I recommend this product, and would buy it again or give it as a gift.
This is the third desktop shredder I've purchased in about eight years. The others were very good, and they were for my Mom who is in her 70's. The first lasted about five years, and now she's on her second, not this brand. My floor model gave out and I decided to get a desktop model for myself.
Advantages of this model over the others we have owned:
*handle on the top motor housing for easy lifting
*cleaning tool (no more rummaging for screw drivers and crochet hooks!
*a pocket on each side for the cleaning tool
*cute oval design
*not as noisy as the bigger floor models
*really cuts the paper, doesn't just rip it up
Aurora AS420C Desktop-Style Cross-Cut Paper Shredder with BasketI have had this for a month, and purchsed it in spite of quite a few negative reviews because I refuse to spend a fortune on a shredder when all I need it for is credit card junk mail and relatively few banking / confidential documents. It does the job perfectly well. Yes, you should only put in one folded piece of paper at a time (and yes, it has to be folded because the opening is small), but it happily chewed up 30 of these in a row when I was clearing out my desk. Since then, I have used it maybe once or twice a week. The bin is small but perfectly adequate for my needs. Very straightforward to operate. Bottom line - I have found it to be excellent for what it was made for - light home use.
I thought cross cut meant the shredder cut diagonal strips, but the strips are the same as a strip shredder's, just shorter. A photo on the box shows strips from a credit card looking like diagonal strips. But, credit cards must be inserted vertically and are cut straight up and down. Because the text and numbers on them are not perpendicular to the shredder blades, but parallel, the strips come out with text and numbers placed horizontally - easily readible.
Text and numbers have to be perpendicular to the blades when paper is inserted in order to avoid readible lines on the strips of paper. By now, most people are aware that 8x10 paper has to be folded or cut to fit the feeder entry of this shredder. I prefer to cut so that there is no fold to create strips twice as wide as the others. I also cut the strips when emptying the basket to make them smaller.
The blades get clogged and have to be cleaned if you shred a small stack of documents. But, taking everything into consideration, this shredder is a good buy and good quality. The price is cheap, it's sturdy but compact, and adjusting to perpendicular placemant, occasional blade clogging, and cutting or folding 8x10 paper are acceptable inconveniences. Amazon got it to me within 2 or 3 days with free shipping!
it looks a bit fragile, but has been working well. i wouldn't use it but sporadically.
full sheets of paper have to be folded to fit into the "throat".
size and color are convenient if you want to keep it discreet (in the home office, for instance).
I really like this shredder. It's much more compact than most shredders, so it sits easily on a desk and doesn't take up much room. You can leave it on 'auto' so that it is always ready to shred, or switch it off for extra safety.
The container is clear, making it easy to see when it is full. Also, it's very easy to remove the top and empty the container. The only downside of that is the top doesn't snap on tightly - so it's easy to remove, but it seems it would also be relatively easy for the top to come off if you bumped it off the table.
The opening to the shredder is fairly narrow, so you have to fold 8.5 x 11 paper, but if you use it primarily for bills and old credit cards, it's perfect (but only takes about 4 sheets or 1 card at a time).
If you want something for a home office and expect to have more substantial needs, get a bigger unit with a more powerful motor - and one that fits 8.5 x 11 paper.
I wish the slot was wide enough to accomodate an 8.5x11 sheet of paper folded in half. That way you could do two sheets of paper at a time. As it is, you have to fold it in thirds, so you can only do one at a time. Other than that, it shreds fine and I've got no complaints.
This is the first shredder I have owned, wish I had got it sooner. It works perfect making very small pieces, about 1/8" X 1 1/2". I am packing to move soon and the shreds are making a great filler and cushion for the boxes. I am surprised at the quality for the very low price. Its a bargain!! Thanks for another great product amazon.com. Oh BTW, there was no shipping charges either. WOW!
Talk about simple! It's ready to go right out of the box. About the size of an oblong gallon milk jug. Controls consist of on, off, and reverse -- simple. Really cuts paper up, which is what I wanted for security reasons, where no one could put back together if they wanted to. UI did a search about how to select a shredder for home use, and it was definitely recommended to buy a CROSSCUT shredder, which this one iks.
The base is a thick plastic, and the motor/shredding apparatus fits onto the base snugly (doesn 't snap on--just sits securely down into the base) and lifts off with use of the handle when needed to empty the base. The handle lays neatly recessed into the top when not in use. The 1st day, I shredded a pretty large bag of old bills and receipts. After maybe 8-10 minutes of shredding, it is ready to be emptied (I just empty into a plastic bag), and then right back to shredding, as it never once got overheated. There is function where it cuts off if it does get overheated, but, as I said, this never seemed to be issue.
As far as credit cards, I shredded one and it labored a little but got the job done. I don't think I would do this on a regular basis, but then I don't often need this done. It is also OK to shred staples but, here again, I didn't want to tax the machine so I just tore them out when I found them. The shredder seems to work best with 2 pieces of paper--e.g. folding a single piece of paper long side to long side (this makes 2 pieces/thicknesses and a perfect width to fit comfortably into the opening) even though it will take 4 thicknesses. I did put in the 4 thicknesses a few times, and the machine really slowed down & labored -- I can see how doing this over and over may cause overheating. It was just as easy to quickly fold a piece of paper in half as mentioned and stick that through.
The shredder comes with a little tool to help dig out any pieces of paper stuck up in the "teeth" which I actually never used because I just used my fingers, being extremely careful not to hold it by the handle and not inadvertently cut it on. With all truthfulness, I didn't test out the little tool the 1st day because I had placed it in one of the side pockets on the base, and when I emptied the 1st shredding, the tool fell out and into the bag of shreds! Yes, it took digging through all the shreds to find it!! Because of this, I would recommend that the manufacturers devise a snap-on area on the outside of the shredder for this little tiny tool, as it just fits loosely in the side pocket and can (and maybe will again) get easily displaced or lost. Since that 1st day, I have used the tool and it works quite well to get little pieces of stray paper that might remain up a little ways in the teeth. Actually, that's not a big problem because when you start shredding again, the paper bits will come on out.
Other than the easily-lost tool, I would recommend this shredder to anyone who has mail, old bills, receipts, etc. to shred; it's perfect (and nicely small and compact) for home use. - Good Product - A great Safe Shredder - Paper Shredder - Great Shredder'
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