Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127 in Office Product
• Brand: Swordfish
• Model: 40093

Features

• Most shredders will puncture holes into CD's to destroy them, however this new shredder actually shreds them into small strips. A buzzer will sound if the bin is full and the shredder is mounted on casters for improved mobility.
• 10 Sheet pass
• 220 entry throat
• 4x39mm shred size
• Power Supply 230 V, 50 HZ

Amazon.com
Beautiful on the outside - tough on the inside. This stylish Swordish shredder maked your unwanted documents history. The 1100XCD shreds your confidential documents, CDs, DVDs and credit cards into small pieces. Stylish and attractive exterior with a tough, no-nonsense interior. The perfect solution for offices or homes wishing to safeguard confidential information from prying eyes. Paper particle size of 4x39mm.

Customer Reviews

Good shredder with drawer
This is a crosscut shredder which claims to cut to to level 3 security confetti- (seems to be 4*35mm). I've tested it and it does shred 10 sheets of 80gsm A4 paper at once. You can shred credit cards by inserting one dead centre in the paper slot (not tested yet). The CD slot cuts off the outer "wings" of the CD so that you have three pieces- safer than snapping the little suckers. I decided on this slighty more expensive (white) version as the comparable model in the "black" series said that it embossed the cds with dimples- I wasn't sure how effective that would be. The manufacturer guarantee is for 2 years.

So after 2 weeks- I'm definitely happier with a shredder with a drawer. Previously I've had a simpler model (Rexel) which annoyed me because you had to lift off the heavy top just to see if it had jammed because there was too much shredded paper in - or if it had just jammed. So despite the fact it takes up the space of a large waste paper basket- the ease of checking how full it is outweighs its footprint. Don't be alarmed by the picture- that cut away on the drawer has a clear plastic insert behind it. I'm not too impressed by the castors which glide like a possessed supermarket trolley.

As to use- this shredder isn't ever going to feature on one of those movies where the feds are moving in and the dodgy businessmen are destroying all the evidence. The instructions claim you can shred for THREE minutes only before you need to let the cutters cool down for 20 minutes. Otherwise it'll switch itself off and not let you play for a full 50 minutes. So for me this is fine- I'm on top of my papertrail and I'm really only using it on a daily basis to go through the post- making sure anything with my address is in tiny pieces as everyone advises these days. As the manufacturer's dotcom site (Snopake) isn't very revealing I'm pretty glad I went for the 10 sheet model- just so that if there are a few things to destroy, they're gone in one or two passes. If you have a heavier paperload then you may want to think about the 15 or 20 sheet versions- but of course that costs extra and crikey 80 quid seems sufficient to pay for an electronic hamster.

Maintenance. Apparently because cross cut shredders create far more fine particles than a simple shredder, it's imperative to keep maintaining your machine with regular oiling. And- surprise surprise, they claim that you need a specialist oil and WD40 won't cut it. Now the instructions, such as they are contradict themselves as to how often you need to oil. The minimum appears to be monthly or when you've filled the bin (120 A4 sheets). Otherwise oil every fortnight.

If you're expecting free oiling sheets as per the product description, you're likely to be diappointed as I was and Amazon so far haven't come up with a solution to the missing bits without causing me major inconvenience. The instructions also suggest oiling the cutters directly with a spray can/oil bottle or adding oily lines to a piece of paper and feeding it through. Probably any shredder oil will do- I'm trying the "Swordfish" brand when I eventually fill the bin.

Robust and effiecient
This is more robust and reliable than any other shredder I've owned. It rarely gets jammed - and if it ever does it is very easy to clear. In the past I've bought other, cheaper brands, and have ended up throwing them away after a year or so. It therefore seems it's worth spending that little more. I'm very happy with this one.

Great shredder but with a design fault
Yes, this is a great shredder in as much as it sets out to do the job it was intended for. However, the four caster type wheels are impossibly feeble for what is quite a substantial machine. I am not clumsy but so far two of the wheels have broken off from the machine. They are fixed by a feeble piece of plastic and can't be repaired. So I have a machine which has to be propped up in order to use it. I've tried contacting Swordfish but, strangely, they have no presence on the web ... If you decide to opt for this one, take great care with the wheels since, in my experience, they are liable to break apart from the machine. A great machine but with a fairly important design fault.