Due to the way we have our affairs arranged, we have a LOT of papers with sensitive and personal information on them. We needed a personal shredder for home to protect our information.

We'd quickly burned up and broken two lesser personal shredders, and decided to go for a heavier duty model. I think we paid about $150 for the Fellowes shredder about a year and a half ago, and it has been well worth every penny.

This shredder just keeps going and going. It handles pretty much whatever we throw at it - once or twice a year we have a "grand shredding" of all of the last years' papers which we no longer need. The shredder is going nearly constantly for well over an an hour, and it just doesn't quit - it works as well at the end as it did at the beginning.

I also love the container that it comes with - it holds quite a bit of shred, and is easily emptied. The whole top of the shredder simply lifts off, and the container can be emptied into a garbage bag.

My one wish for this product is that it would handle more than 5 sheets of paper at a time. This is a drawback only when you are shredding a large pile of papers, and for everyday shredding, really isn't a issue.

If you need to shred more than just a few papers at your home, I would highly recommend this model. It has been well worth the investment.

Update, March 2002

We still have the same unit, just completed the third annual "grand shredding", and it's still working just as well as it did the day we bought it. This still stands as one of the best office equipment purchases we've made.

Update, May 2003

Like that certain brand of batteries, it's still going and going and going.... Another tax season is over, which meant another consolidation of financial/personal papers, and another hour plus of shredding - once again, with no problems. This "grand shredding" is in addition to the almost daily use of the machine, shredding unsolicited credit card offers and the like. This shredder has definitely stood the test of time, and has definitely worth its initial purchase price.

Update, February, 2006

Five years later and we still have the same shredder - and it's still shredding like it was brand new. In the last couple of years we had one issue with the safety interlock (a safety feature that turns off the shredder if it's not securely seated on the waste container below) bending slightly, but it was easily repaired and did not affect the machine's shredding ability one bit.

It still shreds on a daily basis, along with the yearly "grand shredding" mentioned above, and shows no sign of stopping. Very few purchases have stood the test of time like this shredder, and if it ever does die, I plan to buy another. I don't think there's a higher recommendation than that.

Update: May, 2009

It's now been 8 years since I reviewed this shredder and you know, we're still using it. It just keeps right on going - we keep talking about replacing it, but can't justify it when it's still working so well. The issue with the safety interlock hasn't reappeared. It's kind of dull to keep updating with "it's still working well!", but that's the truth. I continue to be impressed with the durability and reliability of this shredder.

Update: February, 2012

It's been three years since my last update, and would you believe we're still using the same shredder? We recently made some changes to our financial picture, which gave us a huge pile of no longer useful documents to shred...and shred them it did. We've taken to oiling the shredder teeth slightly more often than we had been in the past, but that's literally the only maintenance this shredder needs. As I've written before, I'm impressed with this shredder's longevity and effectiveness - it's been one of the most cost-effective purchases we've ever made. If it ever stops working, I'm buying another one!

Recommended: Yes

Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 150.00
Machine age (Months in use): 108 months