Who makes the best battery string trimmers? Ego? Makita? Ryobi? CR’s testing and survey data show which brands consistently perform well.
The best battery-powered string trimmers outperform gas models in our ratings and are easier to maintain.
By Yasmeen Khan
A string trimmer is the ideal tool for reaching areas your lawn mower can’t, such as cutting grass and weeds along fence lines. It’s also the tool you want for finishing touches, like edging walkways and keeping the borders of flower beds looking tidy. If you need to clear a path through light brush (hey, you might), a string trimmer’s your best bet.
Consumer Reports tests string trimmers (also commonly known as weed whackers or weed eaters) every year, and we have dozens of models in our ratings. By far, the string trimmers we test the most and rate the highest are battery-powered models.
But CR doesn’t test every string trimmer on the market. That’s why we’ve developed brand-level ratings that can indicate how models from a given brand might perform.
These brand ratings are based on a statistical model that incorporates CR’s Overall Scores for battery string trimmers. (Gas and corded electric string strimmers are not included in the analysis because of the small sample size.)
These ratings reflect performance, ease of use, predicted reliability, and owner satisfaction scores. All brands that are eligible to be considered in the analysis must have at least three available models rated by Consumer Reports. Our analysis of brands also takes into account price and other convenience features, such as whether the trimmer has a rotating head and a telescopic handle, can work with other attachments, and has a shoulder strap.
A Best Brand receives the highest Overall Score in its product category based on the brand’s aggregate performance, reliability, and satisfaction data across the model lineup tested by CR. Look for the CR Best Brand mark in stores and online to help in your shopping journey.
Best Battery String Trimmer Brands
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.
These highly rated battery string trimmers come from top-scoring brands. To see more models, check out our guide to the best battery string trimmers.
Makita XRU15PT
An all-star performer, the Makita XRU15PT takes the top prize among battery-powered string trimmers. It hits all our performance tests out of the park except for ease of use; it’s average in that category. This model ran for just over 30 minutes in our tests, which is midlevel for its class. It weighs 10 pounds, making it fairly easy to carry. Makita electric string trimmers achieved first-rate scores for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction in CR’s member surveys. Bonus: The tool draws power from two 18-volt batteries, which you can use in Makita’s highly rated cordless drill and impact driver.
Ego ST1502SA
The Ego ST1502SA earns top scores for trimming, edging, handling, and cutting tall grass and weeds. It weighs just over 10 pounds and has a cutting swath of 15 inches. Ego battery string trimmers earn very good reliability scores and excellent owner satisfaction scores. This model is part of Ego’s 56-volt battery platform, which includes lawn mowers, leaf blowers, pressure washers, and snow blowers.
Worx WG185
The dual-line Worx WG185 aced our tests for trimming, edging, and cutting tall grass and weeds. It also has an excellent battery run time. It gets very good marks for handling, and at under 10 pounds, is a fairly easy lift. It has an adjustable handle and can work with other attachments.
How to Use Consumer Reports to Find a Great String Trimmer
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.
How CR Tests String Trimmers
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.
Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2026, Consumer Reports, Inc.