The Black and Decker Hedge Hog trimmer isn't fancy, but it gets the job done on smaller shrubs. When I want to get things right (and have time), I use a manual pruner and do the job right, but this trimmer works fine on certain shrubs in my yard. It takes a little coordination to deal with the safety mechanism, but that's easy enough to figure out. I thought the price was right for something like this. If I had a bigger job to do, I would certainly want something a little bigger and more powerful.