Terratek 20V vs Ego ST1510E: which strimmer is right for you?

With summer well and truly here, you might have been thinking of easier ways of keeping your garden under control. To help you out, we've spent hours on finding the best strimmer (a portmanteau of "string" and "trimmer"), the quickest and simplest way of quickly cutting those tricky-to-reach edges. 

Whether you have a big garden or a small patch of grass, making sure it's tidy for when guests come around, perhaps for a BBQ, is really important. A lawn mower can only get you so far, even the best cordless lawn mowers, as there will still be some cheeky edges that refuse to comply. Enter the strimmer.

Today, we're comparing two of the highest-rated models out there: the Terratek 20V and Ego ST1510E. Both offer pretty much everything you could need: a wide cutting area, cordless operation, and a lightweight and portable design. We think you'd be happy with either (or both), but wanted to highlight some key differences.

So, without further ado, let's jump into our comparison feature to find the best strimmer available right now to help keep that garden at bay.

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Terratek 20V vs Ego ST1510E: features

Both of these strimmers have a lot in common. As we mentioned, they both are cordless, a huge bonus when it comes to hard-to-reach edges; both are comfortable to use for longish periods due to being quite light; and both will get the job done, that we can promise you. 

There are some key differences, however, and these might help you make a smarter decision. 

The first is one of the most fundamental. The Terratek uses its own proprietary blade technology, which has the advantage of avoiding having to spool loads of wire to get going but also makes you slightly beholden to the company. On the other hand, Ego's uses a standard 2.4mm nylon line and comes with a handy auto-spool feature, eliminating a lot of the initial faff. 

Elsewhere, the two strimmers use batteries (a must for anything cordless) and offer slightly different run times: around 40 minutes for the Terratek (or 90 minutes when you use both included batteries) and 90 minutes for the more powerful 7.5Ah Ego. 

To be honest, we can't imagine too many people needing to push past an hour of strimming time, but if you do then the powerful Ego model is the choice to beat.

Some final things: a 25cm cutting area on the Terratek, compared to 38cm on the Ego; both support lawn edging for crisp, clean lines; and both are pretty portable, at 2kg for the Terratek and 3.2kg for the Ego.

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Terratek 20V vs Ego ST1510E: design and use

In our extensive testing, we found both the Terratek 20V and Ego ST1510E to be really simple and intuitive to use, making quick work of even the toughest and longest weeds and grass. 

The two strimmers do have a different feel, mostly down to the distinct cutting technology: blades in the Terratek and a fairly standard string in the Ego. The end results, though, were pretty similar. Our only slight worry would be about the fact that only Terratek sells the blades, making you slightly beholden to them long term.

Physically, the two strimmers are very similar, perhaps a fact of their functionality. The support handle on the Terratek is placed higher and the motor driving the whole shebang is placed differently, above the blades on the Terratek and at the top on the Ego. 

Both were extremely comfortable to use in our testing and even the extra weight in the Ego was offset by the nicely balanced design, meaning we hardly noticed it. 

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Terratek 20V vs Ego ST1510E: verdict

Right, brass tacks: the biggest difference between these two, and perhaps the most important feature, comes down to price. For our money, the Ego ST1510E is the better strimmer, offering a more standard line trimming system that's easy to replace and standardised. 

The Ego, however, is a lot more expensive than the Terratek 20V and for that reason, we have to recommend the Terratek on balance. While the blades aren't entirely optimal, everything else is really solid and it costs about half as much as the Ego. 

If you have the extra cash to spare, we'd recommend getting the more extravagant Ego, but ultimately you'll likely only be using your new strimmer infrequently and so a more modest, but still high quality, model will likely do the job just fine.

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