The Best Paper Shredder Review

The Best Paper Shredder

The best paper shredder should have the following qualities :

• It should be able to shred paper, CDs, DVDs, Credit Cards & Staples effortlessly.
• It should not jam.
• It should not make noise.
• It should be safe to handle.
• It should have excellent customer service.
• It should have at least two years warranty.
• It should be affordable.

I tested many paper shredders looking for the qualities mentioned above and liked many of them as well. However, Fellowes Powershred 79Ci came out as the clear winner, fulfilling all the above qualities.

Let me explain you in detail about my test results with Fellowes Powershred 79Ci.

Main Features of Fellowes Powershred 79Ci

100 % Jam Proof

It has an LED thickness meter that tells you if what you’re feeding is too thick. If you have a bunch of junk mail to shred, you can disable the thicknes sensor by holding 2 buttons at the same time.

If you leave the thicknes sensor on, and stick something thick in(like a typical credit card junk mail piece, unopened) and it stops halfway though, you can push the forward button and force it to pull it through anyways. No need to reverse (though you can reverse if you want, there’s a button for that too)

SafeSense Enabled

There is a metal touch in front of the feed slot safety sensor that automatically disables the shredder when hands touch the paper opening.

It also has a blue lit power switch on top of the unit, and an additional on-off rocker switch on the back.

Silent Shredding

I have shredded up to 12 sheets of paper at one time (shredder works a little harder but still smoothly shreds), a couple of credit cards and approximately 15 CD/DVD disks. The operation with paper and credit cards is surprisingly quiet. You could probably shred with someone sleeping in the next room and not wake them. The noise level (dB) is probably doubled when shredding a computer disk, but it still is quieter than any other shredder I’ve worked with.

Energy Saving System

It has an Energy Savings System, that saves energy while in use. When it comes to shredding, 80% of energy consumption comes from in use activity.Fellowes’ Energy Savings System maximizes shredder energy savings 100% of the time – both in and out of use.

• In Use Savings – performance and power supply efficiency
• Out of Use Savings – Standby and Sleep Modes

Can Shred Anything

With its solid steel cutters and cross-cut ability it can shred CDs/DVDs, credit cards, paper clips , staples and paper effortlessly.

And not only that it also has a 6-gallon pull-out bin for easy, mess-free waste disposal.

Customer Service

I had such a rare customer service experience I could not let it pass without a public compliment. In a nutshell, I wrote to Fellowes complaining about a problem I encountered with two shredders. I did not ask for anything, but I wanted someone to know that there was a problem with the shredder.
To my utter surprise, I was contacted directly by Mr. Fellowes and without excuses, recognized the problem and solved it on the spot.How refreshing it is to deal with a company that where the principal is directly involved and customer service is not farmed out to some third party in a foreign country.

The Only Problem I Found & Its Solution

The front of the shredder has a window so you can see how much paper is in it. The back of this window has some sharp edges that rip bags. It’s an obvious design flaw that Fellowes should have corrected long ago. When I called tech support, their suggestion was to not use a bag. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix. I taped cardboard from a pad of paper over the back of the window on the inside of the shredder. No more ripped bags. Also, the window is unnecessary since a light comes on when the bag is full. When the light comes on, don’t remove the bag. Push the paper down and you’ll get a lot more shredded paper in the bag.

Final Verdict

 I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light to medium duty shredder for home or home-office, especially if they want a longer warranty, low noise operation, very good build quality and plenty of whistles and bells that actually are useful and work.