I Tested 11 Beard Trimmers. The Best Performer Won’t Cost You More Than $65

• Braun Series 5: The key difference between the Series 5 and other Braun trimmers is that the trimmer heads are mostly plastic instead of stainless steel. Otherwise, it uses identical combs and attachments. It also lacks the AutoSense safety shutoff feature, but there weren’t issues with it pulling hairs during cutting. While the soft carrying bag isn’t as nice as the hard cases of other models, it has room inside for the groomer, charger and accessories. At $61, it’s a solid budget option for folks who don’t need all-metal blades.
• Braun Series 7: As far as I can tell, the only differences between the Series 7 and Series 9 are that it doesn’t include a stainless steel detail trimmer (plastic only), the adjustable dial doesn’t lock, and the charging cord uses a different connector. If you’re comfortable skipping these features, it’s an easy way to save a few bucks.
• Manscaped Beard Hedger: This premium beard trimmer checks many boxes: titanium-coated blade, USB-C charging, a hard-sided travel case and an adjustable comb with a handy settings wheel. It performed well in power testing, with few issues beyond the clogs affecting most trimmers with adjustable combs. Unfortunately, you’re paying $100 for a groomer with no attachments or accessories because Manscaped’s business strategy revolves around selling multiple specialty devices to each customer. Almost all of our top picks cost less and offer more.
• Panasonic Body Hair Trimmer: A body trimmer is a bit of an outlier on this list, but the odd form factor is surprisingly comfortable for beards. While it worked well for light trimming, it did practically nothing to the paintbrush in our power testing. Sadly, Panasonic lists a 20-hour charging time, though I can’t confirm this since the bulky charger never shows when the battery is full. Considering the unique design, the $74 price tag feels reasonable, even without accessories and a limited number of combs.
• Remington Beard Boss The Crafter: Remington topped our battery life testing with an impressive 3 hours and 18 minutes of runtime. Unlike other budget models, it includes a wealth of attachments like a nose hair trimmer, foil shaver and detailer for under $50. Although The Crafter is comfortable, my key reservation comes from the adjustable comb, which couldn’t match the rotating dials on Panasonic, Braun and Manscaped. Overall, Manspot and Philips OneBlade offered better budget experiences for lower prices.
• Wahl Aqua Blade: The $70 Aqua Blade is well-reviewed and reasonably affordable but outclassed by the similarly-priced Philips Norelco Multigroom in almost every way. While I love the spacious carrying case, with room for several trimmers, the accessories and combs felt underwhelming. Every time I trimmed with the Aqua Blade, it cut much shorter than the same length combs as other brands. When using the 5mm comb, the result was closer to 2mm. It lasted nearly 3 hours in battery testing, taking fourth place behind Remington and Philips Norelco. Quirks aside, it’s a solid mid-priced option.

We followed a two-step approach to select products for our beard trimmer tests. Step one: Look for trimmers with high levels of customer satisfaction in online reviews. Step two: Mix in a few lesser-known best-sellers to see if they can compete with mainstream brands. The result was a lineup of 11 beard trimmers from seven companies.

Blade testing

I tested each trimmer’s blade on my face, neck and head — growing my beard for about seven weeks before the first round of testing. Although this increased the total testing time and limited how often I could interact with a given product, there’s no substitute for first-hand experience when evaluating personal care products like beard trimmers.

While hardly scientific, I immediately noticed that most of the trimmers with adjustable combs — Braun, Manscaped, Remington and Wahl — tended to hold onto longer hairs rather than them falling away. This is a result of the overhang on the front of each comb. Fortunately, a few shakes over the garbage or blowing into the comb was usually enough to clear the hair.

Adjustable combs without overhangs, like the short combs on Panasonic MultiShape and Philips Norelco OneBlade 360, rarely had this issue. Interchangeable fixed-length combs yielded similar performances: Philips Norelco Multigroom, Manspot, Panasonic Body Hair Trimmer, Remington and Wahl Aqua Blade. Regardless of the comb type, hair retention isn’t an issue on shorter trims.

Thankfully, none of the trimmers were uncomfortable or pulled hairs in subsequent passes with shorter combs. When I got down to bare blades, my only issue was some minor razor burn from the OneBlade 360, which was pure user error. The manual is clear that the blade’s edge should never contact the skin at an odd angle — I quickly rectified it.

Every trimmer passed this vital test. You can easily pick your favorite, provided it has the comb lengths you want, and it will work well for everyday beard trimming. Likewise, the blades can all achieve excellent cuts with some patience, though the wide T-blades on the Wahl Aqua Blade, Braun Series 9, Braun Series 7 and Philips Norelco Multigroom produced the best results.

Motor performance and cutting power

My original plan was to test comb accuracy using paintbrushes. However, the brushes’ natural fibers, which are stiffer and denser than hair, caused some trimmers to seize up mid-cut. I was ready to scrap everything after the combs on three Braun models and Manscaped produced increasingly mixed results. However, Manspot achieved a near-perfect result on its first pass (and subsequent passes) with no noticeable motor strain.

After some tinkering, I ditched the combs for bare blades. The updated test notes how quickly each trimmer powered through the brush, how often it damaged bristles, and any other issues that arose. Panasonic MultiShape, Manspot and Philips Norelco Multigroom produced the fastest, cleanest cuts. Manscaped, Braun Series 9 and Braun Series 7 made clean cuts but were slower overall.

The cuts from Braun Series 5, Wahl Aqua Blade, and Remington Beard Boss The Crafter were even slower and showed some bristle damage. Wahl and Remington required extra attention when cutting to keep the motors from seizing. Philips Norelco OneBlade 360 was fast and clean on its first few passes but struggled to keep up as the bristles got tighter. Its final cuts are clean, thanks to the blade’s shaving surface, though I had to stop after failing to make much progress.

Battery life

Every preceding product earned passing grades in this category, meaning it will comfortably power through thick beards and stubble to reduce the effects of an unwanted five o’clock shadow. Unfortunately, the Panasonic Body Hair Trimmer’s tiny teeth couldn’t muster enough cutting power after its first two passes. It still works on longer facial hair but won’t work as an emergency backup shaver like the competition.

My final test looked at battery life and charging time. For most products, this involved watching their LEDs. One by one, the LEDs began flashing about 5 to 10 minutes before shutting off, which is usually more than enough time to finish a grooming session. Neither Panasonic model had a visible indicator light, and some glare hid Wahl’s light, so I watched for the moment the teeth on the blade stopped moving. I rounded the results to the nearest minute.

Guide comb length

Men with crafted stubble or a short beard can get by with comb attachments under 6mm (a quarter of an inch), like those found on the Philips Norelco OneBlade and Panasonic Body Hair Trimmer, 10mm to 16mm (three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch) is better for mid-length styles. If you have a medium-long beard, you can find combs as long as 30mm (1 1/8 in.) on the Panasonic MultiShape or 20mm (three-quarters of an inch) on any of the Braun models we tested.

Unless you use electric hair clippers, there aren’t beard trimmer comb options beyond 30mm. Your best bet is to use hair scissors when trimming a long beard.

Attachments

Here are a few areas to consider when choosing attachments for your beard trimmer:

• Shaving: Most beard trimmers won’t replace a standalone electric foil shaver but include a miniature shaver attachment — like those of the Philips Norelco Multigroom, Remington, Wahl and Braun. This is ideal for touching up areas on the nose and between the eyebrows. If you want a stubble trimmer with larger, more capable shaver heads, the Panasonic MultiShape and Philips Norelco OneBlade 360 are great options.
• Details: The narrow blades on detail trimmers help you make tiny cuts in tight spaces while minimizing the chance that a wide T-blade will wipe out your mustache as you trim around the corners of your mouth. While the Braun and Remington models we tested include precision trimmers, I prefer the narrowest options: Wahl Aqua Blade and Philips Norelco Multigroom.
• Head hair: Every trimmer on our list will power through the hair on top of your head. Still, models with long combs, like the Panasonic MultiShape, Braun and Remington, are more suitable for longer hairstyles. Braun and Philips Norelco Multigroom also include angled combs for fading and tapering the length around ears. The wide T-blades on Wahl, Philips Multigroom, Braun Series 9, Braun Series 7 and Manscaped are especially helpful if you shave your head often.
• Eyebrow hair: You can trim eyebrows with any comb, though I typically use 5mm or 6mm. Some products — chiefly Philips Norelco Multigroom and Remington — include custom combs or tools for eyebrow hair.
• Ear and nose hair: These attachments usually have a cylindrical shape for the openings on your nose and ears. They are also less likely to harm sensitive skin in these areas. Braun, Wahl, Remington and the Philips Norelco Multigroom all include nose and ear trimmers, while it’s an optional add-on for the Panasonic MultiShape.
• Body hair: Some products include special combs or blades for managing body hair. Usually, these have a rounded edge, which helps the trimmer glide more easily over the skin without catching on folds and bumps. Always follow the groomer instructions before cutting pubic hair. Manspot, Braun, Philips Norelco and Panasonic all include accessories for trimming body hair.

Travel cases

Although most of the models in our comparison come with a travel case, the hard-sided cases on the Braun Series 9, Braun Series 7 and Manscaped Beard Hedger look the best. Braun’s cases make organization easy, though my main hangup with them is that the limited space makes it difficult, though not impossible, to fit a wall charger.

Beyond hard-sided cases, several trimmers include soft bags, which can hold the groomer, combs, attachments and chargers without much issue: Multigroom, Remington, Wahl and Braun Series 5. Wahl Aqua Blade’s bag is easily the most spacious, making it a worthy choice for holding other toiletries while traveling.  

The Panasonic Body Hair Trimmer has the least practical bag, holding only the trimmer and the combs — though fitting the combs is challenging — there’s absolutely no room for the bulky wall charger. Still, it’s better than the three products we tested without cases: MultiShape, OneBlade and Manspot. (At least the OneBlade’s plastic blade cover offers some protection.)

Ultimately, the absence of a case isn’t an issue when you can get a toiletry bag or generic travel case on the cheap. It’s just more convenient when you don’t need to pay for an extra accessory.