing for.

How long do trimmer batteries last?

Per charge, anywhere from fifteen minutes of hard cutting to an hour of light edging, and manufacturer figures assume the light end. Over their life, a good lithium pack gives several hundred charge cycles, which for a homeowner is many years. What shortens it is storing packs fully drained, leaving them in a freezing shed all winter, or charging them hot straight after use. Let them cool, store them partly charged, and keep them indoors.

Is a trimmer with an attachment shaft worth it?

If you need several yard tools and have limited space and budget, yes — one motor and battery running an edger, pole saw and hedge trimmer costs far less than four separate tools. If you will use one of those heavily, buy the dedicated tool instead, because an attachment is always a compromise on balance and ergonomics. The attachment system suits the person with four occasional jobs, not the person with one frequent one.

Do I really need to keep grass away from tree trunks?

Yes, and it is the most common avoidable landscape damage there is. A trimmer scuffs away bark a little at a time, and the living tissue just beneath it is what moves water and nutrients up the tree. Two seasons of tidy trimming around a young trunk can effectively ring it, and the tree then declines slowly enough that nobody connects the two. A mulch ring a few feet across, kept clear of the trunk itself, removes the problem and costs nothing.

What protective gear do I actually need?

Eye protection without exception, long trousers, and closed shoes. That covers the injuries that actually happen. Add gloves for grip and comfort, and hearing protection for gas trimmers or long battery sessions. A face shield is better than glasses if you are clearing rough ground where stones and wire are likely.

Our call

If you trim regularly and have a real yard, buy the EGO POWER+ 16”. Automatic line loading and line management remove the two things that make people stop using trimmers, and the 56-volt platform is worth investing in for other tools.

If you already own Makita 18V batteries, the XRU23Z is the best-built and best-rated trimmer here and very good value as a bare tool. For a complete setup in one box at a sensible price, the CRAFTSMAN V20 kit with its larger battery. For a small yard or the lightest tool here, the BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX.

If you need several yard tools and one battery, the Greenworks 60V attachment-capable trimmer is the most versatile purchase on the page. And if what you really care about is a crisp line down the side of the driveway, the WORX 20V 2-in-1 with its guide wheels does that better than anything else here.

Whatever you buy, wear eye protection every time, match the line diameter to the tool rather than the job, and put a mulch ring around your young trees. Those three habits cover the injuries, the performance and the slow damage nobody notices.

For the rest of the yard, see our guides to the best leaf blowers, the best chainsaws, and the best pressure washers.

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Also worth reading: our guide to the best hedge trimmers.

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Also worth reading: our gift guide for gardeners — the tools they use weekly and never replace themselves.