What's A Good Paper Shredder?

B

Bruise Lee

Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
363
I know a lot of people who have been victims of identity theft. I was busy paying my monthly bills tonight, and I'm thinking I sure am throwing out a lot of paper - I think I threw out about a dozen credit card oriented envelopes alone!

So, I'm thinking it might be a good time to invest in a paper shredder. My mom had a Fellowes one that worked pretty well for about two years before it mysteriously died.

Can anybody recommend one? It's for home use, so it doesn't have to be a heavy duty unit built for a big office. If possible, I'd like to keep the cost down to below $100.

Bruise
 
We have bought a couple over the years, first when it say shreds a certain number of sheets, that's an exageration of about twice what it really can do. Also don't skimp, the more sheets you can do the less time you will spend shredding. Get a crosscut shredder more messy but more secure. Very handy to get ones that isn't bothered by staples and can munch crdit cards.
 
I agree, get a good one and don't scrimp. Get a crosscut version and have some fun. Shredders are great fun when you're bored. Kinda like the Redneck and the bug zapper. ;) :)
 
That's way over his budget especially concerning the lifetime of the shredder.
 
I've got a Fellowes that works OK. Kinda wish I'd gone for something a bit more powerful now though.
 
My only advice is to not get a "cheap" one. I've probably bought a couple dozen for the workplace. The cheap ones just can't cut the mustard and wind up being a disappointment. Fellows is a great brand. Cutting staples is a norm for these machines, but if it cuts paper clips, too, that is a plus. Also, when cutting lots of paper at one time, one often compromises on the number of sheets they put in. The cheap ones get overloaded and jam too easily. Not needing to think about those things is a major plus. I'd stick to a model as close to $100 as possible. If you compromise and get one for $50 (or less), its performance and life likely will not please you. I've been happy with ones at $150-200. The one we have at home was about $100 (my wife purchased it) and is ok.
 
When we were getting ready to move I bought a Tech Solutions x-cut shredder at Office Max. Really worked great, we probably shredded 200 lbs of old checks and documents. For home use from here on this should last a lifetime. Under $100.00, I believe.

Win
 
Ditto on the Tech Solutions model....

Not too pricey.., but lots of bang for the buck....
 
i love my fellows PS80-C2
removable bin is a must (instead of removing the shredder head)
remember to oil it regularly
 
I agree with the idea of 'not skimping'

I bought one a while back that cost me the equivalent of about $35 and its just not up to the job. When youre in the store you think '5 sheets is plenty, its only a few bills and receipts' but then when you get it home you realise how wrong you were...

Also the cheaper ones tend to have rated motors (ie they might rate the motor at 2 mins and if you use it constantly for more than that period of time you risk burning the motor out)

The cheap one I have has now broken about a year after I got it, the switch that turns it on when you poke paper in the slot has failed and its motor is on the way out, I wish I had bought an 'office' one instead of a 'home' one
 
I know some people will disagree with me, but I think it's OK to skimp on some things. Some things aren't important enough to me to spend a lot of money on. I'll spend $400 on a knife, but I can't see spending more than about $65 on a pair of shoes for sitting at a desk at work.

Sometimes, in fact, it's better that something have a fairly short useful life, because when you have to replace it you end up getting more for the same money. Electronics are like that. Sometimes it's BEST when something breaks so it'll force you to get a new one - like your toaster.

Besides, sometimes with machines, the cheap and simple one will keep going and going...

My point is this. Is shredding paper really worth an investment? Screw it. Buy the cheap one at Target for $35 and forget about it.

I've got a Fellowes FS5M that my girlfriend got for around that price. I run crap through it complete with cellophane, staples and paperclips and it's never complained. Sure. It'll probably break in two years and when it does I'll buy another one. And the new one will probably work even better. ;)
 
Some are designed to also eat CD Rom's and credit cards. Not an issue to most, but it's a nice option if you're putting a lot of data on CD's. At work it's a huge plus.

I have a cheap one that has been going at the house for years. Does suck that it's slow and won't take much at a time. When it dies I'll get a cross cut that will eat a whole credit card offer while still in the envelope (that's my requirement :-)

If you keep an eye out I think you can get a real good one in the price range you're looking at, just wait for a sale or buy a demo model.
 
We recently got a Royal85X at Targets. It was the most expensive one there, yet I do not think it was much over 50.00. It is rated for 10 sheets and seems to be able to live up to that. It is a crosscut shredder and does credit cards well to. It is actually fun to feed. As mentioned before the removeble bin to empty seems handy also.
 
attachment.php

Advertising is not allowed on this forum.
-Cougar Allen :{)
http://www.mailmsg.com/sounds/spam-song.wav
orig.jpg
 
I recently bought a Fellowes cross-cut shredder with integrated bin. It was rated for 7 sheets but sounded as if hemorrhaging with only 5. It didn't shred so much as accumulate a "beard" of gnarled paper hanging from the blades. It went back to Office Depot within 72 hours. It was rated to cut staples but never once successfully did

Interestingly my 3-sheet strip cut shredder (brand unknown), bought in 1994, is still going strong, and sounds like its motor had double or treble the power of the Fellowes.

All I know is I'll never buy another Fellowes again.
 
If you're into gardening get one of those plastic bins full of redworms. You throw the paper in, it comes out as worm poop, and it's the best stuff imaginable for plants. No stink, no mess, no problems. I don't have one of these, but I hear they're totally great. Our local library does a gardening thing with kids and they have a couple bins sitting in the library so you can see the worms eating, and it's really pretty much self-maintaining. You need to feed them some table scraps (banana peels, veggies, etc, no meat or egg shells or that type of stuff).
 
I like having a fairly large bin as well. Even though I keep it lined with a bag to make it easy to empty, I don't want to have to empty it often. The shredded paper takes up a lot of volume and once it reaches up to the blades it will slow things down and grow a 'beard'. I usually compress mine down once a week and empty it every month.

Shred often, don't accumulate a large pile and have a shredfest. As stated above, most of the motors used don't want to be run under load for an extended period of time.

I also only shred the pages with my personal info. Most evelopes contain ads, policy updates and other junk which don't need to be shredded IMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top