Lawn edgers allow you to easily and accurately cut a deep notch where your grass meets the sidewalk, driveway, curb, or patio—giving your lawn a professional and polished look. Although this notch can be achieved with a string trimmer and a skilled operator, the spinning vertical blade of a dedicated edge trimmer will give the straightest, cleanest, and deepest result. For the ultimate notch where the lawn and pavement meet, only an edger will do. But there’s a lot to consider in selecting the right machine for the job.
What to Consider
The most important factor to consider when choosing a lawn edger is what type will work best for you. Stick-type edgers use a long handle–like a weed whacker– with a gas engine or electric motor at the top, and the cutter at the bottom. These machines are light and easy to store but can take some time to learn how to steer so that you get the desired straight, clean notch. These are also available as an accessory that you would attach to an existing machine, like a string trimmer that can be detached. These accessory-style edgers are the least expensive and take up minimal space, but you may experience added vibration with these since they must couple up to the driveshaft coming off the main power head.
Walk-behind edgers are larger machines that are typically gas-powered, and use three or four wheels for maximum stability. These machines will create the cleanest and straightest cuts, but are typically much more expensive than stick-type edgers, and take up much more room in your garage or tool shed.
Safety Warnings
Edgers are like saws; as their blade spins, they kick up dirt and small rocks. Occasionally, they can be jammed by a small stone that slips between the blade and its housing. You need to wear safety glasses using these, and many users find that they are better off wearing long pants to protect their shins from the debris kicked out by the blade.
How We Selected
We chose a cross-section of edgers to find machines (or accessories) that were designed and priced for homeowners, not those suited to landscape contractors or pavement-repair companies that might be using them every day. We prioritized lawn edgers from manufacturers that have produced other machines we’ve tested, even if we haven’t tested their edgers specifically.
We’ve been covering Echo’s products for decades, and we’re big fans of them. This is a dedicated stick edger that’s well priced with enough engine for topsoil and typical cool-season grass (for southern grass species, clay soil, or soil with small stones, you may need the company’s PE-2620, with a 25.4-cc engine).
The 21.2-cc engine powering this machine takes a professional-grade 50:1 gas-oil mix, and the i-30 starting system reduces starting effort with a spring-assist mechanism. We’ve tried other Echo products equipped this way and they are, indeed, very easy to start.
If you already own an attachment-capable string trimmer, such as one from Troy-Bilt, Remington, Craftsman, Yard Machine, Yardman, Snapper, Bolens, Murray, Ryobi, Greenworks, or Kobalt, then the Trimmer Plus edger attachment can convert it to an edger.
Like a string trimmer shaft, the edger accessory slides onto the end of the shaft coming from the power head and is tightened by the knob on the shaft’s end. A guide wheel at the back of the housing (barely visible in this picture) gives you a steady rolling surface on which to support the accessory.
Edging, especially at full depth, takes lots of torque. That’s why the Worx is powered by a 12-amp, 4,700-rpm motor. To put that in perspective, that’s the kind of current that a mid-duty circular saw draws.
But the Worx has more than just power going for it. Its depth adjustment is simple and tool-free: flip the latch open on the machine’s side and move the wheel and mounting bracket to the desired depth, then flip the lever shut.
Another feature we find intriguing is the machine’s cut line indicator, a drop-down fin that rides in the trench being cut by the blade, steadying the machine and making a mis-cut a lot less likely.
There aren’t many cordless options in edgers because it takes so much torque to do this job. The average cordless outdoor power tool isn’t up to the job. That’s why Greenworks equipped this edger with an 80-volt brushless motor and a variable-speed trigger.
You can give the motor full power for deep cuts or cutting through clay soil, or back off the trigger for light cuts, such as refreshing the edge after weekly mowing. You’ll need to supply your own battery though, so this would ideally be an addition to an existing Greenworks tool collection.
This is the ultimate high-torque edging solution. The McLane is U.S.-built and solidly constructed, weighing about the same as a small-engine lawnmower.
It has a thick-bar stock frame, ball-bearing wheels and a dual-ball-bearing cutter head that tilts, allowing you to edge at an angle, either horizontally (for weed trimming) or vertically. The spacer between the front wheels makes this even more versatile than your standard edger. Leave the spacer in place for making straight runs, or remove the spacer and slide the wheels together and reinstall the spacer on the outside for edging curves with a tight radius.
A curb-riding feature makes it possible to set the front wheels together to allow an odd, but useful, way of riding: The machine’s front wheels ride along the curb while the blade cuts the notch between the curb and the grass (there's definitely a learning curve with this maneuver, however).
Finally, unlike many gas-engine edgers in which the blade turns automatically when the engine is started, the McLane is equipped with a handle-operated clutch mechanism that allows you to disengage the blade until you’re ready to make the cut.
We’ve tested a variety of Earthquake machines over the years, and we have to say that they do deliver on their promise of no-frills power. While we haven’t tested this particular Earthquake model, after reviewing its specifications, it looks in line with the low-cost power-equipment that has made Ardisam, its parent company, so popular among consumers.
In terms of layout and configuration, it’s much like the McLane above, complete with a clutch-activated blade. It’s got an engine appropriate for this class of equipment, a tilting cutter head, and an odd (though robust-looking) debris catcher made from short chain links. It also boasts a 4.3/5-star rating from nearly 250 reviewers. If your taste in outdoor power equipment tends to be old-school simplicity, then give this edger some serious consideration.
Roy BerendsohnSenior Home EditorRoy Berendsohn has worked for more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics, where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chainsaw use, and outdoor power equipment.
Alex RennieAlex Rennie is a freelance writer who specializes in the Home Improvement, DIY, and Tool space.
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