Basically looking for something for home use that isn’t a piece of shit.
Do not go to staples and buy whichever one is on sale. Its a pile of shit no matter what brand.
I have a broken one sitting in my garage right now that I need to take back yet again for an exchange.
I got a FREE one from staples. It can do 1 page at a time and doesn’t cross cut, the cuts are about an inch wide, and my puppy attacks it whenever I turn it on.
I was going to get rid of it by putting it in your box of shit. I guess not, huh.
I bought this for my office awhile back, aiming for the price break more or less on these fucking things. It ain’t as hot as a $200-300+ jobbie but like the ranster said, the cheap-o ones are for shit. You can score a decent shredder in the $50-100 range, but you sacrifice capacity (like, downsizing from kitchen trashbags to small 4gal wastebasket bags) and some potentially useful options (# sheets per pass, quieter motor, etc.). I wouldn’t dip below the $50 range, if you shred fairly regularly (I do, my job requires it by law). You can buy 1 or 2 $20 ones almost every year (and wrangle with the incipient frustrations of using the stupid thing) or one $120 one for probably 4-5 years, IMO.
Hey, I bought a GBC ShreadMaster, Light, that does cross-cut at 4 pages at a time and it has worked well for a couple of years without a hitch. And I got it at Staples. It comes in the medium and heavy varieties as well, for more use.
Is that the brand ya’ll got yourself at Staples that was crap?
If you have a fireplace, that’s good too. You can also narrow your eyes and smile as the paper flares, absent-mindedly circulating the ice in your scotch, then become lost in the dancing beauty of the flames.
In all seriousness, you shouldn’t mess around with the cheap or midrange ones. I’d even go a bit further than Bill suggests, and get something a little more expensive.
I’ve got an Aurora AS501X-MS. Cross-cuts, 4-5 pages at once, nice deep bin, etc. Fast and fairly quiet. Comparable units run about $20-30 at Frys, don’t know where else they are sold.
Man, those are great, Rob. You can shred your old broken shreddes with a shredder from those dudes.
Arise from the grave!
I hope resurrecting 5 year old threads is allowed. ;)
Anyway, I am interested in getting a small personal shredder and was wondering if there were any new recommendations for inexpensive ones. I used to work in a bank, and it was easy then, because I’d just bring all my junk to work and shred it there… but alas I don’t have that convenience anymore.
I’ve seen plenty in the $30-$50 price range, but I have no idea if they’re any good. I don’t really want to spend much more than that though.
The house we just started renting has a firepit in the backyard. I suppose that’s always an option, though with my luck some stray breeze will blow hot paper ash all over the neighborhood and set the neighbor’s house on fire. :(
So yeah, anyone using something they’re happy with and can recommend?
EDIT to add: I’m not particularly concerned if it can shred credit cards or CDs or whatever. I don’t have to destroy those types of things often enough that I’m content to continue just doing those by hand with scissors or whatever. I mainly want to shred paper.
I’ve hear coupling a paper shredder with a worm farm creates the richest fertilizer on earth. Anyone done this?
Ice in your scotch? N00b.
They’ll eat it, but you’re better to use newspaper aka butcher’s paper. “Normal” paper is bleached to get it so white.
My Fellowes shredder is still going strong after all these years, so that’s my recommended brand.
That GBC Shredmaster, Light, that I mentioned a few posts up (but 5 years ago!) is still the same shredder I use today. I’m a little annoyed at its loudness but can’t complain about its longevity.
The questions then are how much paper and how quickly? Any $30-50 shredder will chop up a page or two no problem, but if you want capacity, you’ll probably need to go higher. If you want low noise and fancy-schmancy paper cuts, then you definitely need to go higher.
The Fellowes SB-87Cs is out of your price range, but it’s what I got about six months ago, and I think it’s great. My primary criterion was that I wanted to be able to shred unopened junk mail of any thickness or contents (goodbye faux credit cards and “convenience checks”). It handles that beautifully and is reasonably quiet. I wish the 9" opening was a little wider and the sensor safety feature was a little less touchy, but I highly recommend it nonetheless.
PS It’s pretty big, too.
Agreed, had a cheapy one a while ago and it lasted all of a month. The Fellowes one I have set me back about £80 but happily munches through staples, credit cards and around 8-10 sheets of 80/100gsm A4 at a time.
[edit] Pretty sure This is the model I have.
Thanks for the all the recommendations everyone. I guess I should rethink my preferred price range. After all it would be silly to pay $50 for a shredder that breaks after a month and have to buy a new one, when I could have just spent more in the first place for a quality one.
I appreciate all the recommendations for the Fellowes brands. I’ll be taking a good look at those then!
I’ve got a Fellowes MS-450Cs that I’ve had for a while (2-3 years maybe?)
It’s probably been replaced by a newer model, but IIRC, it was about $200ish when I got it.
It does criss-cross shredding, handles maybe 12-15 pages at a time (including most, but not all junk mail envelopes), can shred CDs in a separate slot, and has the touch sensitive safety feature.
I’ve been quite pleased with it. Sure it wasn’t the cheapest, but it works well, and has been reliable. I generally squirt a little oil in the slot/gears when I change the bag. (I used whatever they provided as a starter, originally, but that has run out, and lately I use WD-40).