Panasonic Electric Beard Trimmer for Men with Hair Clipper & Body Groomer

Why it's worth it

The ER-GB80-S is a mid-range multi-groomer with a dial that steps from 0.5mm to 20mm across 39 clicks, so a 4mm beard stays a 4mm beard week after week. It runs cordless or plugged in, which means a flat battery never ends a trim.

The dial is the reason to buy this one. Most trimmers give you five or ten guard lengths, and the gap between them is usually where a beard goes wrong. Panasonic gives you 39 steps, each with a click you can feel through the housing. If you like your stubble at 3mm, you'll hit 3mm again next week without guessing, and you can drop half a millimeter on the neck without swapping combs.

The corded mode matters more than it sounds. Fifty minutes of cordless runtime is fine for daily touch-ups, but batteries weaken as they age, and long-time owners say that's exactly what happens here. When it does, you plug in and keep going instead of shopping for a replacement. It's also the difference between finishing a full beard reshape and stopping halfway through with one cheek done.

From our review of 7 cordless beard trimmers, by Sarah Wright, Editorial Associate

What we like

• +The dial is the reason to buy this one
• +The corded mode matters more than it sounds
• +The slide-up detail trimmer is the other quietly useful part
• +Next to the Braun, it's the simpler tool, and that's mostly a compliment

What to know

• –Panasonic doesn't publish an IPX rating for the ER-GB80-S, so treat it as rinse-clean only
• –The silver plastic body looks and feels ordinary for what Panasonic charges, and the trimmer is chunkier than most rivals