A micro-cut shredder rated for eight sheets, with a 4-gallon pull-out bin and a separate CD slot. Wirecutter names it its budget pick, reporting that it never jammed on junk mail, credit cards or CDs and outperformed some models at twice the price. TechGearLab gives it its Best Bang for the Buck award, found it shreds 10 to 11 sheets despite the 8-sheet rating, and scored it 68/100, marking it down mainly for speed. It suits households with light, intermittent shredding; anyone clearing large backlogs should look elsewhere, because it stops after five minutes and needs a 30-minute rest.
Full review
Tiny shreds, and more sheets than the label promises
Both reviewers found the cutting itself the strong point. Wirecutter reports that the shredder never failed to slice everything from junk mail to CDs, and that it never jammed, unlike the more expensive Fellowes AutoMax 100MA in the same test. TechGearLab measured a shred size of 0.18 by 0.5 inches, among the smallest in its group, and pushed past the 8-sheet rating: 10-sheet stacks went through easily, 11 sheets slowed it down, and only at 12 did it jam. Credit cards come out in the same small pieces as paper, while CDs go through their own slot and leave in strips about an inch wide.
Five minutes on, thirty minutes off
The limiting factor is run time. Wirecutter found the machine shuts itself off after five minutes of continuous shredding and then needs a 30-minute cooldown, which is why it recommends the shredder only for minimal, intermittent use. The automatic stop is also a safety feature: Wirecutter contrasts it with an Aurora model that kept running while smelling of burning metal. Speed is the other weakness. TechGearLab timed 9 seconds for one sheet and 31 seconds for a 20-page stack, with a maximum rate of 41 sheets per minute, which it calls slow against the wider field even if typical for 8-sheet machines.
Easy to read, bulky to store
TechGearLab rates ease of use well: the status slider for auto, off, forward and reverse feels a little flimsy, but a window shows how full the bin is and the 4-gallon basket is easy to empty. Wirecutter adds that an LED light warns when the machine has overheated, the bin is full or the door is open. The drawbacks are size and noise. TechGearLab notes the wheeled body is nearly as large as whole-office shredders, and it measured a 74 dB peak, louder than most rivals, though the low pitch made it easy to ignore. Wirecutter also saw the cutters keep running for almost a minute after the last sheet, a risk with curious toddlers nearby.
Strengths
- +Micro-cut blades handle paper, credit cards and CDs; Wirecutter saw it never jam
- +Shreds beyond its 8-sheet rating: TechGearLab fed 10-sheet stacks easily and 11 with a slowdown
- +Very small 0.18 x 0.5 in shreds, the highest-security cut in TechGearLab's comparison
- +Auto-stops after five minutes or when the bin is full, with LED warnings for heat, bin and door
- +Low-pitched noise that TechGearLab found easy to ignore despite a 74 dB peak
Watch-outs
- −Runs only five minutes before a 30-minute cooldown, so it suits light, occasional jobs
- −Slow: 41 sheets per minute at most and 9 seconds for a single sheet in TechGearLab's tests
- −Cutters kept running for almost a minute after the last sheet, a concern around toddlers
How it compares
At about $75 it costs well under half the Aurora AU120MA, which Wirecutter credits with a 120-sheet auto feeder and a 5-gallon bin against this model's hand-fed 8-sheet slot and 4-gallon bin. Unlike the Fellowes Powershred 99Ci and 79Ci, which the page lists for buyers who do not need micro-cut security, this is a micro-cut machine, but its five-minute run time makes it a poor fit for the high-volume jobs those models are listed for.
Rating sources
Not in the average — we derived this score from the review's words, and a publisher printed a score for this product, so the printed number counts instead.
Counts as 3.89/5 in our score — this publisher's 138 scores on the site average 3.66, so its scores are adjusted up to compare fairly with other publishers.
“68 OVERALL SCORE RANKED #7 of 15 ... Best Bang for the Buck”
Our 3.9 score is the average of 1 of the scored reviews above, each adjusted for how strictly its publisher scores. 1 derived score above is not in the average because a publisher printed a score for this product. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
