Which outdoor power equipment should you buy?

You’ll typically find him in his old fixer-upper, engrossed in a DIY project or trying out a new recipe. The best outdoor power equipment you can buy right now, from Consumer Reports tests of snow blowers, lawn mowers, string trimmers, and more.

Are outdoor power tools a good purchase?

Learn More › Outdoor power tools aren’t a small purchase, so you want to have confidence that you picked the right product the first time. To help you make the right decision for your property, we test everything from chipper shredders to string trimmers, basically just about any type of lawn and garden equipment for any size and type of yard.

How does Consumer Reports test outdoor power equipment?

Consumer Reports’ process goes something like this: Every year, our market analysts identify hundreds of new pieces of outdoor power equipment. We deploy a team of secret shoppers to buy each model we test to ensure that we’re getting the same products you’d find at retail. Even after we test the tools, we’re still not done.

What types of outdoor power equipment do CR members use?

CR members with digital access can dig through those ratings, which include hundreds of individual models, from three-stage gas snow blowers to battery-powered pressure washers. (Or you can simply scroll down for our selection of the very best outdoor power equipment from our tests.)

How do I choose a good outdoor tool?

First, you want to buy a tool durable enough to stand up to repeated heavy use, or at least one that comes with a long warranty. Second, outdoor tools consume more energy over longer periods of time, which means you should hunt for ones with larger batteries or, a rarity for other kinds of domestic tool use, liquid fuel.

What is the best gas-powered lawn edger?

Both the edger and trimmer worked smoothly and efficiently in our tests. With nearly professional-level results, the Echo was our favorite gas-powered lawn edger combo this year. Learn how we tested and reviewed more top picks in our best lawn edgers guide. Get the Echo PE-225 lawn edger at The Home Depot. 3.