For anyone on a tight budget or who have a small garden, cheap electric strimmers maybe all that they can afford or perhaps all that they need to keep a small area of lawn looking it’s best.
In situations like that, performance or comfort of use may not be too important when choosing one of these budget types of strimmers.
Certainly if they only using them for a few minutes once a fortnight or so, then fatigue won’t come into play too much. I have put together here, what I consider to be the 5 best of these lower budget strimmers to help cut down on search time.
At the bottom of the page you’ll also find a comparison table with each of the selected electric strimmers laid side by side to display all the features and prices etc. Often this can help when trying to make a choice rather than switching from page to page or taking notes on individual models.
More information can be found about choosing a grass strimmer at this link if you need more information.
Best 5 Inexpensive Strimmers
The models I have chosen to add into the short list of cheap electric strimmers are listed below.
ADDED
I have added a 6th cheap strimmer to this list (The Powerplus POW6011P) as the “New Trueshopping electric cordless strimmer” has become unavailable and don’t know how long this situation will last. You can see more details about this trimmer below.
1) Black & Decker GL360 350w Strimmer
2) Flymo Power Trim Trimmer
3) Black & Decker GL310 300W 2 Handled Strimmer
4) New Trueshopping 18V Electric Cordless Battery Strimmer
5) Bosch ART 23 Easytrim Accu Cordless 14.4 Volt NiCD Grass Strimmer
6) Powerplus Electric Grass Strimmer POW6011P
The prices at the time of writing start as low as £20.95 for the Black & Decker GL310, going up in stages to the dearest model in this inexpensive category of £47.95 for the Bosch ART 23.
On the list above, the first 3 use the mains electric and the last 2 are cordless strimmers. I have added these two in here because, not only are they the two cheapest cordless versions, but these types are becoming more and more popular every year. With battery improvements over the years, users are now enjoying using their power tools without worrying about cutting through the mains cables.
Both use the Ni Cad battery which is the latest and most popular battery type in use today. The Bosch has a 14.4 volt and the New Trueshopping has an 18 Volt battery giving that bit more power.
There are two Black and Decker models featured in this review which is not really surprising since they were not only the first to bring this type of tool to the market, but also have the widest choice of all the manufacturers.
1) Black & Decker GL310
Starting with the cheapest strimmer in our list we have the Black & Decker GL310 which uses a 300 watt motor. The cutting swath is 25cm, almost 10 inches and is a 2 handled model as are all the versions in our list.
The strimmer line is fed via the bump feed to provide a constant amount of cutting line at any time. Being basic there is no swivel mechanism to the head of this model. The electric cord is short which isn’t a problem really as long as you’re using an extension lead in any case.
Some users have found problems with the line breaking and have suggested using a stronger line when it comes to replacing it. That being said, it will depend on the motor power if it will drive the heavier gauge line and at the same time tackling heavier growth.
The guarantee mentioned by Black and Decker is a bit long winded and really down to the reader as to what it provides.
Really only meant for the lightest use as reflected in the price.
2) Black & Decker GL360
The GL360 is much like the GL310 although the main difference may be the motor size, being a 350 watt. On the product page at the Amazon UK site, it starts off by telling us that it is a single handed electric trimmer. Indeed one picture shows a one handled machine while another shows us a two handled model. I really don’t think consumers need such confusion.
Anyway, just for clarify it is indeed a two handled strimmer with a bump feed. Reviews from users are much the same as for the GL310 and again suitable for light use. Seems like when people use these close up to a wire fence etc. they find that the strimming line breaks off.
Read more about these reviews of the Black and Decker GL360 strimmer here.
Well surprise, surprise, but you’re not meant to go near wire netting and the likes with strimmers. Metal is stronger than plastic any day of the week. Once you forget the point about these cheap electric strimmers being good at what they are meant for and only for what they are meant for, trouble lies ahead.
3) Flymo Power Trim Trimmer
The Flymo Power Trim lies in the middle price range among these cheaper strimmers review. Users have had some happier experiences than the previous two models mentioned. The cutting swath is 23cms, 9 inches and uses the auto feed for renewing strimming line.
This model comes with 12 meters of power cable which might just be long enough to tidy up a lawn close by to the house, without the need to unravel an extension cable.
The Flymo Power Trim also turns into a lawn edger with the press of a button, which many people find useful. The head has two cutting lines rather than the one featured on the previous 2 models. So as you can see, although the price may be creeping up, there are benefits that many people might want to have in their strimmer.
4) New Trueshopping Electric Cordless Battery Strimmer
Onwards and upwards as we move onto the battery powered strimmers and this time the New Trueshopping electric cordless strimmer. Priced in the mid to top range of our cheap garden strimmers, this one frees you from the electric power cable.
The battery used is an 18 volt Ni- Cad type which will provide 45 minutes to an hour of use time. I should add that this will also depend on the type of growth you are cutting with it, the heavier the growth, the shorter will the battery life be.
Swath cut is 23cms or 9 inches and the time taken to recharge a battery is 5 hours.
Users are as a rule very happy with the strimmer, the only gripe might be the battery life mentioned by some reviewers. All in all they rate it pretty well, appreciate the freedom from the electric cord and the performance.
This company do have some low prices throughout all versions of strimmers. Are they using this to break into the UK market? Don’t know but their prices are attractive for what they provide.
Even their more powerful heavy duty strimmers are reasonably priced, although maybe they should not to be compared against true industrial strimmers.
This unit comes complete with the battery charger.
5) Bosch ART 23 Easytrim Accu Cordless Strimmer
The second of our cordless strimmers featured is the Bosch ART 23 and sits at the top of our price range for the cheaper models. This time powered by a smaller 14.4 volt Ni-Cad battery which incidentally can be used with other products in the Bosch range that use this battery type.
The Bosch uses plastic blades to do the cutting rather than the strimming line used by others in this review.
Reviews are again pretty good for this strimmer coming from users. There is a guarantee for 2 years parts and labour that comes along with this one.
ADDED
6) Powerplus Electric Grass Strimmer POW6011P
The Powerplus POW6011P is powered by a 250 Watt motor and is fitted out with what the manufacturer refers to as a short safety “pig tail” cable. Meaning you will require an extension cable to plug into the pig tail to be able to move around the garden.
To help make using the unit easier, apart from the usual auxiliary handle a further handle has been added to provide extra comfort.
The trimming head uses a double strimmer wire which is, “Tap and Go” and they claim it will trim an area of 220mm on each pass.
Interesting is the 2 year warranty they offer for home use. Great offer for such a low priced item.
I wouldn’t recommend using this strimmer for anything other than light use such as tidying up the lawn edges after mowing. In all probabilities this would work fine without any problems or they wouldn’t be offering the warranty.
This is a new unit and there are no reviews to date but at this cheap price we may see some in the near future.
Summing Up
Reading through the reports and reviews of these products does indeed back up much of what I reported earlier. Don’t expect these cheap electric strimmers to do what they’re not meant to do in the first instance. Anyone with not to big a garden and who don’t let things grow out of control should get along fine with a budget model.
I envisage, a weekly to a fortnightly grass trim with the lawnmower, leaving only the tight corners where the lawnmower won’t go and the edging etc. to be finished off with the strimmer. That is what these inexpensive electric strimmers are designed to do. Doing that will keep both machine as well as the operator happy, healthy, wealthy and wise, as they say.
More strimmer reviews of the various choices available will be compiled as we build the site out, so it’s worth visiting periodically to learn more.
Cheap Electric Strimmers Compared
This list is not in any particular order as you can see, but they have titles and descriptions for each model. Two sets of prices are displayed which are the list price and the discounted price.
All the chosen models have a reasonable amount of user reviews and a decent star rating. I have purposely left out the electric strimmers that don’t have very many user reviews as well as those who have been rated poorly by existing users.
Clicking on the links of the individual strimmers above or on the comparison chart, will let you find out more details about that particular item.
Hopefully you will find my research useful in helping you make the right choice of strimmer and more importantly, make the right choice and save money from the 5 best cheap electric strimmers list provided.
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Thank you for bothering to compile this report. I have found it very useful in choosing the right strimmer for me.
Mike.
Hi Mike, Thanks for commenting. I’m just happy to have been of assistance. Hope your strimmer selection gives you many years of use.