I read a lot of the reviews and decided on this. I don’t think you’ll find a shredder that has a high percentage of good reviews but I also think many people don’t use them / maintain them as they state to. We’ve had this for a few months now, no issues at all, decent sized bin so not needing to empty every 5 minutes. Also I was worried about if it cuts it small enough or not and you’d have to work for Mi5 to put a document back together that’s been shredded by this thing. Also they do recommend oiling the blades after every empty of a full bin and places like John Lewis also sell the oil for £5 & it’s very easy to do so to keep it running as it should, for the sake of a fiver it’s probably worth it. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone.

This shredder has a lot of power. It can shred up to 8 sheets of paper in a go. Whilst this may not sound like a lot, combined with its run time and shredding power, this product decimated the 500+ sheets of paper in less that 20mins, which is incredible especially for an office shredder, one which is as compact as this one. The design is ergonomic and also allows for a large tray to contain the shredding and is very safe as the gaps are not large enough for any fingers to get trapped in. The other safety feature is that is will not function unless it is fitted into the tray appropriately, which allows an extra level of protection.

I replaced a larger Fellowes machine that lasted about 10 years, slowly losing capabilities until it didn't work at all but for the price and because it lasted10 years I decided to buy another Fellowes shredder. This one is much smaller but it is advertised and the packaging states that it handles 8 sheets at a time. I was influenced by the price reduction from £117.19 to £44.34 but I seriously doubt that this shredder was ever saleable at the higher price and the price I paid is probably nearer to its true value. The sheet shredding capability is barely true. It struggled so hard to shred 8 bank statement sheets that I would fear to try that many again. I handles 6 and is best running at 4 or less. The auto function works and the overheat cut-out does too, unfortunately as it stopped after about ¾ of its bin. I paid for a second years warranty and suspect that I may be using it if it struggles as it does and consequently probably puts strain on its electrics. We shall see. I've given it 4* as it does work as a personal shredder but is not capable of heavy duty usage. I can't see it lasting as long as the previous Fellowes shredder but it cost about half the price in real terms.

This shredder is as stated on the box.
Will take 8 sheets no problem
I ran it for 35 minutes feeding in up to 5 sheets before it cut out then waited 25 minutes for it to restart. I then ran it again for 25 minutes when it cut out again for 25 minutes.
I completed shredding the rest of the paperwork and finished with 4 black bin bags full.
It is quieter than my old one that I killed off after 4 years of moderate shredding and hope that this will be as good if not better with the same sort of usage as the old one.
I would at this stage recommend this shredder as I am very impressed with the overall machine and it's performance after one day of use.

I needed a simple but reliable shredder with a P-3 or better security level and having used Fellowes products many times in the past this one seemed to tick all the boxes. It is a tidy piece of kit, basically a 15 ltr bin with a shredder unit which sits neatly on the top.
The power cable is over 1m and there is a master power switch on the back. There is a second safety on the top of the unit to prevent accidental turn ons. Even with the lock off and the motor on - allowing the shredder to operate when paper is fed in - a third safety kicks in if you lift the unit off the bin. Seems pretty idiot proof to me.
It copes with up to 8 layers of paper at a time ( 6 sheets folded in half is 12 which is more than 8 so don't be silly ) and has no problem turning old bank cards into little shards of 4 x 50 mm. It says it copes with staples - not tried but I would expect it does.
There is overheating protection too. After 5 mins continuous use it forces a 30 min pause. 5 mins is a lot of shredding and if you feed gradually you may never trigger the cut out.
I suggest you also get the lubrication oil and apply that each time you empty the bin. Its also good to run it in reverse for a few seconds to clear the debris before you take the unit off for bin emptying.
Conclusion? Sound and reliable, easy to use and ideal for almost any homes and more.

Bought this shredder to replaced an older fellowes shredder I had, that was over ten years old and only shredded vertically. So I thought I would go for a cross cut shredder as they are better at destroy documents.

So far I am very impressed with a lot of the features of the shredder. The first thing that impressed me was it's ability to cut credit cards and staples, which it cuts through with ease. This is an amazing feature because it stops you have to check all the paper you are shredding for the occasional staple/paperclip.

I also am very please that there is a clear panel at the front so you can tell when the shredder is getting full. It is a very small, basic feature, but very useful too.

In terms of design, the shredder is pretty compact, but still has a large bin for the waste.

Overall very happy 5/5 ^__^

This is a very good shredder. It deals with several sheets at a time and has a very powerful motor. It is ideal for the home shredding I do and cuts everything really small. There are, however, some things to watch out for. When I used it for a big pile of paper the cut paper built up in the collection box and it is difficult to see when this is full. I jammed the shredder and put it in reverse to clear the jam and it picked up shredded paper from the collection box and created a completely jammed entry which stopped the machine working. To clear the jammed entry i had to dismantle the machine to get at it. After clearing it I lubricated the blades with vegetable oil and it was fine. The moral is don't overload the machine and empty the collection box frequently so it doesn't pick up paper it has already shredded.

My new shredder arrived yesterday, and as we had a huge pile of shredding to be done, of course I had to get it set up and working as soon as possible!

The first thing I noticed (once it was unpacked and plugged in) was the noise - the low level of the noise! Our previous shredder had been quite loud, especially towards the end of its life. This one has a hum to it, and I was amazed how little the noise changed even when shredding staples and credit cards. We had both of these in the pile of shredding to be done, just by coincidence, and it was a great way to test out the unit. I wondered how it would handle the staples, even though it was designed to shred them, but it didn't even blink! The noise was literally no different with just the paper to the stapled paper. The thicker the wedge of paper added to the slot, the deeper the noise became, but that is just because the motor was working that bit harder. Nothing to worry about, though.

The shredder worked beautifully, and it happily shredded through all of the paperwork which had piled up since our last one gave up! I did the shredding in two sessions, simply due to the amount there was to be done, and I did not want to burn it out in the first evening. The temperature control light flickered a few times when shredding the thicker piles of paper, but nothing to cause any concern, and it merrily chomped its way through all that I fed into it.

I emptied the shredder bin twice, and oiled the blades each time, as recommended. The oil was a bit messy, but that is not a review of the shredder, more the oil bottle. The window in the front of the bin is more of a smoked plastic than clear, so it is more difficult to see the paper level than perhaps it needed to be, but it was clear enough when it needed emptying, I think. Just being aware of how much paper you have shredded will help to not overload the bin. We noticed with our previous unit that if the bin was not emptied when it was getting full, the shredder blades clogged with paper if shredding continued,and I can see that this would be the case with this item as well. Therefore, little and often emptying would be advisable, even if the bin is only half full, and then you could oil the blades every other time it was emptied.

For the price (I paid £42), this is an excellent bit of kit. I looked long and hard at the various options, and seriously considered spending half as much again for the 22l bin of the next model up, but I am glad I went with this unit. The bin is not massive, but for general everyday shredding which has not been piling up for a month (and had hubby's business chequebook added to the pile with who knows how many pages in it!!), it will be more than adequate. The noise level is perfectly acceptable, and feels to me like it is on the quiet side, which is great. I would currently agree with the "powershred" label, as it certainly seemed to power through everything fed into it.

I am very pleased with my purchase, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to buy or replace a home shredder, especially if you do not wish to pay lots of money for one.

Short version: a terrific shredder that powers through the pages with no trouble, and can even shred your credit card. I paid just £39.95 and it is an absolute bargain which will save me untold thousands compared with my previous reckless behaviour. I had around 800 sheets to shred and this shredder powered through them.

Longer version:
I have files and files at home - bank statements, insurance, tax returns - plus lots of work crap from the endless cycle of meetings. Every couple of years I have a major tidy up, filing new stuff and clearing out anything old. That creates a big pile of paper which I used to throw in the recycling. Yes, I was one of THOSE people, who can't understand how their identity got stolen and wants to blame the bank for their own incompetence. In short, I was a bell-end.

Thankfully, it never happened. I got away with it and it's time to shut the stable door with the horse still inside.

Shred everything. Don't worry about deciding whether or not something contains personal information, just shred the lot.

Just before I stopped being a bell-end, I though 'I bet a proper shredder is going to cost quite a bit, maybe I shouldn't bother.' What a pillock.

I paid £39.95 for a highly rated shredder, and the other customers are spot on - it does a proper job and is a true bargain. It is basically a shredder unit sat on its own bin, although it looks a lot nice than that description suggests.

It claims to take up to 8 pages or 70gsm paper. As a keen reviewer I couldn't resist testing it to the limit. I got to 10 paper of 80gsm with no trouble. It really struggled on 11 pages and I had to jig backwards and forwards a bit to get it all down.

After 5 minutes of action it will give itself a 30 minute break to cool down. Five minutes will get you through several hundred sheets, so it is plenty of time. Also, it is sensing the temperature, so the 5 and 30 minutes are approximate - it will stop when it is too hot, however long it has been going, and restart when it thinks it is ready.

My 11-page test made it need a rest, which seemed only reasonable.

Safety-wise it covers all the bases - master on/off switch, a lock switch, and then a forward / neutral / reverse switch. So to get it going from scratch that is three switches. HOWEVER, you can then leave them all on and it will sit there waiting to detect paper. Or your cat's tail.

So don't do that. Move it into neutral then use the lock switch.

It has one more safety feature: if you lift the head off the bin, it will cut out. It has a recessed pressure switch so that it knows if it is on the bin. Obviously you'd put it in neutral first before lifting the head off. Probably.

Pricing:
The BargainFox price for this shredder has ranged between £39.99 and £70.04 in the past 12 months, with about 60% of the time at £39.99. If it is higher than that as you read this, add it to your wish list and check back regularly.

It is delivered in its branded box with no BargainFox over-box, so bear that in mind if you are buying it as a gift. Wait, why would this ever be a gift?

Anyway, top notch, 5-stars, would buy again in a heartbeat, etc.

With recycling and ID theft becoming more apparent.
We needed a reliable shredder for all our documents.
The device is lightweight and holds a reasonable amount of waste.
It cuts through the paper and card effortlessly.
We had a large box to be shredded and it does over heat quite quickly. After 5 it is ready 2 roll again.
The safety feature is great. The machine won't switch on untik this switch is flicked and won't switch off until it is flicked. It is not easy to 'accidentally' knock the switch.
All in all good value for money and I'd recommend it. Does perfect for the home and a small business