The Best Beard Trimmers of 2020

grooming • trimming • videos     
Spencer Bryce |
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Looking to find the best beard trimmer? Well, you've come to the right place. I've personally used just about every beard trimmer out there and I'm going to give you my honest, professional opinion on the best ones on the market.

If you have a beard or are thinking of growing a beard, an electric beard trimmer is an absolutely necessary tool. The right beard trimmer will allow you to fade your sideburns and your beard, as well as keep your beard style shaped and looking good at all times. 

Here is what we will cover in this post.

Table of Contents:

 There are endless options for beard trimmers out there, all trying to position themselves as better than the next. Some are as cheap as $20, others north of $100. But do you need a cord or cordless beard trimmer? Does your beard trimmer need guards? Do you really need a built in vacuum to collect the hair clippings or is that entirely unnecessary?

Needless to say, finding the best beard trimmer can be a bit overwhelming. 

Here at Live Bearded, we like to keep things simple. So rather than writing an article about the 17 best beard trimmers, I'll give you 3 great options I can confidently recommend to use to trim and maintain your beard, based on my personal experience.

I'll explain the pros and cons of each so you can decide for yourself which is the best beard trimmer for YOU. They are all going to have similarities, but the end of the day, the best beard trimmer is really the one that fits your needs best, and is within your budget. That said, here are 3 of the best beard trimmers I recommend considering, from least expensive to most.

And so it's said, we do not get paid to promote these brands, nor do we get paid if you buy one. I just simply want to help you find the best beard trimmer for you so you can keep that beard looking great!

Best Beard Trimmer Under $50: Wahl Lithium Ion Total Beard Trimmer

Price: $30

Wahl is a household name when it comes to beard trimmers and hair clippers alike. They offer a variety of options that can get the job done. I started with their basic set you can pick up from Amazon or just about any major retailer like walmart or target, and have had many successful beard trims on myself and on others.

wahl beard trimmer

For $30 or less you can get a cordless beard trimmer, with multiple guards (1/8", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 7/8" and 1"). If you don't know what guards are for, they will help you fade your beard from home and clean up your sideburns. This beard trimmer has a great battery life and will give you a 3 hour run time from a 1 hour charge. I do find the blade to be a bit more angled than others, so make sure you go slow to see what you're actually cutting.

This small and lightweight beard trimmer is easy to travel with, an is a great bang for the buck. For the money, it's tough to beat and is great if you're just getting started! If you're on a tight budget, this is the best beard trimmer for you.

Best Cordless Beard Trimmer: Andis Select Cut Cord/Cordless Clipper Kit

Price: $50

Andis is an extremely reputable brand, and one of the premier suppliers of beard trimmers and hair clippers in the professional barber and salon world. They have really done an exceptional job creating professional quality trimmers that can run for hours a day, every day. 

In recent years they have come out with more at home style beard and hair trimming kits. This Beard Trimmer kit comes with everything you'd need to keep your beard looking great, and similar to most trimmers it comes conveniently packed in a storage case.

andis beard trimmer

One of the features I like about this beard trimmer kit is the cord/cordless option. With a single charge you can get 2+ hours of run time out of the lithium ion battery, but if you let it die out and needed a quick trim you can plug it into the wall and go about your business. The other thing I really like is the adjustable blade which allows you to really get dialed in with the length. The little details make a big difference in how your beard looks!

When it comes to fading your beard (or hair), this beard trimmer comes with 4 sizes of guards (3mm, 6mm, 9mm and 12mm) which may be too limiting for some of you guys. I personally keep my sideburns and cheeks a little on the tight side, so I found this setup to work well, but it doesn't cover quite the span of sizes that some kits offer. With a 1 year warranty and a price of ~$50 on Amazon it's an ok at home setup.

Best Budget Beard Trimmer: Brio Beardscape

Price: $65

The Brio Beardscape made its way into the scene recently and with the name Beardscape, they clearly are marketing it as a beard specific trimmer. Their claim is that it "masters the stubble" with its 1.0 to 1.9 mm blade height adjustment (similar to the Andis Select above). The blade adjustment is definitely a nice feature to have for shorter beards, but not as necessary for longer lengths. It's also has a ceramic blade that is harder than the usual steel blade which causes less friction.

brio beardscape beard trimmer

One thing I do really like about the Beardscape is the is the guards it comes with: 1mm, 2mm, 3mm, 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 15mm and 18mm guards. This gives you nice range to fade your sideburns and beard and keep things dialed in.

It too is cordless and can be plugged in if you need a little extra juice. It's small, quiet, compact, lightweight and easy to use. With the wider range of guards, I personally really like the Brio Beardscape for your at home beard trimmer, and it's hard to argue it's not the best beard trimmer at the mid price point level. It too is conveniently available from Amazon or other retailers.

Beard Trimmers – Do You Need Them? What Should You Know Before Buying a Pair?

So, now that you know our recommendation on which beard trimmer may be best for you, I want to outline some key questions you should ask yourself to really determine which beard trimmer is best for YOU.

Why Should I Buy a Beard Trimmer?

There are two main reasons you should buy a beard trimmer. The first is really about looking good. If you have a beard, you need to take care of it. And by taking care of it I mean groom it. Use all-natural beard products to keep it clean, soft, and smelling great. But you also need to keep it shaped and styled and that's where a beard trimmer plays a big role.

You need to tame your beard by trimming it from time to time. This can be a little daunting at first, and to be completely honest you will likely mess it up the first time or two. That's why we put together tons of other videos and articles about how to trim a beard so you can hopefully avoid some mistakes. If you don't want to trim it yourself, you could always see a professional. But that's where the second reason you need a beard trimmer comes into play....

Beard trimmers save you money.

A visit to your local barber to get a beard trim will set you back anywhere from $10-30 depending on where you live and the quality of the barber. You can do the math pretty quick to understand that your beard trimmer purchase will quickly pay for itself after a few visits to the barber for a beard trim. 

So that said, if you’re a dude with a beard, you’ll likely need to buy one at some point in life. It doesn’t matter whether you sport a glorious beard already, or are clean-shaven at the moment. A beard trimmer is an essential part of a man’s armory and grooming needs.

If you want to grow a long, healthy beard, you should always trim the split ends when they start to surface as they'll cause wiry growth and make your beard look rather wild and beat up. (Avoid split ends with Beard Butter)

Got a short beard? If so, your beard will require touching up almost on a weekly basis.  You can use scissors too, but that’s a complete time suck, not to mention a chore you can do without. Use a trimmer instead, they save time, are more precise, convenient, and are much easier to use.  Just put on an appropriate length clipper guard and glide it over your beard, as simple as that!

With a trimmer, you can also taper the beard down the sides, giving it a defined shape, clean up the cheek and necklines and get fades going as well.

Beard Trimmer Buying Guide: What to Look for in a Beard Trimmer

Multiple Beard Trimmers

If you don't want to trust our research we outline above, we'll recommend some things you should consider when you look into a beard trimmer to find the right one for you.

Our experience tells us that you should look at the following in any beard trimmer option:

  • Corded vs Cordless Beard Trimmer
  • Multiple Attachments (Guards) 
  • Trusted Brands
  • Battery Life
  • Trusted Online Reviews
  • Price
  • Travel Size: Small Vs Large Trimmer
  • Noise
  • Warranty
  • Width of the Trimming Blade 
  • Maintenance: Using Oil for Blades Vs. Self-Sharpening
  • Types of Blades: Ceramic Blade Vs Stainless Steel Blade
  • Durability
  • Accessories

These are the criteria that we shall focus on. Let’s discuss them in detail so that by the end of this article you will know exactly which beard trimmer is the best choice for you!

Value vs. Price

High quality at a reasonable price. Is that too much to ask? No, there are quite a few quality trimmers that you can buy for a very good price.

But, the best trimmers on the market, especially those made by some of the leading brands in the business are not going to be cheap, but they are going to last you for years.

Remember: It’s not the price that matters, but the value of the beard trimmer. A good trimmer from a trusted brand, one that is available for a good price, will last much longer than a cheap one. Focus on the value, not just the price.

Trusted Brand Name(s)

Brand name matters! That is the cardinal truth of the advertising business – it is much easier to promote a product made by a trusted brand than one made by a not-so-well-known brand. This is true with beard trimmers as well.

Trimmers made by highly reputable and established brand names such as Andis, Wahl, Philips, and Panasonic will always do well on the market. For sure, there are some trimmers made by relatively unknown brands that sell well, but that is more of an exception than a rule. That doesn't mean that a new brand like Brio can't come out with a great beard trimmer for the money so this isn't a concrete rule!

There are three major advantages when you buy a trimmer from an established brand name – One, availability. You can be fairly confident that when you zone in on a name brand beard trimmer you want, you will be able to find it either online or in a retail store pretty easily.

Second, replacement parts. If you need to replace a part that broke because of some reason, you won’t need to look too hard to find a replacement.  Typically with larger manufacturers, you can contact them directly and get your trimmer covered under a warranty, or grab the parts that you need to fix it.

Third, an assurance of quality. You don’t feel like you’re taking a risk or a chance with your money when you buy a product made by an established company such as Wahl, Philips, Andis, or Panasonic. These companies have been around for almost a hundred years now and have a reputation for quality and reliability.

Now, let’s quickly analyze the top 4 brand names when it comes to beard trimmers and tell you what to expect.

 

Wahl Beard Trimmers – If you haven't heard of Wahl, you have been very deprived. They are in almost barbershop across the land and have an extremely solid reputation for being debatably the best on the market.

Andis Beard Trimmers - Andis is well known in the professional space, but they haven't quite cracked the code on the retail, general consumer market yet.  Regardless, they offer very high-quality beard trimmers that we really enjoy using around the office.

Philips Beard Trimmers – Philips makes some of the best trimmers on the market. Their trimmers are generally excellent quality, offering power, flexibility, multiple options, and great design.

Panasonic Beard Trimmers – Panasonic trimmers are waterproof; these are powerful, high-performance beard trimmers that offer very good quality at a reasonable price. 

Battery Life

Why care about the battery life of a beard trimmer? After all, you only use it once every 2 or 3 days. Well, you should, as beard trimmers take many hours, 10 to 15 hours, before they are fully charged.

That is why it makes sense to buy a beard trimmer that gives you excellent battery life so that you won’t need to charge it every time you use it.

Also, when you’re traveling you’ll need a trimmer with decent battery life, as you may not get an opportunity to charge it. What is a decent battery life when it comes to beard trimmers? If you can swing two hours of battery life, that is very solid indeed.

Beard Trimmers and Accessories

Corded Vs. Cordless Beard Trimmers

Speaking of battery life, you won’t need to worry about that if you have a corded trimmer. Corded vs. cordless is one major decision you’ll need to make when buying a beard trimmer.

Cordless trimmers are convenient for sure. They're convenient when traveling, and you use them absolutely anywhere.  Corded trimmers will obviously have better power as the trimmers runs at longer rates, and they are perfectly suited for long and thick beards.

If you have a short beard or some stubble, a cordless trimmer is an easy choice. You don’t really need much power or trimming time in that case. 

Multiple Trimmer Attachments (Guards)

Another area you'll want to check into is the attachments and/or guards that come with the beard trimmer.  We have seen companies trending toward only offering four lengths and doubling up the guards to have a length on each side.

Some of these new trimmer guards can be a bitch to snap on and off, so beware if you grab a trimmer using these new dual-sided attachments.  We are not fans of them.

Also, if you rely on attachments to trim your beard, make sure clippers have decent length attachments.  Some of them max out at very short lengths, which would only cover a very short beard.

Most people only use attachments or guards to trim or fade sideburns, but these are still important pieces to the puzzle of finding a great beard trimmer. 

Width of the Trimming Blade

This one is common sense.  The width of the trimming blade matters because wider blades allow you to cover more real estate quickly and easily. Smaller blades, on the other hand, are better for lining up edges and trimming mustache lip areas. They will give you the sort of precision and fine detail that you will not get with wider blades.

Ceramic Blades vs. Stainless Steel Blades

The two most common clipper blades you'll find are ceramic, and steel.

Ceramic blades tend to run cooler and are corrosion-free. They are durable to a certain point and will last as long as you take care of them properly and don't drop them.  Some barbers claim they feel smoother and have a better glide to them.

Stainless steel blades are going to be much tougher, as they the are most durable blades you can get, being made of steel. Stainless steel blades also won't rust and are definitely less expensive than a ceramic clipper blade.  The blades are also easier to sharpen and come in a greater variety of sizes than ceramic does.

At the end of the day, this one is more of a personal preference.  If it comes down to cost and variety, stainless would appear to have the advantage.

Blade Maintenance

Keep em' sharp, keep em' clean, keep em' oiled.  In general, that's about all the maintenance you need.  When it comes to this one, stainless steel is definitely the victor. 

Warranty

Most trimmers on the market come with a 2-year warranty. That’s the industry standard. But there are a few that come with a 3-year warranty.  Obviously you want to find the longest warranty you can when it comes to electronics.  Kind of a no brainer...

Trusted Online Reviews

The first thing I do when shopping online for any product, not just beard trimmers, is to read online reviews on Amazon and other reputable sites. We suggest that you do the same when buying a beard trimmer.

It will become very obvious which clippers have a decent reputation and which don't.  If you stick to the name brands listed above and search for trimmers with good reviews within your price range, I am sure you will end up with a solid product.  Couple that with the knowledge gained in this article and you'll be well on your way!

Beard Trimmer Accessories

Accessories

We talked about the importance of having adjustable or interchangeable guards with the beard trimmer. That is by far the most important accessory that comes with a beard trimmer, but that’s not the only one.

You will need other accessories such as a charging stand, a travel bag, blade oil, scissors, brushes, combs, ect. The more you can score with your beard trimmer, the merrier!  Be sure to do your homework to try and get the most additional accessories you can. 

Before You Trim Your Beard...

Now regardless of which you choose as the best beard trimmer for you, you'll need to learn how to actually trim your beard to give you the beard style you want. If you're new to beard trimming, I want to run you through the basics to give you a good starting point. 

1. Style With Beard Products First

Before you go to trim your beard, you want to go through your beard grooming routine and apply your beard products first and here's why...

When you wash your beard with a beard wash, it will reset the beard hairs and make them easier to control. Following that, I recommend applying beard oil under your beard to your skin to moisturize and promote better beard growth, then finish up with some beard butter to your beard to give your beard just the right amount of hold. 

By doing this, your beard will be much more controlled and will lay the way it will on a daily basis. Then you can go in and trim away what you need to (which will likely be less than you would have needed to trim without products). So make sure your beard is 100% dry and you have the products you use on a daily basis applied to your beard, then comb it out and you're ready to trim.

2. Set Aside Plenty of Time

When it comes to beard trimming, the last thing you want to do is be in a rush. So don't try to attempt your beard trim as you're running late to work or for a date. Plan ahead, and set 30 minutes aside so you know you have plenty of time to get a good trim. 

You remember that saying "measure twice, cut once" right? Well it most definitely applies here. Start small and take a little off at a time. You can always take a little more off as you go to get the beard style you're looking for.

3. Treat it Like a Hedge

Have you ever seen those perfectly sculpted bushes that someone impressively carves into an elephant or something? Well, they start from the outside and take away what they don't need. You want to treat your beard in the same way. 

Work your beard trimmers along the outside of your beard and trim away the hairs that are sticking out wild. Use them to round the corners or square them off depending on the beards style you want. 

How to Shape a Beard

You can watch the video above to hear me explain it, and show you how to shape a beard using your beard trimmers (using the wahl in this video), or you can follow these simple guidelines.

1. Keep Your Cheek Line High

You don't want a chin strap, trust me. The goal is to trim your cheek lines as little as possible and keep the line high and natural. Connect from your sideburn over to your mustache in a straight line by using your beard trimmer or a razor.

2. Sideburn or Back Line

The line that runs down the backside of your sideburn to the corner of your jaw may be the most difficult to get right simply because it's hard to see. The idea is to run this line straight down, and then round or square the corner. I've found using a second mirror very helpful to be able to see where the beard trimmer blade is as your'e working. 

3. Neckline, Not Your Jawline

The third line is your neckline. This one is very commonly messed up so listen closely. You do not want to trim your beard on your jaw. This will result in a really small and thin beard, especially when it grows out.

You really need the neck hairs as the foundation of the your future beard, so trim this line it where your head connects to your neck (usually just above your adams apple). As your beard grows out, these extra beard hairs will really give your beard the full look you're after. 

Conclusion

Beard trimming does NOT need to be difficult. We hear it from guys everyday how they botched their trim and they need to "start over", and this pains me!!! Follow these guidelines and I promise you it'll get easier with time. 

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to contact us anytime. We have a LIFETIME warranty on all of our beard products and swag, and the bottom line is we are here to support you however we can.