Bonsaii Paper Shredder, 8-Sheet Crosscut Shredder with 4.2 Gallon Bin Shred Credit Card/Mail/Staple/Clip, P-4 Security Level Document Shredder with Handle for Home Office (C261-C)

Excellent paper shredder I couldn’t have done better

I've only used this for one day but from what I've seen, it's worth it. My old shredder lasted 10+ years, but the main gear lost a tooth, and it would have cost more to buy the parts and tools to fix it than this new one cost. Pro's: Very well packed in a compact box w/good insulation. Easy to set up and use, shreds paper into smaller pieces than my last unit, and can handle junk like staples, paper clips, etc., but who runs paper clips through a personal shredder? Anyway, the previous noise comments concerned me, but it's as loud as my last one so that's okay. Con's: Not many. The basket is kind of flimsy, and it came with a distracting bi-lingual (German/English) sticker on the front that was very hard to read and even harder to remove. Needed acetone to get all the adhesive off, but that was the only real annoyance. The operator's manual should be edited by someone with English as a primary language, but you can still figure it out. Before I bought this I went through the inventory at a local outlet of the biggest Office supply chain in the US, and this is by FAR a way better item than anything they had in stock, both price-wise and in appearance. And I'm not kidding about the price part of it. The stuff in my local store that compared to this was almost 10x what this thing cost. I am very pleased with this so far.

UPDATED REVIEW 10/25/2024Well, after a year, the bonsaii C261-C Shredder is kaput.We continuously had issues with the Pwr Switch not working properly, and were never able to shred more that 5 pages at a time otherwise it would bog down and jam.We kept it cleaned and properly lubricated, however this past week the auto off failed, with the shredder going from high to low speed, but not shutting off.Today we were shredding mail, which we open and separate, and began to smell that circuit board burn smell. Well, the Diode on the top side had failed and burned through, which probable was a result of a power transistor failure to the auto off settings, since all the micro switches tested good.Can’t complain about the usage it got, since it did do a good job shredding ordinary paper and mail, but now it has failed we will look for a different brand.We purchased the Bonsaii C261-C Paper shredder because we have a lot of waste paper and wanted a shredder to be able to use the shred for our farm animals bedding.The C261-C does a great job, making good size cross cuts in most waste paper. Although it does not recommend Newspaper, it does shred it, but normally it comes out in strips which is fine.I can shred up to 6 pages, but struggles a little, however it gets the job done. They do recommend not shredding unopened mail, since it has a struggle trying to shred that, so follow the recommended practice of opening mail and shredding contents separately.The only problems are: The bin fills up fast, which is not an issue with the shredder, I just need a bigger container.The 2nd Issue is the On-Off-Fwd-Rev Switch. The switch seems a little “flaky” at times, and seems to be loose. However, just be gentle and take your time with it and it works fine.So far I have filled 3 13gal trash bags with just shredded material from this unit, never had an over-heat issue, nor has it jammed up or stuck.My recommendation is read the instructions and take breaks when shredding a lot of material and this little guy will do great.Dont forget to get some Shredder Oil and apply a few drops as the manual suggest to keep the cutter lubricated and lasting longer.The reason I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars is because of the On-Off switch, which could be problematic after awhile of using, but with care it should not be too much issue.

I've used this to shred 10+ garbage bags of paper as I have been cleaning out old family documents. I bought this at the beginning of the job thinking that wearing out one shredder would be a cheaper option than taking all the paper to a commercial shredder. Instead, this shredder exceeded my expectations and is still going strong after the clean-up!It's silly to put the "X number of sheets at a time" rating on shredders. This is a basic shredder - it will only comfortably shred a few sheets at a time. I made sure to never overload it and it stayed strong for as long as I was willing to stand there and feed paper into it. The receptacle is pretty small, so I had to frequently make sure that the shreds weren't piling up and backing up into the shredder, but if I did that and kept it oiled, it never overloaded or overheated.I'm very happy with the shredder. My only complaint is the opening at the top. It's probably for safety, but the top is flat, with no angles that feed paper into the shredder slot. This means you have to accurately line up anything you want to shred, and the blades are far down away from the top plastic casing, so they won't catch and "pull" paper into the slot. I got used to it, but my previous household shredder had a much nicer angled lid that acted like a paper feeder.

Pros: 1. Not too big like my old shredder! [See pic]2. Has a see thru "window" on the side to gauge when it is getting full [See pic]3. Though it is an 8 sheet shredder - I usually only go as high as 6 [I'm just cautious] [Remember that if you fold anything in half - it is two sheets - and stiff paper is likened to 2 sheets too!]Cons: The only slight [I mean very slight!] drawback - the feeding slot is very close to 8.5" which means you have to be a bit precise when inserting multiple papers - otherwise, it's a shredder! Expect it to have noise when shredding!Tips: 1. Do not shred too much continuously, you should give it a minute pause to 'cool off' after say - 8 shreds in a row. It was the same with my larger shredder. 2. Get the Bonsai lubricating sheets which help the machine to 'shed' off the shreds! 3. A little care will take this one a long way. My old shredder lasted over 8 years [Disclosure: It was not a Bonsai but it was a good brand name like this one.] Oh, try never to let the collection basket fill to the top otherwise you start feeding the shreds in the basket back into the machine which WILL cause problems - if not damage!.