  We investigate the cutoff effects in 2-d lattice O(N) models for a variety of
lattice actions, and we identify a class of very simple actions for which the
lattice artifacts are extremely small. One action agrees with the standard
action, except that it constrains neighboring spins to a maximal relative angle
delta. We fix delta by demanding that a particular value of the step scaling
function agrees with its continuum result already on a rather coarse lattice.
Remarkably, the cutoff effects of the entire step scaling function are then
reduced to the per mille level. This also applies to the theta-vacuum effects
of the step scaling function in the 2-d O(3) model. The cutoff effects of other
physical observables including the renormalized coupling and the mass in the
isotensor channel are also reduced drastically. Another choice, the mixed
action, which combines the standard quadratic with an appropriately tuned large
quartic term, also has extremely small cutoff effects. The size of cutoff
effects is also investigated analytically in 1-d and at N = infinity in 2-d.
