The Best Beard Trimmers
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There is a great beard trimmer behind every great beard, regardless of its length, shape, style, or thickness. That’s because a beard trimmer does far more than provide the ability to take facial hair down a centimeter or five—it allows you to define a beard style or experiment with new options. But the best beard trimmers—and the two top picks on our list—don’t just mind the smallest details; they take an all-encompassing approach to men’s grooming to make sure you get truly custom results.
Not every guy wants the same thing from a beard trimmer. Some might want a vacuum shell that sucks up 90 percent of the clippings and makes cleanup a breeze. Others might demand a hybrid device that also tidies up head hair and body hair. Some guys want the best deal, while others like to show off the best luxury pick. Despite this, all of these people ultimately want the same thing: a quality product. Luckily, there is a choice for each of them.
Braun, specifically, has been sparing no detail when designing their beard trimmers and other grooming devices. Aside from making one of the best hair clippers, the brand’s new beard trimmer barely edged out a close competitor for the best overall. The Braun All-in-One Series 9 Trimmer offers all the most essential customization options, plus the durability to guarantee consistent results. It’s the best tool to elevate your beard from standard fare to stylish.
How to Shop for Beard Trimmers
Beard trimmers with stainless steel teeth, a slip-proof grip, and a strong motor are often lauded as the best. It’s true, but that stuff is so baseline. Above all, what matters is that the device has enough juice on a single charge to last you at least a few weeks’ worth of shaving—better yet, it might even tout a generous quick-charge runtime (like 5 to 10 minutes of power on 3 to 5 minutes of plug-in time).
And, in addition to that, find a device that can help you customize your beard in 100 different ways. That is to say, make sure it offers enough trimmer settings to allow you to shape your beard into an actual style—perhaps a little more volume on the bottom than on the sides, or the ability to draw clean lines and snip away at individual hairs as you carve out a specific shape. You don’t have to lock yourself into a single, uniform beard length on any given day, and a great beard trimmer is what unlocks a host of options.
How We Tested
At Men’s Journal, we’re constantly testing the latest products, some of our team with more than a decade of grooming coverage under their belt. Whenever something enters the marketplace, it’s also at our desks, and quickly being tested. Think of us as grooming lab rats; we get to enjoy the spoils when something is really great, and endure the agony when a product isn’t up to par.
The Best Beard Trimmers of 2023 The Best Overall Beard Trimmer: Braun All-in-One Series 9 Trimmer 
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The All-in-One Series 9 Trimmer is, above all, a beard trimmer. But with its various attachments, it also mows through head hair, draws clean lines, safely trims intimate areas, snips at the finest details, shaves down stubble patches, and more. It offers 40 different length settings in half-millimeter increments (0.5 to 20 mm) for a truly customizable experience and does so with just two different beard guard attachments to help consolidate clutter. This one also holds a generous three-hour charge, so you’ll rarely have to re-up. All that on top of being waterproof is enough to make this the most complete tool available.
[$130; amazon.com]
The Next Best Beard Trimmer: Philips Norelco Multigroom 9000 
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Along with its previous models, this is one of the most decorated devices on the web. Philips Norelco’s Multigroom offers all the customization one could want from a singular device, from clean lines to precise trimming to universal use across hair, body, and face. While this newer model improves on the body grooming guard and makes it easier to adjust the length with dial guards that offer 27 different cutting settings, this is very much in the conversation as the best overall. Philips Norelco is king when it comes to power—out of the box, its battery can run as long as 17 hours uninterrupted. That’s insane! But Braun’s product design gives it the advantage, largely because its adjustable settings are on the body of the device rather than on the guard heads. Still, it’s a barn burner between these two, and a win-win for any buyer.
[$100; amazon.com]
The Best Beard Trimmer on a Budget: Panasonic Beard Trimmer ER-GB42-K 
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With 19 trimming lengths in half-millimeter increments (0.5 to 10 mm), Panasonic’s straightforward device will satisfy most customers. While some of its features don’t stack up against the best of the best—like its basic 50-minute runtime—it delivers consistent results because it’s a quality product. You can use this one in the shower and it serves well for body hair cleanup. Don’t expect much else from it, but we say that endearingly: Not everyone needs the bells and the whistles. Panasonic didn’t reinvent the wheel here—they just made sure it could log more miles than the competition.
[$40; amazon.com]
The Best Vacuum Beard Trimmer: Remington Vacuum Beard Trimmer 
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For a while, vacuum trimmers were all the rage, and now it seems like it’s just down to Remington in this category. On the one hand, it’s a relief since it’s a fantastic device and has always led the pack. But where did the competition go and, more importantly, why? Maybe this one swallowed them up with its ability to capture 95 percent of hair clippings while offering an adjustable head that allows for 13 different trimming lengths (from 2 to 18 mm). While it’s not the most precise or customizable pick on this list, it is the easiest to clean up after and makes it quite convenient to maintain a simple, sharp, and short facial hair style. And that certainly doesn’t suck.
[$60; amazon.com]
The Best Hair Clipper-Beard Trimmer Hybrid: Panasonic MultiShape 
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Panasonic’s multitasker is brilliant for all the hair on your body, head to toe, and even your teeth if you so choose. But its best vantage is that of a beard trimmer with add-on options. You can buy an additional narrow beard trimmer head with 39 adjustable trimming lengths as well as a wider-set option that targets head and body hair, too, with a whopping 58 different trimming lengths. Don’t underestimate its simple foil shave head, either, which can help mow down back hair stubble or facial scruff in a jiffy. Be sure to choose the lithium-ion battery base, as it’s just $10 more than the Ni-MH base, and will provide much more power and runtime.
[Starting from $95; shop.panasonic.com]
The Best Facial Hair Detail Trimmer: Remington Ultimate Precision Detail Trimmer 
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If all you need is a clean edge here or a spot-check there, then don’t splurge on a new device entirely. Just get a detail trimmer like Remington’s AA-powered tool. It offers 1 to 6 mm trimming lengths, as well as narrow precision trimming, tidy lineups, and even an eyebrow-taming guard. It’s a great way to keep a bulkier beard looking fresh every day, too, by zapping flyaways or simply snipping fringy mustache hairs.
[$18; amazon.com]
