The best 52cc brush cutters

What matters at 52cc

At this displacement, the job is heavy clearing: brambles, scrub, saplings and grass that’s gone feral, not weekly lawn edges. What separates a good 52cc machine from a mediocre one is torque under load, what’s included in the box (blade, harness, line head), and how tolerable the weight is over a long session. We’ve ranked these picks on real-world clearing ability and value, not spec-sheet numbers alone.

Our picks

Einhell GC-BC 52 I AS — a 51.7cc engine with a 3-tooth blade, line head and padded harness thrown in, all for the price of a much smaller machine. The build is budget-grade and it can be fussy to start on old fuel, but for sheer clearing power per euro on overgrown or brambly ground, it’s hard to beat.

Fuxtec FX-MS152 — a genuine 52cc, 3 hp engine with a steel blade and harness included, and our top-rated pick in this class. It’s heavy at around 7.2 kg and the stock harness is worth upgrading for long days, but the raw cutting capability against brambles and scrub is excellent for the money.

Fuxtec FX-MT152 — the same 52cc engine, but built as a 4-in-1 multitool: brush cutter, hedge trimmer, pole saw and string trimmer from one power unit. As a brush cutter it cuts just as well as its stablemate above; the appeal is not buying three more machines for other jobs. Fitted with the pole-saw attachment it climbs to around 15kg and gets tiring overhead, so it suits owners with varied jobs more than pure brush-clearing specialists.

Which should you choose?

If brush-clearing power for the lowest outlay is all that matters, the Fuxtec FX-MS152 is the strongest all-round performer here. The Einhell GC-BC 52 I AS is the pick if you want that same class of power at an even lower price and can live with rougher edges. Choose the Fuxtec FX-MT152 instead if hedges, low branches and trimming are also on your to-do list — one engine covering four jobs is real money saved, at the cost of some extra weight when fully kitted out.