Mario Bautista
Top pick
What is sharp, durable, easy to repair, and easy to find? As countless gardeners already know, a Felco 2 may be the last pruner you ever buy, but those with smaller hands might have an easier time with one of our other picks.
In our tests, the Felco 2 Classic Manual Hand Pruner made clean, straight cuts on almost everything we tried. Its bypass blades opened and closed smoothly, and required only slight force to cut thick branches. The hardened-steel blades are strong enough to withstand sharpening dozens of times, the plastic-coated forged aluminum alloy handles are nearly unbreakable, repairs are easy, and replacement parts for any worn-out pieces are widely available, consistently priced, and beloved among gardeners.
Also great
These pruners had the sharpest blades and required the least force to make the smoothest cuts of any of the pruners in our tests, but the price changes often.
The ARS HP-VS8Z was the only model that consistently made perfectly clean, flat cuts in soft stems, woody growth, hardwood dowels, and even buckthorn branches almost an inch thick without crushing or tearing anything—and with less effort. Every other pair of pruners jerked or stuck on something in our tests, but not this one. The HP-VS8Z is so good that we almost made it our top pick for this guide, but its pricing is inconsistent—and sometimes very high. We’ve seen it fluctuate between $35 and $75.
Also great
Our testers with small hands liked this pair of compact, inexpensive pruners more than any other model.
If you wear small or extra-small gloves, our other pruner picks might be uncomfortable to hold and, at worst, dangerous, since pruners can spring open if you’re struggling to grip them. Our three paid testers with small hands found they were able to get easy, straight, clean cuts on branches and stems of varying widths with the Okatsune 101.
This more compact tool is less than half the price of our top pick, the Felco 2, making it a good budget option. Our paid testers also liked the simple locking mechanism, although there were some complaints that the latch sticks out past the edge of the handle.
