GBC Shredmaster 60S Shredder Keeps Personal Documents Safe!
Written: Sep 11 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great deal, works well, adjustable size
Cons: No off switch, loud, adjustable size
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| WorkingMomof2's Full Review: Quartet gbc ShredMaster® SC60 (Strip-Cut) Shr... |
I purchased this shredder early this winter, after reading some scary articles about personal security. I had no idea that an enterprising individual could get such a wealth of personal information out of my trash! Until I had this shredder, we were blithely discarding old credit card statements, bills, Visa card offers, even our Quicken printouts into the wastebasket!
Once I opened my eyes to the huge risk I was taking each time we tossed a bill or statement with personal information into the trash, I quickly went online and ordered a shredder. Since Epinions didn’t have Shredders on their listings yet, I selected a reasonably priced shredder and crossed my fingers that it would meet my needs.
The shredder I ended up selecting was the GBC Shredmaster 60S. I ordered it from Staples.com for $39.99 and there was (and still is) a $10 rebate, so it was a good deal. Overall, I have been satisfied with this shredder, especially for the price, although I have some major misgivings about it. I’ll share both sides of the coin with you, so you can make your own informed decision.
What I like about the Shredmaster 60S
• Price – clearly, at $29.99 after rebate (and if you order over a certain dollar value, your shipping is free from Staples.com) this was within my price range. I had expected to pay twice that much for a decent shredder.
• Effectiveness – this shredder can easily handle up to 10 sheets at once without jamming. The literature says it can take staples; however, I’ll admit that I’ve always carefully removed the staples from my documents before shredding them – just in case.
• Three modes – this shredder has three modes – On/Auto (where I leave it all the time), forward and reverse. The latter two modes are “on” (motor running) and just go in different directions – I have only used reverse when I tried to shred too many pages at once (about 14). On/Auto means that it goes on as soon as the pressure of the pages hits the little center bar (above the blades).
• Adjustable size – this is both a pro and a con to me, see below for more. The upside is that you can adjust the shredder to fit any size wastebasket with a side hook that slides out, with a range from 13 – 16” wide.
• Good sized hole in back – there is a spot on the back of the shredder that is large enough to allow me to throw normal sized trash – almost always empty Pepsi One cans – into the wastebasket. I saw a couple shredders that did not have this feature, so you would need a different wastebasket (or to remove the shredder top) every time you had non-paper trash.
• Straight-Cut Shredder – the 60S is a straight cut shredder, meaning the blades cut the paper into long strips. This works just fine for our needs, and someone would have to be really bored to piece together all of the strips into pages to try to get our personal information off of it. More expensive models have what is called Cross Cut Shredding, which means that the strips are cut two ways and basically diced into little pieces. You can tell the difference in the GBC Shredmaster line by whether the product number has an S (straight cut) or X (cross cut) at the end.
What I Dislike
• Noise – this shredder is loud. Maybe I’m just sensitive, but with my office next to the kids’ room, I hate to shred documents when they are asleep in there. It’s not as loud as the industrial quality shredder we had at my last office building; however, it’s far from quiet.
• No Off Switch – Again, this is paranoia, but I really hate the fact that there is no off switch on this shredder. That means, if little fingers (like those attached to the ever-exploring hands of my two year old) hit that center bar, it will automatically go on, with potentially tragic results. Is the paper slot too small for a child’s fingers to fit in? I don’t know – mine will almost but not quite reach the blades (I tested this with the shredder unplugged, by the way). I don’t know if the kids’ fingers could reach, and I never want to find out, the risk is too great. The alternative is to always have the shredder unplugged, which is what I do, and it’s darn inconvenient.
• Electrical Interference – I initially had this plugged into a multi-outlet strip, and located relatively close to the speakers for my son’s computer. Each time I shredded, the speakers would hum, fairly loudly. Relocation of the shredder (using a different outlet as well) resolved this; however, it was inconvenient as that was the best spot for it.
• Adjustable Size – the adjustable size may be a feature if you have to take the shredder from basket to basket, or if you want to store it and occasionally bring it out just to do a big shred job. But if you want to leave it set on one wastebasket all of the time, the adjustable size is a pain in the patootski – each time I remove the shredder from the wastebasket to dump my trash, the bar adjusts. So when I try to put it back, it slips and falls into the can, and then I have to fix it. Is this a big deal? Not really – but it’s an extra step that I dislike.
• No Wastebasket Included – Again, it was easy enough to order an inexpensive wastebasket from Staples. Make sure you have one or buy one that’s big enough – and sturdy enough – to handle the shredder. Mine was a 28 Quart Rubbermaid and cost only $3.99.
Summary
I will admit that I am still glad we got this shredder – for the money, it was a good deal and it works well. We shredded all our tax printouts (the various different versions we went through before the final submissions) and our Quicken pages in only seconds. I have run envelopes through there (ones that had personal forms attached or whatever) without a problem.
My recommendation? If you are only going to use this occasionally, and don’t want to spend a fortune on a shredder, this is a nice low-budget shredder that will work. Be aware of the disadvantages (noise, no OFF switch) especially if you have small children, and plan appropriately. I give the Shredmaster 60S four stars for doing an effective job at a budget price; however, I qualify that by saying that families with small children should realize that this will be less convenient to use (if left unplugged, like mine) than higher priced models with OFF switches might be.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
WorkingMomof2
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Member: Amy
Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 313
Trusted by: 539 members
About Me:
Every time I close the door on reality it comes in through the windows.
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