Features:

  • Shreds 11 sheets of paper per pass into 431 (5/32 x1-3/8" Security Level P-4) cross-cut particles; shreds staples, credit cards
  • Runs for up to 5 minutes before a cool down period is needed
  • Patented SafetyLock disables the shredder for added safety protection
  • Provides reliable, medium duty shredding and is ideal for deskside use.
  • 4.75- gallon lift-off head w/ handle
  • This item’s packaging will indicate what is inside and cannot be hidden.
I thought it was a great life span and took alot of hard knocks

I bought a Fellowes powershred years ago, probably about 9-10 years ago. It stopped working. This is why I bought another. I thought it was a great life span and took alot of hard knocks. We do shred alot of paper that comes in, and mostly went paperless statements as much as possible. We also routinely go through outdated files and shred things we no longer use or find useful. This does eat up those papers quickly, staples and all. This was used for home. I keep a separate waste basket by the desk for all things needed shredding only. it filled up quite a bit while waiting for this to be delivered, so we have a medium use for this. It has a reverse and will stop running when the bucket is full. works great, runs smooth. safety lock, even though we still unplug it after each use for extra safety. I stay with fellowes because its dependable and works. 10 year use is perfectly ok with us.

"Prosumer" grade shredder, it eats junkmail and old taxes for lunch and wants more for dessert!

Replaced a Royal 85X that met a smoky demise during tax season. To be fair it was an older machine and had done a lot of shredding. The Fellowes W11C is much more machine than the old one. It will eat junkmail credit-card offers without opening them, without straining. Even the heavy cardstock offers, the legal sized ones full of inserts, it just gobbles them up. I would consider this a heavy duty home or light office unit. It's a heavy machine, with a nice handle to lift off the shredder head to empty the bucket. Switching it to lock mode automatically turns off the feed switch as well. I'm pleasantly pleased, it was an Amazon 'Warehouse Deal' that was significantly marked down due to packaging damage. The received unit looked like it had been on the bottom of a pallet that was dropped, the bottom of the box was torn away and wrapped with packing tape. Kudos to the Fellowes packaging engineers, the box was destroyed but the shredder inside was unscathed, snugly ensconced in a plastic bag isolated inside pulpboard cushions. Not a scratch on the unit and heck I throw out the box anyway! Thanks Amazon Warehouse Deals!

Eight years on, going strong: a bit of identity-theft-prevention piece of mind

Identity theft experts recommend you cross-cut shred any sensitive documents; I basically run anything that has my name on it through this shredder. I bought this unit 8 years ago and it’s never given me trouble. I also bought a bottle of Fellowes “Performance Oil” for shredders; when I change the hopper bag, I just do a quick squirt of oil across the feed slot, feed one sheet of paper through forwards, then reverse the blades for 3 seconds. That’s it, and it’s never jammed or given me any trouble. It can *temporarily* jam if the motor overheats; you just need to let it cool down. It will also refuse to shred if the hopper is so full that the shredded paper is pressing up against the unit—so just dump out the hopper. It’s not meant for constant use, just light office or household use. Very occasionally, the selector switch (forward/lock/reverse) gets stuck and I have to jiggle it a bit to get it to start up again. Some cities will allow you to put clear/translucent bags of shredded paper in the recycle bin, but it’s getting harder for them to sell bulk recycle that contains shredded paper...so if your locale won’t recycle it, you can save it for packing material, mix it in with your compost, make mulch out of it, or possibly even recycle it in your greenwaste container (ask first). For light office or household use, it’s a great deal! P.S.: Beware of the new, metal-impregnated credit cards—the ones that are much heavier and stiffer than typical credit cards. They’ll do a number on the blades if you try and feed them through. To destroy one, call the credit card company and they’ll send a postpaid envelope so you can send it back and they’ll run it through their industrial shredder, so you don’t have to destroy yours.

Worked great for 3 years.

Worked great for exactly 3 years... and then I dropped the top/motor while emptying the bin and it doesn't turn on anymore. I would give it 4.5 stars if I could only because removing the top to empty it (as opposed to a slide out bin) is a little annoying, but in this price range you don't have another option. It worked hard for 3 years, survived moves to three homes, and was usually kept in a garage that was not temperature controlled. So, I'll give it five stars. I like the opening on the bin which both allows you to see how full it is and also allows you to easily toss in items that don't need to be shredded. For example, I would often throw envelopes from junk mail directly into that opening while shredding their contents. Don't get me wrong, when I knew what the contents of junk mail were, I shredded them without opening and this little guy handled them just fine. I used lubricating shredder sheets a handful of times over the three years (with no consistency, just when I would randomly remember). Ultimately, though, it stopped working when I dropped it on the concrete floor of the garage, not from jamming it with too much paper. I'm currently deciding between buying the exact same model again and upgrading to a slightly more expensive one. Hope the fact that I'm considering buying it again helps anyone else deciding on a shredder. When looking up my old order to compare it to the more expensive ones I decided I might as well review it and let others know about my experience. No complaints, it did its job.

Great product for the money.

For the money this is a great shredder for home use. I went on a cleaning binge and bagged 19 years of old papers that were last their saving time. I followed the directions strictly and only shredded in 10 minute intervals. It worked perfectly. I could do 4/5 pages at a time without it slowing down. The waste bin part does fill up very quickly. But my commercial shredder at work does too. I have no complaints. Since the gigantic pile, I've been using it for mail and smaller projects.

Nice shredder, pretty well for the price

This is a pretty good shredder. It can shred paper very well into tiny slices. However, emptying the bin can be a bit of a pain. Lifting the shredder is easy, because there is a handle, but it is also pretty hard, because it's pretty heavy. To shred adhesives (even though it says it can't), put the adhesive on a blank sheet of paper or make one side of the adhesive stick to the other side. Overall, this is a decent shredder and I would certainly recommend it. UPDATE: 3/1/2010 I still have this shredder. One person said this shredder can handle CD's. Honestly, from how I tested it, it can't. The CD got stuck and I had to use a scissor to finish it through. Do not try to shred CD's. Overall, still a good shredder; able to shred credit cards, unopened junk mail, invoices, and adhesives (if you follow the advice above). UPDATE: 6/4/2010 Still running strong. This shredder still does the job to get rid of all the extra papers I don't need. UPDATE: 9/15/2010 Still the best shredder in my house. I owned this shredder almost for 7 months and still one of the best. UPDATE: 1/22/2011 Almost a year with this shredder. This shredder has took down so many papers and adhesive Amazon labels, this is something that was worth buying. Still no problems with this shredder. Such an incredible product. UPDATE: 5/15/2011 Almost one and a half year since I had this shredder. Still running strong and I shred loads of paper every week. I oil this shredder perhaps after two or three full loads of paper. Still works like a charm. How incredible is this shredder?

Follow allowed shredding time and clear the sensor of paper dust.

Following the instructions that came with it, regarding oiling, the machine stopped working. I thought I might have to throw it out and replace it because nothing I did would get it started again. Finally I read a review by another customer who said that so much oiling can cause paper dust to stick to the sensor. He said that if the sensor is covered in paper dust, simply take a cotton swab, dip it in small amount of alcohol, and rub the sensor clean. It worked !!! I also started using the Shredder Sharpening and Lubricant Sheets instead of oiling. Paper dust still covers the sensor every so often and the cotton swab with small amount of alcohol clears it. Thank goodness to Amazon customer reviews for good information. The machine works well, as long as you follow the guidelines for shredding time. For this machine, continuous shredding time is only 5 minutes. But you can fill the shredder bin in 5 minutes. After 5 minutes of shredding you have to allow a minimum of 20 minutes cool down.

Powerful and Easy to Empty (Use Plastic Grocery Bag) ... But Loud and Top Heavy

This is my second purchase of this model shredder after the first one died after 5 years and 11 months. What I believe killed it was shredding a credit card by inserting it alone directly over the safety tab/switch inside the paper slot. (In the future I will tape the plastic card off center so that it doesn't feed directly over the switch.) I have used, owned or looked at many shredders over the years. I have owned larger professional type models with pull out drawers with larger capacity and I have owned (and tossed) the single sheet shredders that are ineffective because they take only singe sheets ... or jam ... or just create strips which isn't exactly a secure way to discard sensitive info. For me a shredder has to be powerful enough to shred multiple sheets with staples. And it has to be fast to use and empty. Everything else is negotiable. Here is why I purchased this shredder again (fortunately still available after 5 years) and here are the downsides ... cons. Pros: Shreds well without jamming. Easy to empty – tip: paper container will take a standard plastic grocery bag Reasonable capacity for home use – empty once a week. Cons: Loud – this thing screams … would be really annoying to use over a prolonged uninterrupted time. Top heavy – to clean you need to lift off the heavy top and sit it on the floor (or somewhere). Besides being heavy, there will be a few hanging shreds that you will have to manually pick up. All in all, I will take the that fact that it doesn’t jam easily and is easy to clean, particularly if you use a plastic grocery bag, over the annoying noise level and heavy top that needs to be removed to clean. I can put in a few papers and walk away. I can empty this thing in less than 30 seconds without having to worry about chasing down a mess of stray paper pieces that fall out when emptying into another container. And this is why a bought this shredder again.

Reliable and long lasting

I originally bought this shredder from a local store for home use. That one worked so well and so long that I later purchased a second one from Amazon for my office. I bought the third one as a gift and finally, when my original one stopped working after 6+ years, I bought this replacement on Amazon. You don't find many things that hold up this well and I was thrilled to be able to buy the exact product years later.

I LOVE this shredder

I LOVE this shredder! I used it right away after reading the directions thoroughly. I shredded several buckets without any problems. I bought the lubricating oil which I squirted through the opening on top after emptying the bucket. Then I reversed for 3 seconds. You have to do this. You have to feed it so it keeps working. Then I fed it about 8-10 pages at a time and waiting 3-4 seconds in between the next feeding. You can't just put papers without pause. I'm sure that will mess it up royally. As the bucket starts to fill up which you can easily see, I shook the bucket to make the contents settle more evenly and when it fills up to the top it just won't operate which lets you know to empty then bucket. After which you lubricate. The directions say you can use vegetable oil.

Full Reviews