Best beard trimmers in Australia 2024: from trimming to full beard maintenance

The best beard trimmers will make your daily, weekly or even monthly beard maintenance so much easier and simpler. Whether it be by offering an insane number of cutting lengths, allowing you to craft the perfect facial fuzz, or by being versatile enough to use on other parts of your body, a beard trimmer is nigh-on essential. 

As with most things, beard trimmers come in a variety of sizes, with options to cater to any budget. As you'll find in our picks for the best beard trimmers below however, you don't necessarily need to spend a fortune to arm yourself with an effective cutting tool. 

The top six

The best beard trimmers in Australia we recommend in 2024

The best beard trimmer overall

Although it doesn't have a fricken' laser like some other Philips beard trimmers, the BT9000 Prestige is the classiest-looking we've ever clapped eyes on. That's thanks to its steel body, steel blades and heavy-duty rubber grip. Heck, even the battery life indicator is neatly integrated into the base of the trimmer.

Thankfully, the BT9000 Prestige isn't just a looker, because in our review we 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 will whip away whiskers without any snags or pulls. That steel cutting head is brilliantly contoured, thanks to “anti-friction skin follower” technology, and it manages to get into the awkward or hard-to-reach areas where many rivals fall down.

We found the battery life to be 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 like some cheaper beard trimmers we've tried.

Although we wouldn't recommend submerging it in a bubble bath, it is supposedly 100-percent waterproof and performed perfectly well when we tested it in the shower. The flip-back shaving head also makes rinsing out any fine hairs really 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.

Read our full Philips BT9000 prestige review

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The best beard trimmer for shorter beards

The Philips OneBlade Pro is an odd-looking thing, with what appears to be a large manual razor 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, you will find the OneBlade is decidedly more gentle. Although, due to the way the shaving head vibrates and flings cut hairs everywhere, you'll do well to stand near the sink, use it in the shower, or keep a cordless vac nearby.

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, somewhat less than Philips' claim of 4 months. Replacement heads aren't especially pricey or hard to find, but it is an extra cost you'll need to factor in that you wouldn't otherwise have with a more conventional beard trimmer.

The battery runs for 90 minutes on a one-hour charge and it can handle beards up to 10mm via its adjustable comb head. It's definitely better 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 (you'll find the OneBlade 360 further down as another recommendation) 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

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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 longer beards

The Remington B5 borrows the rotary dial set-up of rivals, which 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 and on-trend perma-stubble, but the large comb does make it difficult to reach tricky spots, like the neck or just underneath the jaw. 

But for AU$60 (RRP), it feels like a good buy, although it doesn't come with the nose/ear trimmer attachments like 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

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The best all-round beard trimmer

This Braun beard trimmer offers a huge range of lengths to choose from and acts as a great all-round trimmer, without breaking the bank. Similar to the Remington B5, it works on a precision dial system with 0.5mm increments. This, along with the short and long beard guide combs included give you a total arsenal of 39 different lengths. 

The BT5260 comes equipped with Braun's clever AutoSensing technology, which adjusts the trimmer motor's power according to your beard's thickness - meaning it won't snag or pull at the hair.

It has been known to occasionally clog with a build-up of thinner hairs, but it's washable, so should be quick and easy to clean and can be used in the shower.  

To cut precision lines on your neck or cheek, you can remove the comb and trim off excess stubble using the blade alone, and there's an additional detail-trimmer attachment for an even closer cut. 

Braun promises life-long sharp blades, and even includes a free Gillette Fusion ProGlide manual razor with the BT5260. 

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The best budget beard trimmer

Another good choice from Philips is the 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 more comfortable to use than ever before. 

It differentiates itself from the OneBlade Pro further up the page by not employing an integrated head/body design, and the shaving itself is able to manoeuvre itself in more ways than on the Pro. This allows it to better reach difficult areas and in practice, we did find it was almost effortless to shape around the beard and neck. 

The slim and lightweight design makes it comfortable to use, too, and the 5-in-1 adjustable comb works well on longer hair although the blades dull quicker than you might expect. The battery run time is also shorter than that of the Pro – 60 minutes on the 360 compared to the Pro's 90 minutes – and it also takes longer to fully charge (4 hours vs 1 hour). 

All-in-all, however, this is still a great beard trimmer to have in your arsenal. You may not find it replacing whatever you have at home right now, but as a secondary trimmer, perhaps for travel, it's brilliant.

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The best beard trimmer for precision

While a number of the models on our list are compact enough to fit in your travel wash bag, the Wahl Precision is a much cheaper yet still practical option for a travel trimmer. 

Being battery powered, you don't need to worry about different adaptors or power sockets when travelling overseas. And battery charge also makes it perfect for camping.  

It comes with a guide comb that locks into 6 different positions between 2mm and 12mm, and features three separate guide combs for cutting lengths of 1.6mm, 3.2mm and 4.8mm.

It might not boast the same power and precision as some of Wahl's more expensive models, but it's still a great addition if you don't fancy taking your everyday trimmer away with you. 

How to choose the best beard trimmer for you

When shopping for a beard trimmer there are several things to consider. The first one is the lengths at which it can cut: some trimmers are only suitable for short beards, while others come with a range of heads or guards that can be used for longer bushy beards. 

Most trimmers can be used for body hair and the hair on the top of your head too, although we'd always recommend one of the best body groomers or a pair of the best hair clippers to ensure a top-notch job. 

Charge time can matter if you’re constantly on the move, and sometimes these things take a few hours to fully juice up. Realistically, that shouldn't be a problem if you only trim once per week or less, 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 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.