Junk mail now fears me!
Written: Sep 22 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A real workhorse, clean, simple to use
Cons: big, assembly required
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| arkwolf's Full Review: Royal RS9512C Shredder |
I am the King Of Confetti! I love this shredder. On a daily basis I feed it junk mail, often still in the envelope, and contribute to my growing confetti supply. It's a monster and devours things accordingly.
Let me start with explaining my motivation for buying a shredder which costs so much (Lord knows I had to explain it to my wife). I have been "in the market" for a paper shredder for over a year now. I get a voluminous amount of junk mail and an alarming number of pieces of it contain information (like my social security number, drivers license number, etc.) that I am not comfortable just tossing in the garbage. Does this make me paranoid? Maybe. But I find I'm a lot more comfortable throwing out new credit card offers or old credit card statements when they are reduced to hundreds of 3/8" x 1/4" long pieces of confetti. I'm sure that it's highly unlikely that someone would try to reconstruct any of this mail from the kinds of strips that a "regular" shredder would generate. I just get a warm feeling in my paranoid little heart when I open the waste bin and look at all the little illegible paper bits. Also, in addition to my security requirements, and based on my experiences with borrowed friends and relatives shredders, I had some additional requirements; the capacity for a large number of sheets at a time and reliable automated operation.
This shredder met all of my requirements and had even more features that I love. This includes indicators on the top and a built in paper bin with a safety setting.
The shredder has a 12-sheet capacity (meaning 12 sheets in a single pass) and handles things like thick credit card offers still in the envelope. It has a gauge on the top that represents how hard the shredder is working when you feed paper into it and I have only managed to get it up to the 4th and last indicator on one occasion. This is a nice indicator instead of the normal method of determining the shredder workload by the sound of the little motors whining. I have even fed it mail-order catalogues with the staples still in (do this at your own risk) and it handled them without a hitch. This is most likely due to the 1/4 horsepower rating to the shredder motor.
The auto start/stop function on the shredder works very well. There is a toggle switch for operation that also serves to set the direction of the motor operation (reverse so you can back something out of it just in case it did jam). The only other button is the manual/auto operation button. You press this and it switches between manual, where the motor just runs, and auto. On auto the motor runs for 15 seconds or so and if you don't feed anything into it it just stops and waits for you to feed it. Unlike some feeders that have a manual switch that the paper has to contact to start the automatic operation this one seems to have some sort of sensor. You just stick a piece of paper into the center of the feed opening and it fires right up. I have fed it things that were narrow and flimsy like ATM statements or register receipts and they caused it to operate just as well as a big thick piece of cardstock. Once you stop feeding it paper it ceases to run approximately 15 seconds after it finishes with the last piece of paper inserted.
One of the nice features of this shredder that I considered unnecessary at first but now consider essential is the dedicated waste bin. The unit comes with a cabinet that has a pull out bin where all of the shredded paper is deposited. The cabinet has caster wheels on the bottom and makes it easy to wheel it around. The bin has a built in sensor so that when the bin is pulled out the shredder stops operating. This prevents you from filling the cabinet with confetti when the bin is removed. It also means that when the shredder is not on the cabinet it won't operate. This is actually a safety feature, as the only way that the bottom throat can be accessed is when the shredder is off of the cabinet. Helps keep fingers from getting mangled. Also there is a "bin full" shutoff that keeps the shredder from operating if the waste bin is full. You just pull the bin out, empty it and slide it back in to continue with operation. I originally thought that it was overkill to have a dedicated waste bin for the shredder. I have since found that having the shredder setup and ready to go all the time means that I use it a lot more than I would have if I had to place it over a wastebasket before using it. Plus I'm not filling my regular wastebasket with lots of paper spaghetti. So this feature has actually led to my getting more use out of it on a daily basis.
One of the only possible "cons" of this shredder is that you have to assemble the cabinet and waste bin before you can use it. I actually enjoyed putting it together but I like that kind of thing. It all snaps together without needing any tools but you do have to make sure you get everything put together correctly and the assembly directions were full of errors (as if they were just copied from another model's instructions). But if you have any kind of talent for this kind of thing, you won't have a problem assembling it.
This shredder is really an "office duty" quality shredder, meaning that it's capacity is for multiple people in an office environment. The price reflects this. The shredder normally retails for $199.99. I purchased it on sale for $169.99 (Office Max) after refusing to buy it but wanting it for 6 months or so. I managed to get it home and assembled before my wife managed to ask how much it was. This is possibly another motivation for my daily use (Look honey, I'm going to use the shredder again!). If you only use a shredder once a month (for bills) or even less frequently then you don't need this shredder. A $20 one will probably work just great for you. But, if you read my review and found yourself nodding and going yep, yep, yep, then run out and buy one of these bad boys before they are all sold out.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
arkwolf
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Member: Andy Komonchak
Location: Dallas TX
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 2 members
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