While families pray for hours of unbroken sunshine for summer barbecues and country strolls, gardeners would like a bit of rain now and then for the flowers and vegetables, and especially the lawn.
With no immediate prospect of black clouds on the horizon, apart from political ones, rougher patches of vegetation seem to keep growing and lawn edges look unsightly unless regularly trimmed.
If you do cut the lawn just give it the merest trim to keep it looking neat. Knock off the whiskers, and that’s it.
For edges and the other bits you’d rather people didn’t see, here are ten top strimmers and brushcutters. But please don’t wear flip-flops like the person in our picture, or you’re asking for trouble. Sturdy shoes, please.
Drag the debris to one side ready for an autumn bonfire once cut, please don’t try to burn it at the moment as parts of the countryside are tinder dry and you could unwittingly be the cause of a call to the fire service.
But for lawn edges and the lighter areas of straggly grass growth have at look at this one, the Cobra GT30-24V Cordless Grass-Trimmer.
Using the latest battery 24V Samsung lithium-ion battery to give a run time of 30 minutes it has two speeds and lets you cut a swathe 30cm wide.
It weighs only 2.4kg making it very comfortable to use and has a cutting head which rotates 90 degrees and you can also switch between cutting and edging by pushing a button.
It costs £74.99 including the charger, £5 off the recommended price. We deliver it free of charge from our suppliers within seven to ten working days and it has a two-year warranty.
A recent purchaser commented: ‘Lightweight and Easy to Use. Very pleased with our new Cobra strimmer. It’s lightweight and very easy to use. Great for lawn edging and very useful for strimming compact areas around the garden.’
This machine is exclusive to MowDirect and offers the power that professional gardeners need and those with larger areas to maintain.
The Zomax DG511 58v Cordless Grass-Trimmer has a 58V lithium-ion battery pack to give longer run times and great cutting power.
It has a 31cm cutting width and a run time of 40 minutes. Strimming line, a 2mm cord, is fed out by bumping the had on the ground.
At the business end there is a plant protector so you can strim close to lawn edges without cutting down vegetables of flowers. And it has very low vibration levels.
It costs £99, £50 less than the recommended price but that does not include the battery or charger.
But once these are purchased other equipment is inexpensive as the batteries fit all other tools in the range.
The next one is from a range of machinery we helped to develop, again using the latest lithium-ion technology.
The Redback E312DQ-2Ah Cordless Grass-Trimmer (Special Offer) has a 2Ah battery built by Redback using the latest cells from a leading Japanese maker and has a tilting cutting head which rotates 90 degrees to become a wheeled lawn edger, a really handy tool.
It has an aluminium shaft which is adjustable, strong and light in weight.
And it is a well-balanced machine so it can be used for long periods with undue stress and will re-charge in 70 minutes.
The plant protector saves cutting through the delphiniums and it has a bump feed head with 1.6mm twisted cutting line.
In the package are the trimmer, 2Ah battery, charger and a power belt to carry the battery.
The package costs £239 compared with the recommended price of £286 and it is delivered free within seven days with a three-year warranty.
The next one is also lithium-ion battery powered and comes from a company based in the USA.
The Snapper SXDST 82v Cordless Grass-Trimmer uses a Briggs & Stratton 82V battery pack and has a 41cm cutting width, one of the widest available in this class.
It has heavy-duty transmission to max torque and has adjustable speed control and a loop handle to make it easy to control.
Delivered free within two to three working days it costs £179, £10 less than the price recommended, but please note this s for the tool only, battery and charger will need to be bought separately but they fit other equipment in the range.
There is a five-year warranty.
Now across to Sweden for the next battery-powered machine.
The Stiga SBC80DAE 80v Cordless Brushcutter gives power equivalent to petrol but with a much more comfortable and lighter machine.
It has two cutting heads, a line head for trimming lawn edges and lighter patches of grass and a metal blade with four mean teeth for more established banks of weeds and bramble.
Extra trimming line is fed out by tapping the head on the ground and cowhorn handlebars mean it can be used in a sweeping motion to cut down large areas.
It is very comfortable to use with a shoulder harness and is smooth running and almost half the weight of equivalent petrol machines.
The price quoted is for the machine only and 2.5Ah, 4Ah and 5Ah batters are available. The company recommended a 2.5Ah one for general use.
It costs £219, £30 less than the recommended price and is delivered free the next working day with a two-year warranty.
Now on to petrol power and the first is made by a German company and is often used by professionals.
The Einhell GE-BC 33 AS Low-Vibration Brushcutter.
And as you may guess this is a very comfortable machine to use with extensive fittings to minimise vibrations.
It has a double bearing crankshaft and triple mounted shock absorbers. And those are augmented by a double-padded shoulder harness and cowhorn handlebars.
The 32.6cc engine has bags of torque and has the company Easy-Start system with an automatic choke.
It has a three-toothed cutting blade and a strimming head making it a versatile machine and has a bump feed system to feed out more strimming line. A centrifugal clutch stops the blade when the engine is idling.
The shaft is split aluminium making it easy to transport when someone wants to borrow it and it has a guard to stop stones and debris flying up.
It costs £169.95, £140 off the recommended price and is delivered free the next working day with a two-year warranty.
‘Good Value and Effective‘, wrote a previous customer. ‘Great Tool’ commented another.
This one is from a Japanese manufacturer which produces really powerful garden equipment often the choice of the professional.
And it can be converted to take on other tasks with the addition of optional attachments.
The Tanaka TBC-2390 Line-Trimmer has a 24cc engine with a rigid drive shaft with a drive shaft with double bearings which gives great torque and extends the machine’s working life.
For all this power it weighs only 3.6kg and is easy to use in tight spaces with its loop handle.
The available attachments mean it is easily converted to a hedgetrimmer or a branch pruner.
The Tanaka TPH-200 Hedgetrimmer Attachment has 55cm double-sided reciprocating blades which turn through 130 degrees and costs £169.
The Optional Tanaka TPS-200 Pruner Attachment costs £139.
The line trimmer costs £239, £90 off the recommended price and is delivered free the next working day with a five-year warranty.
The Oleo-Mac BC240S Ultralight Petrol Brushcutter is from a leading Italian garden machinery company and has a 21.7cc engine made for demanding gardeners.
It is easy to start and mean on fuel yet weighs only 4.5kg.
And the loop handle makes it easy to use in restricted spaces.
Light and powerful: Oleo-Mac 240S brushcutter
It has a strimming head which has a cutting width of 13cm with a twin-line head and a 25.cm metal blade with three teeth ideal for trimming back thick weed and brambles.
It costs £249.95, £100 off the recommended price, has free delivery the next working day and a five-year warranty. There is also a free face shield and some spare strimming line.
And you can extend the use of this machine as well with a hedgecutter attachment which costs £169 and a pruner attachment which costs £159.
And finally a couple of machines from Japanese company Mitox.
First is the Mitox 550UX Premium+ Clearing Saw powered by a 51.7cc engine designed for amateur gardeners with large thick areas of scrub and for the demands of the professional.
The engine fires up quickly with an automatic choke and with the slightest tug on the starter cord and it has a large fuel tank to keep you working longer.
It has an extensive system to dampen the vibrations, a padded harness and cowhorn handlebars which are adjustable.
It comes with a twin-line grass trimming head and a large 25cm metal blade with three teeth.
It costs £345, £32 off the recommended price and is delivered free of charge the next working day with a five-year warranty.
And the Mitox 4500UK Pro Brushcutter is as, its name implies, one for the professional gardener with a 45.4cc Kawasaki engine which will run for an hour and a half on a single tank of fuel.
Leading manufacturer: 4500UK brushcutter
It has both a nylon line strimming head and a metal blade with three teeth. And a shoulder harness makes working for long periods far less tiring.
It costs £599, £50 off the recommended price and has a five-year warranty with free delivery the next working day.
This is a great machine as this review summarises: ‘Superb. If you’re looking for a great strimmer then look no further. This Mitox will breeze through any type of garden or brush clearance with ease. I’ve used many strimmers over the years, and this is as good if not better than most big name ones.’
A good strimmer or brushcutter that can hack through banks of bramble and weed is a garden essential at the moment.
We have a huge selection and you can see them all on these pages.
