Buying Guide: Choosing the Best Edger for Your Lawn

Mowing and trimming are essential if you want to maintain a healthy, well-kept lawn. Those tasks do not, however, prevent grass from getting where it’s not supposed to. Lawnmowers and even trimmers just can’t stop grass from growing over a sidewalk or into a flower garden. That’s why lawn edgers are such a useful tool.

When you are shopping for an edger, there are dozens of brands and models to choose from. Figuring out which one is right for your home lawn or lawn care business can be a challenge. That's why we wrote this buying guide. Keep reading to learn more about your options and answer questions that’ll help you narrow down your options and find an edger that’ll work great for you.

Gas or Electric?

What type of power you want is the first question to answer when shopping for an edger. The two choices are a gasoline-powered engine or an electric motor. With the electric options, you can either go with one that has a cord or (far more popular) a cordless battery-powered edger. Corded models are typically the least expensive, but they’re also limited to small yards.

There are pros and cons to either option. One benefit to gasoline models is that they may be less expensive than battery models and easier to find. This depends on factors including what brand you buy and how high-quality you want. Gasoline edgers are also easier to refuel if you’re on the go. However, they’re higher maintenance and tend to be heavier. They’re also louder and give off engine exhaust (though newer models are far more “green” than lawn equipment used to be).

For battery-powered edgers, the big reasons that you might want to get one include no engine maintenance, quieter operation, and no engine exhaust. Battery-edgers are much more “green” than gasoline ones, and with lithium-ion technology they can deliver comparable levels of power and performance. One of the only downsides to the

battery models is limited runtime. You can keep extra batteries on hand to solve this. However, that might not be feasible if you have an enormous yard or you’re a professional landscaper working on multiple properties throughout the day.

Multi-Tool or Just the Edger?

Another question worth asking is whether you want to just buy an edger or get one as an attachment for a multi-task yard tool. If you already have a multi-tool, then it probably makes sense to get an edger attachment for that rather than investing in a whole new piece of equipment.

If you don’t have a multi-tool system already, there are many reasons you might consider getting one. They can save money in the long run if you have several types of tools you want to purchase. They also make storage easier since the multi-tool attachments are smaller than having individual tools. Plus, maintenance is simplified because you only have one engine to maintain (for gasoline-powered multi-tools) or one battery-powered motor to take care of.

Sometimes, though, you just need an edger. Maybe you already have all the other tools you need and aren’t ready to replace them, or maybe you find it easier to have separate tools for your different lawn-care tasks. Depending on the brand and model, dedicated edgers may also offer more power.

Hand-Held or Walk-Behind?

Most edgers you’ll see are hand-held, pole-style edgers. They look a lot like string-line trimmers with a powerhead at one end and a cutting head at the other. Most of the models we carry have curved shafts, though there are a couple of straight-shaft commercial edgers as well.

For edgers, the cutting head contains a vertical cutting wheel, a blade guard, and a guide wheel. You’ll simply align the cutting head with the part of the lawn you want to edge, then use the guide wheel to help control the edger.

There are also edgers with a free-standing push design with four wheels. These edgers work much the same way as pole edgers but can offer more power and stability. You can also walk behind them instead of carrying them, which makes working with the edger for a long time more comfortable. Most aren’t going to be what homeowners are looking for, but if you’re a lawn care professional maintaining large properties (such as a college campus) a walk-behind edger can be useful.

Features to Look For

Typically, edgers use cutting blades that are at a fixed angle perpendicular to the ground. Some edgers, however, feature blades with adjustable angles. A fixed-angle blade works well for most situations. Sometimes, though, it’s nice to have an adjustable blade, especially if you’d like an angled edge around garden borders.

Whether the blade is fixed-angle or adjustable-angle, you should be able to adjust the cutting depth. Look for edgers that let you set the depth to at least 2 or 3 different positions. You’ll also want an edger that makes it easy to replace the cutting blade when it starts to dull.

Most edgers come with safety features. These include a blade guard to prevent accidental cuts and flying debris, and blade disengagement to quickly stop the cutting blade from turning. Make sure you double-check for those types of safety features when shopping for an edger.

Our Recommendations

For overall performance and reliability, we recommend Stihl, Echo, RedMax, and Shindaiwa. These are the edger brands we carry here are Richardson Saw & Lawnmower and we stand behind the quality of this equipment.

As for exactly what type of edger you should get, that depends on your personal preferences and what type of equipment you need to maintain your lawn. We hope this article has helped you figure out what type of edger you're looking for. If you still have questions, though, just come visit us or get in touch by phone or email. We'd be happy to talk with you about your lawn care needs, show you the edgers we have in stock, and help you figure out which edger is the best for you.