Outdoor Power Tools

Breaking new ground in a garden is honest work. A shovel will get you there, but the difference between digging every row by hand and having a tiller chew through the soil in ten minutes is the difference between gardening as a hobby and gardening as a workout you didn’t want. A good cultivator or tiller turns compacted clay into fluffy loam, mixes in compost, churns under cover crops, and saves your lower back from the kind of repetitive strain that makes you question why you planted anything at all. But the market divides into several categories — front-tine, rear-tine, electric, cordless, and mini-cultivators — and picking the wrong one is a common mistake. A rear-tine tiller that can chew through hardpan clay is overkill for maintaining established flower beds. A mini-cultivator that handles weeding between rows won’t break new ground in a vegetable plot. ...

A chainsaw is one of those tools you need three times a year — after a storm brings a branch down, when the dead limb over the driveway starts looking ominous, or when you decide to finally cut next winter’s firewood yourself. Renting one is a hassle. Borrowing your neighbor’s feels awkward. Owning the right one means you handle it in 15 minutes instead of spending an afternoon figuring out logistics. ...

A good hedge trimmer turns an afternoon of tedious shearing into a 20-minute satisfaction session. The wrong one leaves you with ragged cuts that brown at the tips, jammed blades that stall on half-inch branches, and arms that ache for days. Hedge trimmers have moved almost entirely to battery power in the last few years. Today’s top cordless models match gas-powered performance for typical yard hedges — with none of the fuel mixing, pull-cord frustration, or ear-splitting noise. But picking the right one means balancing blade length, cutting capacity, battery compatibility, and reach. We tested 6 hedge trimmers for suburban yards, from compact shrub trimmers to long-reach pole models. ...

Cleaning a driveway with a garden hose is like washing dishes with a spray bottle: technically possible, but you’ll be there all day. An electric pressure washer turns a weekend chore into a 20-minute job. But with models ranging from $80 to $300, and specs from 1,500 PSI to 3,000+ PSI, it’s not obvious which one you need. We tested 6 of the best electric pressure washers in 2025 to help you pick. ...

A lawn mower cuts the grass. A string trimmer cleans up what the mower missed. But for that sharp, professional-looking edge along sidewalks, driveways, and flower beds — the kind that makes neighbors slow down and look — you need a dedicated lawn edger. Lawn edgers use a vertical spinning blade to cut a clean trench between your grass and hardscape. The result is a defined border that stays crisp for weeks. We tested 6 lawn edgers across gas, electric, and manual — here’s what works for different yard sizes. ...

A lawn mower handles the open grass, but it can’t reach fence lines, garden beds, or around trees. That’s where a string trimmer — often called a weed eater or weed whacker — earns its keep. It’s the detail tool that turns a “just mowed” lawn into a manicured landscape. Cordless string trimmers have gotten good. Today’s best battery models rival gas trimmers in power without the fuel mixing, pull cords, and exhaust fumes. But with options from budget plug-in models to professional-grade battery systems, picking the right one means weighing cutting width, battery compatibility, line feed mechanism, weight, and price. ...