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Most garden power tools are all the better when they go cordless, but that goes double for the humble hedge trimmer. Nothing is more tedious when you’ve got a lot of hedge to trim and tidy than having to deal with an extension cable and a dangling power cord. What’s more, hedge trimmers by their very nature make it all too easy to cut through the cord if you’re clipping at an angle without paying due attention. It happens – and it can be dangerous when it does.

Luckily, cordless hedge trimmers have improved dramatically over the past few years, while creeping down in price. What’s more, they come in all shapes and sizes, from lightweight trimmers you could use for some creative topiary to whopping monster trimmers built to tackle the most epic of coniferous hedges. Whatever you need and whatever size your garden, there’s a cordless hedge trimmer that’s right for you.

Your biggest choice comes down to the size of the blade. Barring the smallest topiary clippers, hedge trimmers start at around 35cm in length and go up to around 65cm. The longer the blade, the easier you’ll find it and the less time it will take you to trim a lengthy hedge, and the more reach you’ll have to deal with taller shrubs and hedges. However, a longer blade also means a heavier and more unwieldy hedge trimmer, so there’s always a balance to be found between size and weight.

However, size isn’t just about length, but also the size of the teeth on the blade and the gap between them, as this goes a long way to defining how thick a twig or branch can be before the trimmer can’t chop through it. Generally speaking, longer blades tend to come with bigger teeth and a wider gap, but you’ll find some distinctions between different models with the same blade length. The other thing that matters here is the power of the electric motor, as a more powerful motor will usually make it easier to slice through chunkier material.

The manufacturer will usually state the maximum size of twigs and branches a trimmer can work through, but bear in mind that the type of hedge you’re trying to trim will also make a difference. Thick and sticky conifer branches, for example, can be a lot harder to deal with than a bushy lonicera or green hornbeam hedge.

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Battery life depends on the power of the motor and the capacity of the batteries included with the trimmer, though you’ll find some trimmers sold without a battery or with a choice of different capacities. Most cordless models trim for somewhere between 25 minutes and an hour, which should be enough to tackle, say, an average-sized front garden, but might leave you short if you’ve got a lot of longer hedges in need of work. It might be worth investing in a spare battery, but short recharge times mean you can often get going again within an hour or two.

Many trimmers are also part of a battery ecosystem these days, meaning you can buy several tools from within the same system and just swap batteries between them. If you’re buying a cordless grass strimmer, lawnmower or any other power tool, it’s often worth sticking to the same brand and system for this reason – you can even buy some tools without a battery for less, and you won’t have several different chargers cluttering your shed or garage.

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Price: £70 | Buy now from Amazon

Terratek’s budget cordless trimmer kit nets you a 51cm hedge trimmer, battery and charger for the same money other manufacturers charge for a barebones tool on its own, and the batteries and chargers are still usable and interchangeable with those for other Terratek tools. The trimmer’s a good length for a small to medium-sized garden with a 5ft to 6ft hedge, and there’s enough power on tap to handle most types of hedging bar heavyweight conifers or laurel; it worked through sections of a hornbeam hedge in no time.

We were a bit worried by the limited 1.3Ah capacity of the bundled battery, but it charged in under an hour and lasted for around 40 minutes. More expensive models will give you more cutting power or a longer reach, but this is a great affordable option for casual gardeners with a hedge or two to trim.

Key specs – Power source: 18-20V, 1.3Ah li-ion battery, 60min charge time; Blade length: 51cm; Maximum branch width: 15mm; Weight: 2.5kg

Price: £80 | Buy now from Amazon

This pint-sized Flymo cordless has three big things going for it: it’s cheap for a cordless trimmer; at just 2.1kg, it’s very light; and it’s also incredibly easy to use. Just plug it into the wall-wart charger, leave it for around three-and-a-half hours and you’re good to go. Amazingly, the built-in battery will keep on strimming for around an hour. In our testing, we ran out of stamina long before it did and had to come back for a second go.

Before you get too excited, there are some limitations. With a 40cm blade and a 16mm blade gap, this isn’t really built for bigger or taller hedges, and we found that 16mm is probably pushing it, as any twigs or branches bigger than around 10mm stopped it dead. Also, unless you have mains power in your shed or garage, you’ll have to bring the whole unit in for a recharge. Still, if you’ve got a small garden and low privet or honeysuckle hedges to maintain, then the SimpliCut makes the job nice and easy without the hassle of a cord.

Key specs – Power source: Built-in 14.4V Li-ion battery, 200min charge time; Blade length: 40cm; Maximum branch width: 16mm; Weight: 2.1kg

Price: £105 | Buy now from Amazon

If your hedge-cutting needs are relatively light, look no further than this cordless little wonder. Nicely balanced and easy on the arms, it won’t have any trouble trimming down the average lonicera, privet or box hedge, and it didn’t struggle as much as we expected with our tougher conifer or laurel hedges either, thanks to Bosch’s tried-and-tested anti-block technology. It uses one of Bosch’s 18V “Power for All” system batteries, which takes about an hour to charge and gives you around 30 minutes of trimming. Those with lengthy or tougher hedges will soon want something with a bit more reach and clout, but this is a great tool for a speedy trim or getting your unruly hedges ship-shape two or three times a year.

Key specs – Power source: 18V 2.0Ah li-ion battery, 60min charge time; Blade length: 45cm; Maximum branch width: 15mm; Weight: 2.3kg

Price: £96 | Buy now from Amazon

This pint-sized trimmer is noticeably smaller and lighter than the competition and comes with a choice of three blades to tackle your different topiary needs, or even cut grasses down to size. While you wouldn’t want to take on any larger hedges with it, it’s surprisingly useful when you need to reach up high and clip the top. It’s also brilliant when you’re trying to shape or sculpt a smaller shrub or hedge, even if you don’t go in for topiary replicas of your pets or trendy cloud effects. It uses the same 20V batteries as Worx’s other garden and power tools, and although the 2Ah battery takes a couple of hours to charge, it will power through an hour or more of clipping without any problems. Where precision matters more than size or power, this is the machine to buy.

Key specs – Power source: 20V 2.0Ah li-ion battery, 180min charge time; Blade length: 10-20cm; Maximum branch width: 8mm; Weight: 550g

Price: £160 | Buy now from Amazon

While noticeably bigger and heavier than the EasyHedgeCut 18-45, the Bosch AHS 55-20 Li gives you much more cutting power in a blade big enough to tackle larger, taller hedges. This model chewed through everything we could throw at it, including lonicera, laurel and some really woody conifer hedging. What’s more, it takes massive and untidy hedges in its stride, meaning you’ll get through that summer or late-autumn trim that much faster.

Our test model shipped with a 2.5Ah version of Bosch’s 18V “Power for All” battery, which will work with other products from Bosch and its Power for All alliance partners. It takes just over an hour to charge and runs for up to 80 minutes. This trimmer is ready to get some hard work done, and it makes it all look easy.

Key specs – Power source: 18V 2.5Ah li-ion battery, 60min charge time; Blade length: 55cm; Maximum branch width: 20mm; Weight: 2.6kg

Price: £128 | Buy now from Amazon

When it comes to battling bigger, tougher and more unruly shrubs and hedges, the Karcher HGE 18-50 is the best cordless hedge trimmer we’ve found. It weighs nearly 3kg and is a chunky beast, but with a 50cm blade length and a maximum cutting width of 22cm, it’s comfortable taking on anything from beach to hornbeam to overgrown conifers. We really had to work to find any hedge that could stop it in its tracks.

What’s more, the ergonomic design has an ingenious mechanism where pulling on a lever allows you to rotate the blade by twisting around the top handle. You can keep adjusting the position as you trim each side of the hedge or work along the top to match what feels most comfortable to you. Even with a heavy battery attached – we tested with Karcher’s 18V, 5Ah unit – it’s a very easy trimmer to work with, and that battery kept on going for nearly an hour and still had enough puff left to sweep up some clippings in a Karcher garden vacuum. The 2.5Ah battery supplied with the standard kit should still be good for 40 minutes or more of work.

Key specs – Power source: 18V 2.5Ah li-ion battery, 44min charge time; Blade length: 50cm; Maximum branch width: 22mm; Weight: 2.9kg

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