Tool Buying Guide

"The grass along the fence and around the posts is a mess."

You want a string trimmer, and you want it to edge as well so you're not buying two machines. The Cordless Weed Eater and Edger pivots between trimming and edging without tools.

Not this if: you're clearing a field of thick brush. That's a brush cutter's job.

"The hedge has gone shaggy and I want it square."

The Rotating Cordless Hedge Trimmer. The head turns 180° so you can cut the flat top without holding the machine at a strange angle, which is the thing that ruins hedge lines.

Not this if: the branches are thicker than a finger. Then it's the pruning shears or the pole saw.

"There are branches over the roof and I'm not getting on a ladder with a chainsaw."

Good instinct. The Cordless Pole Saw extends to about 15 ft so you can cut from the ground with both feet planted.

Not this if: you're felling a tree, or the limb is anywhere near a power line. Both are an arborist's job, not a tool purchase.

"The branch is at head height. I don't need a pole and I don't want a full chainsaw."

The Mini Chainsaw, 6-inch bar, light enough for one hand. For the jobs too big for shears and too small to drag out anything serious: a limb across the path after a storm, firewood cut to length, a shrub taken back to a stump.

Not this if: the trunk is thicker than the bar is long. A 6-inch bar cuts about a 5-inch log comfortably — beyond that you are fighting it, and fighting a chainsaw is how people get hurt.

"Leaves. Everywhere. Every autumn."

The Cordless Leaf Blower moves 680 CFM, which is enough for wet leaves flattened onto grass, not just dry ones skittering across a driveway.

Not this if: you have acreage and heavy tree cover. A battery blower suits a normal yard; on several acres you will spend the afternoon swapping batteries.

"I'm pruning fruit trees and my hands are killing me."

The Electric Pruning Shears cut up to 30mm on a trigger pull. If you have arthritis or a lot of trees, this is the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade in the yard range.

Not this if: the wood is dry seasoned hardwood at the full 30mm. Green wood is what these are for.

"I want to grow vegetables, but the soil here is hopeless."

The Galvanized Raised Garden Bed gives you a foot of good soil above whatever you're standing on, assembled in about five minutes without tools. Open at the bottom, so worms and roots still pass through.

Not this if: you want to garden at waist height. This is a foot tall — it fixes your soil, not your back.

"The path to the door is pitch black and I don't want to pay an electrician."

The 30W Solar Flood Light, with a remote. No trenching, no wiring, no meter reading going up.

Not this if: you want motion alerts or a camera. This is a light, not a security system.

"Washing the car means a bucket, and watering means a thumb over the end of the hose."

The High-Pressure Hose Nozzle goes from a jet hard enough to strip road salt out of a wheel arch to a fan soft enough for seedlings, by twisting the head.

Not this if: you want a pressure washer. A pressure washer makes its own pressure; this uses the pressure your tap already has.

"I own nothing. Where do I start?"

The Cordless Drill & Impact Driver. One body, three jobs: drilling holes, driving screws, undoing bolts. If you are buying one power tool before any other, buy this one.

Not this if: you already own a drill and what you need is raw torque for wheel nuts. Go straight to the one below.

"A lug nut will not move."

The 1200 N·m Cordless Impact Wrench. Wheel nuts are usually torqued to around 120 N·m, but rust and an over-enthusiastic tyre shop can double that. Breakaway torque is the number that matters.

Not this if: you were planning to tighten with it too. Break nuts loose with the wrench, then tighten by hand with a torque wrench — over-tightening is what warps brake rotors.

"I'm too old to be out there shovelling the drive."

Or someone you love is. The Cordless Electric Snow Shovel throws the snow clear instead of you lifting it. No cord to drag, nothing to pull-start, and light enough to carry down the steps — which is where a snow blower falls down.

Not this if: you get two feet at a time on a long drive. This clears a path and a normal driveway, not a farm track.

"There's a crack in the driveway and winter is coming."

Fix it now. Water gets in, freezes, expands, and a ten dollar job becomes a repair. Waterproof Concrete Crack Filler is pourable and self-levelling, so it finds the bottom of the crack by itself. Surface dry in about thirty minutes.

Not this if: the slab has moved or the crack is structural and wider than a finger. That's a concrete contractor, not a pouch.

"There's no power where I need heat."

The Portable Gas Heater & Camp Stove runs on butane. Tilt the head up and it warms you; lay it flat and it boils a kettle. One unit for the shed, the site, the tailgate and the power cut.

Not this if: the space is sealed. Butane burns oxygen and gives off carbon monoxide. Outdoors, or somewhere with real airflow — never a closed room, a tent or a van with the doors shut.

"My knives are blunt and I've never managed to sharpen one properly."

Almost nobody can hold a steady angle freehand. The Diamond Rolling Knife Sharpener takes that out of your hands: a magnetic holder locks the blade at 15° or 20° and you just roll, coarse to fine.

Not this if: it's a bread knife, scissors or a ceramic blade. Serrated edges need a tapered rod, not a flat stone.

"Scooping the litter box is the worst five minutes of my day."

The Self-Cleaning Cat Litter Box sifts after the cat leaves and seals the waste below, so you empty a drawer every few days instead of standing over a tray every morning. Open top, which suits nervous cats and multi-cat homes.

Not this if: you use non-clumping litter. The sifting mechanism needs litter that clumps.

"My feet and ankles ache after a shift and nothing helps."

The Heated Ankle & Foot Wrap puts warmth and gentle compression right around the joint rather than near it, and it's cordless so you can keep it on while you move about.

Not this if: the ankle is freshly injured and swollen. Heat on a new injury is the wrong call — that's ice, and a doctor if it's bad.

"Someone in this house snores and nobody is sleeping."

The Anti-Snore Mouth Guard holds the jaw slightly forward so the airway stays open. Boil-and-bite, so it moulds to the actual mouth it's going in. A multipack, because they wear out.

Not this if: the snoring comes with gasping, choking or daytime exhaustion. That can be sleep apnoea, and it needs a doctor, not a mouth guard.