One of the best beard trimmers and electric razors can make managing your facial hair a whole lot easier. Whether you opt for a simple, clean-shaven look or a specifically shaped and styled beard, investing in a quality trimmer is a must. Cheap options will likely give you uneven results or leave you with nicks or skin irritation.
There are a few different types included in this guide. Trimmers will help you shape your facial hair. They look and work a lot like hair clippers: they have vibrating sharp teeth behind a cutting guard that you can adjust or switch out for different lengths. Razors are perfect for shaving off stubble or reducing everything to a specific length. Within that category you have foil shavers (great for smooth results) and rotary shavers (better for thicker and/or longer hair).
Our experienced testers have used these razors and trimmers on their own faces, assessing cutting performance, quality and usefulness of attachments, battery life, and any special features. We weigh all this up against the price and value for money. All clear? Read on for the best beard trimmers and electric razors for keeping your facial hair smart and in shape.
The quick list
Best overall
Designed by Gillette and powered by Braun, this trimmer comes at a low price but performs brilliantly on everything from stubble to full-blown beards.
Best wet shaver
Pricey even when it's on sale, this elegant shaver from Panasonic delivers an impressive wet shave and it'll clean itself up afterwards.
Most versatile
This beard trimmer and hair clipper comes with an attachment for every situation a great battery life, but the end results can be a little inconsistent.
Top performance
If you have the means, this is the Bugatti Veyron of shavers: it looks amazing, performs absolutely brilliantly and it'll cost you a small fortune.
Best budget shaver
This compact foil shaver has a pop-up precision trimmer and a battery that keeps on going, but we found its performance to be a little patchy.
The best beard trimmer and electric razors 2024: tried and tested
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The best beard trimmer and shaver overall
The King C Gillette Beard Trimmer is punches well above its very affordable price-tag. It's ready to go straight out of the box, is easy to use and will let you sculpt and style your facial hair just how you like it. It also feels decent quality even though the plastic build doesn't exactly scream 'premium'. (Of course, there are fancier and more high-quality options if you feel like investing a bit more, including the Panasonic at #2 and Braun at #4.)
This beard trimmer comes with three interchangeable combs for tackling different styles: there's a 1mm stubble comb; a 3-11mm short beard comb and a 13-21mm long beard comb. While other shavers come with a ton of combs for various cuts, the King C has a neater solution: the two larger combs can be adjusted within the lengths specified. Switching between the different combs is as simples as sliding them on and off using a little pressure from your thumb. Our only real complaint is that there's no bag to store them in when not in use.
Read our full King C Gillette Beard Trimmer review
The best wet and dry shaver
The Panasonic Arc6 our top premium pick. It's very, very expensive, but it's also very, very good. It performs wonderfully for wet-shaving comes with a bunch of added features, including a self-cleaning station,
The Arc6 shaver itself is a fine bit of kit, even without the charging station. It’s pretty big at 6.77 inches long (17.2cm) but its grip is ergonomically shaped to fit comfortably in the hand. Three sides of the handle are covered in a textured rubber that helps it feel secure in the hand, while the front of its handle is home to the power button as well as an LED display. This panel displays battery life remaining as a percentage, as well as some “check engine” type symbols to let you know if the device requires charging or cleaning, whether it’s locked into place, and if the blades need checking.
Panasonic advertises the Arc6 as delivering “84,000 cross-cutting actions per minute” and that the head moves in “22 independent directions.” While we can’t count that fast, in our review we found that it does shave down to a babyface fairly quickly. On regular stubble and even a few days of growth, using the Panasonic with some shaving gel or cream achieved great results pretty fast.
Read our full Panasonic Arc6 review
The most versatile beard trimmer
The Remington T-Series Beard Trimmer and Hair Clipper aims to be a do-it-all beardcare option, and when it comes to versatility we can't fault it. It comes with a whopping 11 different attachments to take care of various different trimming tasks, and on top of that you can use just the trimmer on its own for edge detail. It's not a super-budget option (although neither is it the most expensive here) and our tester felt the overall package justified the asking price.
To our surprise, it managed the quoted five hours of battery life in our tests – it's pretty much always ready to go. That, and the fact that it comes with a smart carry-case with space for razor and three or four attachments, plus charger, make it a top choice for traveling with.
However, out reviewer found it didn't cut quite as well as some of its rivals, and if you don't need the massive range of attachments then you'll find better quality options in the same price bracket from the likes of Philips and Braun.
Read our full Remington T Series beard trimmer review
The best high-end shaver
Braun’s Series 9 Pro electric shaver is the smartest piece of male grooming kit we've tested. It comes with a slightly eye-watering price tag, but for that investment you get a shaver that's effortless to use and even easier to clean. Our tester found that its five-element, sensor-assisted cutting head delivered a smooth shave that was comparable to using a wet razor, while its attractively-designed PowerCase kept the trimmer’s battery ticking over for what seemed like an eternity.
The chrome-accented body is a pleasure to hold, with grippy material positioned exactly where it's needed, and smoothness elsewhere. The shaver head pivots freely; so much so that our tester commented that you "could reasonably perform a whole face shave without ever shifting your hand from its starting position". For moments where more control is needed, the device has a ‘Precision Switch’ that allows you to set the shaver head into one of several fixed positions to tackle trickier patches of hair.
Overall, a seriously excellent piece of kit. Whether you can stomach the asking price is quite another thing - mercifully, the trimmer is regularly discounted at retailers other than Braun itself, although even discounted it can't be considered cheap.
Read our full Braun Series 9 Pro electric shaver review
The best shaver for travel
Remington’s F6 Style Series Aqua is compact electric foil shaver that's a strong choice if you need something for travel. It'll deliver a full hour of continuous cordless use and convenient USB charging; it's easy to use and as straightforward to clean as you could hope for with an electric razor. While it's pricier than our #1 pick, it's still reasonably priced and good value for money.
The performance is acceptable but not amazing – our tester noted it required multiple passes to get a clean shave, and the head is needly bulky. Despite those drawbacks, it is pretty versatile – it's suitable for both wet and dry use, and can be used with shaving foams or as a straight-to-skin trimmer.
The supplied stubble guard allows you to tidy up longer-length beards without going completely smooth. However, other special features – Remington’s proprietary ControlCut technology and a pop-up trimmer for more precise follicle sculpting – both failed to impress our reviewer.
Read our full Remington F6 Style Series Aqua review
More beard trimmers and electric razors to consider
Below we've included a few more products to consider for trimming, shaping and styling facial hair. Although we have not reviewed these particular products, customers using the beard trimmer and electric shaver rave about them; and we feel that they offer something a little different.
Whether you’re bald by choice or choose to shave your head, you deserve an electric razor that's designed to leave your head smooth and free of nicks. The Remington HC4250 Shortcut Pro is a great option because of its circular rubber grip and extra-wide curved blade, both designed to easily shave your head at any angle.
It also comes with nine different-length combs so you can turn it into a beard trimmer, which gives it some added versatility. It might be a stretch too far to use it as an electric razor on your face, though, so you may need a backup. Also, while you can use it either wired or cordless, the measly 40 minute battery life means you may want to keep it plugged in. It is waterproof, though, making it easy to clean after you've shaved.
With this trimmer, you get the best lithium battery available today. It lasts for a reported six hours, which should potentially give you weeks of quick trims before you need to recharge. If you do need to top up the battery in a hurry, you can plug it in for just three minutes and get plenty of juice. Plug it in when you leave for work, and the green charging tech will cut off the charge when the battery is full, so you won't impact the life of the lithium battery over time.
We’re focusing on the battery here because even though Wahl says the motor and performance has improved for this model, we don’t have much information on cpm or anything else. Reviewers say this model is nice and compact for travel, especially since you don’t need to bring the charger with you. Do keep in mind it should only be used for dry shaving, however, and it doesn’t have a battery display.
What to consider when buying an electric razor or beard trimmer
When you're trying to find the best beard trimmer or electric razor, there are a number of things to think about.
First of all, do you want to defuzz your face completely or just want to tidy up the hair? For the former an electric razor is best; a trimmer is more suited to shaping.
When it comes to electric razors, you’ll need to select between a foil or rotary razor. Foil razors are more precise but can’t handle large amounts of hair, while rotary razors are better for thicker hair and are easier to maneuver around contours of the face.
If you’ve opted for a beard trimmer, consider the attachments it comes with, and whether it can cut your beard to the length you order. If you plan on trimming hair elsewhere on your body, look for models that are versatile enough to offer this.
It’s also important to consider whether you want a cordless or corded model. If you plump for battery power consider how long the battery will last and how quickly the grooming appliance will take to recharge. Finally look for models that are waterproof for easy cleaning, and to ensure you can shave in the shower if that’s what you prefer.
How we test beard trimmers and shavers
Of those beard trimmers and electric shavers that we have featured in this guide, numbers 1 - 5 have been tested by a panel of editors on the TechRadar team. These have been used to trim, style and shape facial hair. Some of the electric shavers have even been suitable to use on head hair.
They've been used for a number of weeks before being written up into a review. This way we have been able to use most, if not all, of the trimmer lengths and switch between the different settings to give our verdict on the cut. We've also taken note of the battery runtime and the time said battery takes to recharge.
In some instances we can use products on review for an unlimited amount of time. This means that we can therefore test the longevity of a product, to find out if it'll stand the test of time - or not.
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