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Things to Consider
Best Overall
Braun Series 9
Affordable All-Rounder
Panasonic ER-GB80
Best For Versatility
Panasonic Multishape
With each year that passes, a beard sounds like a better idea. Forget fashion. A beard can help hide the destruction of a jawline, a slow descent into neck wobble. And a beard can keep friends from saying you look like an egg with eyes drawn on, should time have its way with your starboard follicles. But whether a beard is a mitigator or a fashion statement, it’s a good idea to keep it in check.
All you need is a beard trimmer and at least, say, three minutes twice a week to keep the face garb looking fresh. In most cases, a hair trimmer with a full set of attachments will do this job well enough. But dedicated beard tools typically allow precise control over the contours of your beard and keep you from juggling too many plastic attachments. So what should you consider when shopping for a beard trimmer?
For more grooming guides, check out the Best Creams and Tools for Removing Hair, the Best Hair Dryers and the Best Hair Straighteners.
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Photograph: Madhourse/Getty Images
Things to Consider
All the trimmers we recommend here have quality blades and solid battery tech and are at least a decent value. Having used all of these, I can say the differentiating factor often comes down to this—how long is your beard? The right trimmer for a beard that is basically long stubble is not the same as one for someone with a beard so long they’ll probably just have to pull out the scissors.
At that longer end, you need a trimmer that looks more like a pair of hair clippers. A trimmer with a narrower cutting blade, and perhaps a slimmer body, is invariably going to be optimized for shorter hair length—or, in some cases, little more than designer stubble. However, we’ll cover all of this in our beard trimmer recommendations below.
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Photograph: Braun
Best Overall
Braun Series 9
Braun calls the Series 9 its professional-grade beard trimmer. While most barbers would likely turn their noses up at a battery-powered trimmer, it claim is not entirely spurious. The Series 9 has a neat front control dial that allows for quick and secure changes in the cut length. You’re unlikely to knock this dial out of place accidentally, but there’s also a second security measure. That switch below? It locks the dial in place. That’s a blessing for the paranoid beard chopper.
Braun also demonstrates much better standards in its accessories than those seen in the lower-end Series 7 All-in-One (below), which is bristling with add-ons. The main clipper attachment here is of excellent quality, and just about the ideal width for beards. It’s wide enough to cover half of the average face in a handful of strokes, and narrow enough to deal with tricky areas like your lip overhang.
There’s also a ProDetail head for very small areas and an extra large ProEdge head for folks who want a super-straight line across their cheek. This stuff is nothing out of the ordinary, but the quality of the key accessories is well above average. In all three heads, the entire top plate is a single piece of ProBlade metal whose teeth Braun claims are “lifetime” sharp. You’ll hear such claims repeated across brands, but we do have a sense that the Series 9 is laser-focused on beard trimming. Attachments that go longer, up to 20 mm, can even work for at-home haircuts. The Braun Series 9 also has a very long battery life, lasting two to three hours per charge.
180 min/ 60 mins charge
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Photograph: Panasonic
Affordable All-Rounder
Panasonic ER-GB80
The best compliment we can pay the Panasonic ER-GB80 is that after using it, we were pleasantly surprised when we looked up its current pricing. It has a super-wide head, meaning you can cover your face in just a few strokes. The horizontal length dial allows for great control, at 0.5-mm increments, and ensures that if you cut at the wrong length, it’s all your fault.
A few years ago, you might have had to wait hours for a trimmer of this price to fully recharge, but nowadays it only takes an hour—just like the top models. That said, its 50-minute charge time is relatively low, and, sure enough, it uses Ni-MH battery tech rather than the more desirable— sometimes longer-lasting—Li-On style. The plastic shaver attachment is comfortable and has a semi-open design to help avoid clogs. It’s all sounding pretty good for the Panasonic ER-GB80, but it is only useful for basic trimming, not styling. With a wide cutting area, it does not feel like a high-precision shaver, particularly when tackling your upper lip area.
Sure, the Panasonic ER-GB80 has a classic flip-out narrower detail shaver—you simply push it out with a thumb. But it is not a replacement for a dedicated narrower head. Your ability to navigate with it is limited by its positioning, and as the main trimmer stays active, there’s a small chance you’ll end up buzzing an unwanted area while doing so. Still, for the online prices at the time of review, the Panasonic ER-GB80 is a bargain.
50 mins / 60 mins charge
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Photograph: Panasonic
Best For Versatility
Panasonic Multishape
Many beard trimmers come with stacks of accessories. You get nose trimmers, guards of different widths, and more plastic attachments than a Nintendo Wii. Swapping them around can feel like you’re breaking the trimmer apart. Panasonic has addressed his head-on in the Multishape.
It’s a modular trimmer that has you remove the entire top section of the body when changing the cut style. You can even choose what elements you want when you buy it. Available modules include an electric toothbrush, as well as more conventional options, like a shaver and a narrower head, a good idea if your beard upkeep involves more precise cuts. Just as important, it means you can replace the battery should it stop holding charges like it used to. Panasonic makes both NiMH and Li-On battery stick units, and the Li-On type is preferable, as it lasts longer off a charge—up to 90 minutes versus 60 minutes with the slightly cheaper battery.
It’s best if you really buy into the modular concept, though. While the soft-touch plastic of the battery handle is perfectly fine, it is not the most sophisticated or expensive-looking trimmer, though its actual cut is perfectly dependable. The rotary controller on the Multishape’s main attachment offers confident, fine-tune lengths of up to 30 mm when using the largest attachment. And Panasonic says its Japanese stainless steel blades will stay sharp for life.
90 mins / 60 mins charge
