Best Battery String Trimmer Brands of 2026

We have more than 60 battery string trimmers in our current ratings and recommend well over half of them. We don’t have enough data to include every company in these brand-level ratings. But the 10 brands in our analysis received very good scores or better. You’ll see that Makita, Ego, and Worx rose to the top.

First, you need to figure out what your lawn care needs are. Our model ratings for battery string trimmers include the best trimmers for general use (those with a wider cutting swath or 14 inches or more), as well as models with a smaller cutting area that may be ideal for light-duty work, such as trimming around flower beds. 

Our model ratings also include corded electric string trimmers and gas models, both straight and curved shaft. But most of the string trimmers we test are battery versions. 

In addition to cutting performance, battery models offer other advantages, says Dave Trezza, who oversaw string trimmer testing at Consumer Reports for years. “Battery models are lighter than gas, and you don’t have to deal with fuel,” he says. “Plus, when you pull the trigger, they start.” On the other hand, starting a gas model may take several tries with a pull cord. 

Next, Consumer Reports provides three types of information that can help members pick the best string trimmer for their situation.

Model performance: We capture each model’s performance in our string trimmer ratings. If you see a string trimmer that you’re interested in, you can look it up in our ratings to see how well it does basic functions, like trimming, edging, and cutting through tall grass and weeds. Our ratings also include important scored features, such as ease of use, how noisy a string trimmer is, and battery run time. These detailed ratings are the best indicator of how a model will work for you and your yard. 

Reliability and owner satisfaction: Each year, we survey hundreds of thousands of CR members about the products they buy and, in particular, how well those products hold up over time and prolonged use. We use the information to generate a brand-level predicted reliability score for every type of string trimmer we test. We ask people how satisfied they are with their string trimmer over time, and also ask about maintenance and any problems. We use these responses to tabulate a brand-level Overall Satisfaction Score. The results can be found in our ratings charts.

Brand-level performance: The scores reflect how well string trimmers from a particular brand perform in our testing and surveys, and whether they provide good value. The scores are not model-specific, but they can be a good backup if you’re interested in a particular model we haven’t tested. Just remember that a high brand score isn’t a guarantee that every model in that manufacturer’s line is a winner. It’s possible for a company to earn an overall high score for its string trimmers even if it has a dud in its lineup. The reverse is also possible.

We evaluate both battery-powered and gas string trimmers, as well as some corded electric models. To test how well each works, we tackle typical yard weeds and high grass as well as dense brush, timing how long each model takes to clear a defined path. We also test each string trimmer for its edging, or its ability to create a neat and straight line along a walkway. And we look at how easy each tool is to hold, maneuver, and operate, noting how difficult it is to start up or feed extra line through the cutting head. For gas models, we note the ease of adding gas and oil (for those with two-stroke engines), as well as the ease of starting the tool with a pull cord. 

To find out how well the string trimmers in our tests perform, see our string trimmer ratings chart. Members can explore the pros and cons of more than 80 models and filter for the features that best suit their needs.