Best beard trimmer 2024: shavers for stubble, short and long beards

The best beard trimmer is a modern-day essential for crafting an attractive beard. Be it a bushy hipster flex or a more sculpted number, carving out a stylish beard takes time, patience and a good trimmer.

If you're looking for regular beard management or the occasional trim, you might be wondering what is the best beard trimmer on the market. Our top picks for the best beard trimmers are the sharpest, to put it bluntly (no pun intended), but our favourite trimmer overall has to be the Philips BT9000 Prestige, due to its design, feel and results.

If you're looking to fully upgrade your grooming routine, then you might want to check out the best body groomer for all-over hair removal, or, if you want to remove your facial hair completely, then you'll want the best electric shaver.

Without further ado, here's the best beard trimmer you can buy today.

WRITTEN BY

WRITTEN BY

Bethan Girdler-Maslen

Beth is Home Editor for T3, covering style, living and wellness. While Beth can't grow a beard so doesn't have a need for the best beard trimmers, she still has an expansive knowledge on the subject, having covered beard maintenance for over two years. She's always ready to offer the latest news, recommendations and advices on beard trimmers, facial hair and grooming.

The top six

Best beard trimmers 2024

The best beard trimmer overall

There's no doubt that the Philips BT9000 Prestige is the classiest looking beard trimmer we've ever clapped eyes on. That's thanks to its steel body, steel blades and heavy-duty rubber grip. Even the battery life indicator is neatly integrated into the base of the trimmer.

Thankfully, the BT9000 Prestige isn't just a looker, because our reviewer found it offers an equally classy shave. There's a robust steel dial that quickly adjusts the blade length from 0.4mm to 5mm, or throw on a plastic guard and cover the 5.4mm to 10mm lengths.

Designed primarily with neater beard-scaping in mind, it neatly whips away whiskers without any snags or pulls. That steel cutting head is brilliantly contoured, thanks to “anti-friction skin follower” technology, and managed to get into those awkward or hard-to-reach areas where many rivals fall down.

We found the battery life is excellent too, and the 'power sensor adaptor' automatically adjusts the speed of the motor depending on how hard it works, allowing it to plough through longer sections without getting bogged down. Although we wouldn't recommend submerging it in a bubble bath, it's supposedly 100-percent waterproof and performed perfectly when tested in the shower. The easy flip-back shaving head also makes rinsing out fine hairs easy, as there's no fiddling around trying to clip a cheap plastic head back on.

Yes, it's pricey for a beard trimmer, but it feels premium and like it's built to last. Keep on top of blade maintenance (oiling them after cleaning) and this is one trimmer you won't be throwing in the bin after a few months of heavy use. Before you buy, be sure to check our Philips discount codes to bag the best deal and check out our Philips BT9000 Prestige review for more.

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The best budget beard trimmer

The best budget beard and body trimmer is the Philips OneBlade 360. Despite it's garish looks, this is a cheap and cheerful face and body groomer that’s great value for money, and easier and comfortable to use.

Philips has an extensive beard trimmers and shavers collection, so if you want something a bit more premium, then you should go with our first pick in this guide: the Philips BT9000 Prestige. And if you're specifically looking for something for shorter beards, then you'll want the Philips OneBlade Pro, a different version of the OneBlade.

But for a reasonable price that won't break the bank (unless you need a replacement head which isn't as cheap as you'd think), we're giving it to the Philips OneBlade 360. It's great for short and long hair, the slim and lightweight design is comfortable to use, and its flexible head makes shaving much easier. As the name suggests, the detachable blades have an innovative 360 design that ensures fewer passes are needed to trim beard hair.

Our reviewer found that the 5-in-1 adjustable comb worked well on longer hair, although he found that the blades dull quicker than you'd expect. But it does an amazing job, considering the low price tag.

Read our full Philips OneBlade 360 review for more details.

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The best premium beard trimmer

There are slightly cheaper beard trimmers out there but the Braun Beard Trimmer 7 feels like good value for money, earning its place pretty high up on this list. It is small, light and easy to use. Our reviewer found the tough blades shave cleanly and feel like they are built to last.

Granted, the quality of the main body isn't massively impressive, and some of the included shaving attachments feel like gimmicks. However, if you stick with the main blades and the two plastic guards, you can achieve some great results, both on the face and you know...

Our reviewer said the battery life was solid and the unit is waterproof enough for easy rinsing to clean, but just beware that you’ll need a two-pin adaptor if you don’t have shaving sockets in your bathroom. 

Read our full Braun Beard Trimmer 7 review for more.

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The best beard trimmer for shorter beards

The Philips OneBlade is an odd-looking thing, with what appears to be a large Mach 3-style blade instead of the familiar cutting comb (although with the Pro models you get a cutting comb too). 

The main selling point here is the absence of razor burn: if you’ve found other trimmers leave your face a fiery red, we think you will find the OneBlade considerably more gentle. You'll want to stand near the sink, use it in the shower, or keep a cordless vac nearby, mind: as we found the way the head vibrates sends cut stubble all over the place.

The dual-sided blade is designed to cut more precisely than a comb and we find they last about 6 weeks to 3 months before needing to be replaced. That's somewhat less than Philips' claim of 4 months, but the replacement heads aren't especially pricey or hard to find.

The battery runs for 90 minutes on a one-hour charge and it can handle beards up to 10mm via its adjustable comb head. We'd say it is suited to shorter trims on the whole – it's most ideal for those who favour neither beards nor a smooth visage: it does perma-stubble brilliantly.

There are a number of versions of the OneBlade available at Amazon and elsewhere, and particularly if you suffer from facial irritation, they are all excellent. The hardware of the non-'Pro' versions does have more of a tendency to wear out, however. That's because rather than having an integral, adjustable comb for different lengths, they use interchangeable combs.

Read our full Philips OneBlade Pro review for more information and if you want some buying advice, check out how to choose a beard trimmer for shorter beards.

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The best beard trimmer for longer beards

The Remington B5 borrows the rotary dial set-up of rivals, which we find makes adjusting the length of the built-in comb really easy. It also boasts one of the best spread of lengths we've seen in a single comb mechanism, covering 0.4 to 18mm.

When set to its shortest setting, the Remington B5 does a good job of slicing whiskers down to a fairly even trendy perma-stubble, but the large comb does make it difficult to reach tricky spots, like those on neck or just underneath the jaw. 

For not very much money, it feels like a good buy, although it doesn't come with the nose/ear trimmer attachments like other rivals we've listed here. Bottom line: it's good for really thick beards but lacks the finesse for shorter or more lavish facial hair designs.

Read our full Remington B5 review to find out more, and make sure to check out our guide on how to choose a beard trimmer for longer beards to see if you should buy this trimmer.

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The best beard trimmer for styling

As much as we hate the fashion for adding an “i” prefix to make things sound modern, the iStubble is a smart shaver indeed: its trimmer guard is motorised, enabling you to set the length perfectly. 

You can expect around 45 minutes use from 90 minutes of charging, and if you forget to charge it completely there’s enough power for a single shave after just five minutes - although a full charge does take 16 hours. 

It’s not suitable for Santa or hipsters - the maximum cutting length is 5mm - but if you prefer your beard to be short then the iStubble is one of the best shavers to keep it that way.

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The best beard trimmer for attachments

Wahl's excellent emergency charge system is just one reason to get excited about the Wahl Aqua Blade trimmer, because it delivers enough power for a quick trim in just one minute - perfect for when you inevitably run it flat and need a last-minute shave before work. 

On top of that, it comes with a staggering 16 guide combs, which means you can go from a 0.2mm super close shave, all the way up to a proper barbershop hair-do tidy up if you really want to. There is also the obligatory nose hair trimmer, detailer head for fancy beards and a foil shaver for getting that "smooth as a baby's bottom" look to your cheeks and chin. 

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The best beard trimmer for battery life

If you want a beard trimmer with a long lasting battery life, then we'd recommend the Philips Series 7000 Trimmer. Now, you might be thinking 'why is it the best for battery life if it only has a 120 minute runtime?!' Well, our reviewer found that the Philips Series 7000 Trimmer charged incredibly quickly, and once he charged it to full, he hadn't had to charge it at all during the entire testing period, so it gets top points there from us.

Aside from its charge, the Philips Series 7000 Trimmer has a nice, comfortable design and it's pretty decent value for money. It has a patent trimming comb which was the star of the show, as it had 11 lengths to choose from and the self-sharpening blades didn't dull at all. The only issue is that the Philips Series 7000 Trimmer comes with a different charging port than other Philips models but if this particular port gives that great battery life, we can live with it.

See our Philips Series 7000 Trimmer review for more details.

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The best self cleaning beard trimmer

I used to carpool for work, and one of my colleagues would always jump in the passenger seat and immediately fire up his electric shaver - something I wasn't happy about until I realised he was leaving his DNA everywhere and framed him for a series of murders. If only he’d bought the Philips, which has an integrated vacuum system to catch most of the facial fallout. It promises to catch 90% of your cuttings (albeit in lab conditions), so that should mean less cleaning up after each cut. 

In my experience, you still need to clean up after, just as you do with any other beard trimmer. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that, as with its 'laser-guided' trimmer at #1, Philips has again come up with a trimmer whose 'bonus feature' is a pure gimmick to catch your attention.

On the other hand, also like the laser-trim-o-matic, this is an excellent beard tamer, so long as you aren't too fussed about its headline feature. The lockable cutter has 20 settings from 0.5mm to 10mm and you’ll get around an hour of shaving from a single charge. Also as with the laser one, don’t pay the RRP as it’s frequently available for much less.

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The best hybrid beard trimmer

The Remington Durablade is another favourite grooming tool of ours. It's a hybrid trimmer and shaver, which has both positive and negative points. The Durable is capable of a closer shave than many of the trimmers on this list, it's lightweight, and you never need to replace the blades.

However, while it does undaboutably offer a closer shave, it's not as good as a traditional electric shaver, and it's not as powerful as other trimmers on this list.

That being said, it's an incredibly useful little tool to take away one holidays or when travelling for business, and great for quick touch up jobs, when time is off the essence.

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How to choose the best beard trimmer

When considering a beard trimmer there are several things to consider. The first is length: some trimmers are only suitable for short beards, while others come with a range of heads or guards that can be used for bushy beards.

Most trimmers can be used for body hair and the hair on the top of your head too, but if you want anything other than a skinhead, you'll want a trimmer that's capable of longer length settings.

Charge time may matter if you’re constantly on the move, and often these things take eight hours or more to fully juice up. Realistically, that shouldn't be a problem if you only trim once per day, but if you suffer from beard maintenance anxiety, you might favour a trimmer with an emergency 'quick charge' feature, giving a full trim after just a few minutes of charging.

Watch out for consumables – while many trimmers have self-sharpening blades that last forever, some need oiling, and some even require regular replacement. As with electric toothbrushes, our biggest tip is: never pay the RRP on higher-end beard trimmers: grooming gadgets are regularly discounted, as reflected in our handy pricing widgets.

How we test the best beard trimmers

We spend a lot of time reviewing the best beard trimmers, so when it comes to recommending what beard trimmer to buy, you can be safe in the knowledge that we'll recommend the best options for you.

We'll usually spend a week or longer testing new beard trimmers, and the review process is fairly straightforward – we use them to trim our beards. This helps us see how closely they are capable of trimming, and how easy they are to use and achieve our desired facial hairstyle. It also lets us test whether the beard trimmers nick your skin and how long the battery lasts.

If the beard trimmers have any advanced features, such as laser guidance or quick charging, we'll try these out to test if they work and if they're worth the extra money they no doubt command. Once the initial review period is complete, we'll publish a full review, give the beard trimmer a star rating, and add an abridged review to this guide.

For more details, see how we test at T3.

Best beard trimmers FAQs

How often should I trim my beard?

How often you should trim your beard is completely dependent on the style you're going for. If you want to maintain a shorter and more sculpted beard, then you'll want to trim it more often than people who want to grow out a long beard. For maintaining length and style, we'd recommend trimming once a week.

If you're going for a Gandalf-style beard, then avoiding the trimmers is your best option. But you should be looking to trim your beard at least once a month if you're trying to grow it out. This helps the hair grow in the right way and gives you thicker and healthier beard hair.

How to clean a beard trimmer

As a rule of thumb, you should be cleaning your beard trimmer after every use. To do this, use the cleaning accessories that your beard trimmer came with, like brushes. Remove the head of your trimmer to do so, and rinse it with water to remove any hidden hairs. Allow the head to dry before reattaching to the main body of your trimmer.

For a step-by-step guide, see how to clean a beard trimmer for all the details.

What's the difference between a beard trimmer and a hair trimmer?

As the name suggests, a beard trimmer is used on your beard and other facial hair. In comparison, hair trimmers or clippers are designed for long hair, typically located on your head or other parts of your body like armpits or pubic hair.

Beard trimming blades are typically much smaller than hair trimmers, as they get closer to the skin and also for safety purposes. Hair trimmers have bigger blades are bigger in size in general, plus they normally come with wire.

To understand the differences between beard trimmers and other grooming tools a bit better, check out electric shaver vs beard trimmer, hair clipper vs beard trimmer and beard trimmer vs body groomer.

Reviewer Panel

Max Slater-Robins

Alongside his work as editor at Techmeme and Mediagazer, Max is a freelancer writer for T3 and has been for over half a decade. Max is a primarily a tech expert, but he's also dabbled in beard trimmers and male grooming, so he knows a thing or two about the best models and how to take care of your facial hair.

Leon Poultney

Leon is a freelance automotive, motor and technology writer. He's been writing about automotive and consumer tech for longer than he cares to divulge, but when he’s not testing the latest fitness wearable and action camera, he’s out in a shed fawning over his motorcycles or carefully shaping and sculpting his facial hair with the latest beard trimmers.

Lee Bell

Lee Bell is a freelance journalist and copywriter specialising in technology, health and grooming. From national newspapers to specialist-interest magazines and digital titles, Lee has written for some of the world’s most respected publications during his 11 years as a journalist.