Powershred 99Ci 18-Sheet 100% Jam-Proof Heavy Duty Crosscut Paper Shredder Machine for Office and Home, Black/Gray 3229912

I have had the work horse of a shredder for 4 years now and I have never had 1 single problem. I don't think they make it anymore. I paid $200 for it and it has been an amazing piece of equipment. I got so tired of the cheaper machines that jammed and were basically unusable if you wanted to put 5 sheets in at a time. Think this machine can handle 15 sheets at a time. Excellent, fast, easy to empty. I also ordered a bottle of shredder oil and followed directions once a month to make sure it was oiled properly. Seriously, this might be the last shredder I ever use. A friend's mother died and I told her to bring me the paperwork and I'd shred it for her. So easy and it's kind of fun to just get it done with NO PROBLEMS, no jamming. If it gets hot, it stops and cools off. Noise level is fine. I highly recommend this shredder or the latest version. I wish I had paid $200 10 years ago because I wasted so much money and this shredder it so worth the price.

*** Update - 7 years later *** Still going strong. The infrared sensor has failed so it keeps running. I have to shut the unit off from the rocker switch in the back. Not that big a deal but not ideal. *** I'd still buy it again. I purchased this shredder 12/2008. There are a lot of reviews already but I thought I could add a few things. A reviewer commented about the mess in the shred bin. Yeah, but it is only a minor problem. All my past shredders were worse. I shredded some CDs and DVDs and they make a mess because of the paint on the non-writable side. If you jar the bin slightly and push the pile down with your hand before pulling the bin out the rest of the way, you can minimize the mess. But with CDs and DVDs, some of the stuff is so light it blows around. Someone commented about the on/off switches. There are two. A master rocker switch in back that I would guess you always leave on. The switch on top you might turn on and off. If you leave the unit on (both switches) all the time, the blue light will run and use a little power. If you really want to be green, I guess you could turn it off. I want to stress what some other reviewers said about this monster. This is by far the best shredder (and most expensive) I've owned. I owned about three el cheapos before. They all burned out. I use this at home and I'm a nut about shredding anything with any personal information on it. So I might use it more than the average household and I can't imagine ever stressing this beast. But I did give it a shot (below). For day-to-day shredding, this thing wouldn't break a sweat. It is almost overkill but I could see this unit lasting years. While vacuuming out the unit after shredding the DVDs, I looked at the business end of the shredder. There is a spindle of nasty looking, sharp metal teeth between plastic guides. The power cord is bent at 90 degrees so the unit will sit closer to the wall. Nice touch that a lot of other manufacturers should do. I had a pile of paper to shred since my last shredder burned out. It sawed through that pile in a few minutes. My old shredder would have loudly churned through the pile in about two hours. I always dreaded shredding before. Now, I'm looking for things to shred. The other thing is, this unit is very quiet. It produces a low hum as opposed to the much higher pitched whine of cheap shredders that beg for mercy if you give them a couple of sheets at a time. The teeth are metal so follow the instructions and oil them. Nuff said. Now for the main selling point. I had about 250 CDs and DVDs (old computer backups). You don't want to just toss your personal data in the trash - you have to shred that stuff. Most reviews of most shredders never mention shredding DVDs which seem a little tougher to me. This unit had no problem with the CDs or DVDs. I shredded them in groups of ten. I oiled the teeth a couple of times during the process. Awesome! I used the guide for the credit cards, CDs and DVDs. I think there are probably tougher teeth in the middle and the guide makes sure the plastics go through in the right path. The auto shutoff works as advertised. The teeth are so far down that I can't see a baby's finger getting in there. There's no way an adult's finger could get in. Maybe Gene Simmon's tongue (Kiss) could get in the slot. :-) Look no further. Buy this shredder.

This is one tough shredder. I took it out of the box and promptly shredded 5 years' worth of paper in two days; I figure at least a thousand pages plus staples, paper clips (accidentally), credit cards and CDs. I hit the hi temp cutout twice and just let it calm down for a few hours. Worked perfectly. It's a bit louder than I imagined but I think I'm too picky. This is a very good product at a great Amazon price with no shipping charge. All good. I've never used a shredder that didn't have it's problems with changing bags (I NEVER save files at work, everything is shredded as soon as I'm done with it so I have changed a few bags in my life). The first thing I did was ignore the instructions and FORGET paying for those special bags and the oil! I took the bag frame out and just let the shreds go directly into the collector. I set up an el-cheapo green trash bag in the shipping box. When the collector filled up, I poured the contents into the trash bag and what little spilled was caught by the box. Works great, no torn bags, no outrageous cost. Any large cardboard box that's tall and fairly narrow will work. I had read the reviews here before I bought the shredder and I saw the back-and-forth about the cutter oil. I'm no rocket scientist but under no conditions would I ever put a vegetable oil on machinery that will get hot - the oil HAS to break down and become gummy. Maybe I'm too tough on the machine but that's me. So, I sprayed the rollers with that old standby WD40. While it's too early to tell whether it will work in the long term, I can tell you that I've used WD40 for over 10 years on a small desk top shredder that has absolutely been abused and the little booger just keeps on working. Hope this helps! This is an addendum. I just helped one of our folks fix a jam on a small Fellowes at work. They hadn't emptied the box in FOREVER and it took us quite a while to clean it out. The shreds were packed SOLID on the underside of the cutters. Cleaned that out and fired right back up. Gotta love these things. This one at work is OLD and abused. ___________________________________________________________ It's been over two years now and although I admit that I'm not running a commercial enterprise, this is one tough shredder. I tend to be careful about letting the thermal overload protection kick in but there are just times when I have a bunch of stuff that needs to be cleared out of a year's worth of filing. Last January, I retired and cleaned out my files in one shot by putting the shredder on top of 2x4s over a BIG trash can. It was a bit cold in the garage so I let the whole mechanism cool down to about 50* and started shredding the pile. Dumped all the trash right into the trash can and the relatively low temperature kept the shredder running for the duration. I was done in record time. I now shred EVERYTHING. VERY happy with this purchase. I especially like how it will back up when it's overfilled and then just grind away 'till the stuff is gone.

I'm using my new Fellowes Powershred 79Ci cross-cut shredder in my home law office where, on a regular basis, I have a large number of confidential documents that must be shredded. The shredder operates flawlessly rendering the documents into very small unreadable bits of paper. There have been no paper jams. I had no trouble flipping over the protective plastic shield which protects you from sharp CD or credit card shards and shredding a credit card successfully. After shredding the credit card, it was easy to flip the plastic shield back into place to go back to regular paper shredding. I like that there is a rocker switch at the top back of the shredder so I can cut off all power running up to the machine when I am not using it. Otherwise, when I am in my office I leave the rocker switch on and use the power button conveniently located on the top of the machine. I did not install the wheels because the height of the machine without the wheels fits better in my space. As a relatively new user of this shredder, I decided to try using the shredder without the plastic bags and then just dumping the paper shreds into a kitchen-size trash bag. This is not working so well for me. I've failed on several occasions to successfully invert the shredder bin into the kitchen trash bag as the bin is a little awkward to handle. Also, when I pull the bin out to empty it, I find paper shreds that missed the bin or fall to the bottom of the machine outside the bin from the cutters. I now have little shreds all over the carpet. I plan to next try using plastic bags in the bin to see if I can make the shredding process neater. Despite the messiness factor, I would still purchase the Fellowes Powershred 79CI cross-cut shredder because it does such a great job shredding. The shredder is much quieter than my old strip-cut shredder which I greatly appreciate since I am using it at home. My only design-change suggestion would be to locate the alert signals (full bin, temperature, etc) to the area in front of the opening for the cutter blades. When you are inserting paper to be shredded, you cannot easily see that the light for "bin full" comes on because the paper is in the way. However, the assets of this machine greatly outnumber any small inconveniences. I would recommend this shredder to a friend.

Just received my new Fellowes 79CI shredder, and only time will allow me to know about its durability. As for the rest of it... The good news: This is very powerful, efficient and quiet shredder that eats up stapled paper quickly and at a very low decibel level. I like the casters on the bottom that allow it roll easily over my hardwood floor; and the unit sits sturdily on top of these wheels. The test will be when/if I try to input paper clips, and then the ultimate test...a Chip Credit Card. Overall I am happy with the initial performance of this machine. The not so good news: My own fault, but this "cross-cut" shredder leaves pieces that are larger than I had in mind. Even larger than my $30 cross-cut shredder that worked for me for nearly 20 years. The size of the shredded paper leads to the basket filling up very quickly, requiring that you either tamp the pile down or discard the contents of the basket. The customer rep at Fellowes told me that the cutters should be oiled each time you discard the waste basket; and that will be a lot of oiling if I follow that advise. As a home user, I think this will work for me. Hopefully the longevity of this unit is better than some of the negative reviews I have seen...although I take Amazon reviews with a grain salt for the most part. One thing rings out, and that is that this shredder is probably about $40-$50 more than it should be given the pros and cons. If it lasts a long time, I would still be quite content with this purchase. If it fails in less than 5 years as some of commented, then Fellowes should have some explaining to do on quality and pricing.

I've gone a lot of years with the 60 and 70 dollar "office shredders". That means I've endured a lot of years of headaches. When my latest office store brand shredder burned up and stopped working, I decided to invest in something nicer. I did quite a bit of research before deciding on the Fellowes brand. The 99Ci fell in line with my needs for a lot of reasons. It is the perfect size for my office and it sits nicely at the end of my desk (where my former shredder was sitting). It also fit my budget. I am still blown away by just how good this thing is! I was skeptical about the "jam-proof" claims and, yes, I did have to give it a try. I very seriously have not been able to jam it with any batch of paper. The opening where the paper is fed controls the volume. You can't push more in than it can handle. On a couple of occasions, the machine would stop "mid-shred" and I would think, "ah-HA!". But it wasn't jammed...just assessing the situation. In those couple of cases, it would stop, reverse slightly, then take the rest through without a complaint. My old shredder required manual operation for reversing in situations like that and usually I would wind up yanking big chunks of partially shredded junk mail out of the feeder. I use my shredder primarily for junk mail and some office docs that are printed, used briefly, then can be trashed. I love the fact that his machine can take an entire glossy envelope from a credit card company and completely shred the entire envelope and contents without me opening it. With past shredders I was reduced to opening the unwanted offer and feeding individual sheets in order to avoid the dreaded jam. So far I've been through three full bins of shredded paper. I love the easy opening front load bin. I am using standard 13 gallon white trash bags in the bin and they are great. Note about the window at the front of the bin: you can only see the level of shredded material if you are using clear bags or no bags at all. I'm using white, so I don't have the visual as it is filling. That is really not a big deal for me. I normally will pull the bin out and do a little hand compressing when I get the fill indicator light. I am very happy with the quality and the performance of this unit. I would recommend it highly for any home office or small office.

Like several have written, this shredder is doing the job it is intended to do. I've had this for about a month and I have had zero issues. I have shredded five bags of stuff. The "stress" light has only made it to 3 out of 5 lights mainly for me shredding thick junk mail too tough to rip in half. There are a few pet peeves I can live with such as: 1. The chute opening where the paper or products go in to be shredded in a bit tight for landscape feed side of the 11 inch paper. All I do is feed one corner in and I am not worried that the paper gets all crunched up just before a shredding. 2. The slide out tray where the shredding goes in to has a bit of a flimsy feel to it. I think the design could be better in making it all solid plastic. I understand the company logic - Its a pound of paper in the recepticle, not much more than that. If you TLC that pull out tray it should last a long time. 3. Even though I bought this since it is big and should be able to do the job, I am finding it difficult to find a good place in the house right now. I don't use it alot as I type, but I do have several projects coming up where all non essential papers will be shredded. It is about the size of a medium to large check on baggage, so I need a place to put it where it doesn't compete with the desk chairs and foot traffic. So in other words, try to plan where you want to place this. 4. I read one or two reviews saying something about the wheels having issues. I have decided to not put the wheels on right now. With that being said, if I am sitting down in a chair and I try to pull the shredder towards me, it takes a bit to find a good place to get a hold on this shredder as it is sleek . No worries, I just get up and move it as needed. Bottom line is, it is not that light, and if you do not add the wheels, it may take a bit to get a good grip on the shredder and move it where you wish. I typically work in a secure environment and shredders are part of my daily life. This home shredder may not shred the articles to dust, but it does a fantastic job. Right now I simply reuse the bags they gave me. I dump the small bag into a larger bag and mix the shredding up to ensure the recompilation procedure would drive even the most sane person bonkers. The noise level is quite acceptible, more of a medium level hum. The auto shut off feature is terrific. I am glad I upgraded to this shredder, it is making life better without potential shred material piling up. I typically feed the shredder abou 3-5 pieces at once. I am not one to be in an extreme hurry to shove it all down the hatch to see if it can handle it. So far so good.

Quiet! Efficient! Guides the user through its LED warning system so that you can correct the problem before it jams the machine or worse. The warnings help you to know capabilities of the machine which makes your shredding even more efficient in the future. I am glad I spent 30-40% more rather than buying another above average machine which will probably break in two years, max. The first time you unpack and set-up this machine, if you have had a succession of shredders, you will immediately notice the quality of construction and fitment of parts. Then you take your first junk mail packets and say ahhhhh! No more gut-wrenching groans from a barely sufficient shredder. Nothing but the quiet sound of sharp enough blades with enough horsepower behind them to do the job. You can barely hear it running in the next room, even with the office door open. Nice touch that a sample of shredder oil is included. Remember to use it when emptying the shredder basket each time. None of my previous shredders even mentioned using oil on the cutting blades. Quality. You get what you pay for. **********************Two Month Update********************** Just went through about 3 Bankers Boxes of cancelled checks, credit card statements, notepaper, etc. Unit has been used intermittently to shred items since it was received. Have probably emptied it 6-8 times since receipt, and yes, I do pull the bin and pack it tightly between emptying it. Thought I would update the review after a few hours of steady shredding. Unit is so quiet that I can shred while spouse watches TV beside me - sweet. The unit did overheat twice which was more a function of continuous operation rather than thickness of stack put into the machine. If overheated, unit cools down more quickly if you pull the bin so air circulates bottom to top using natural convection. Not a big deal - unit cooled down in about 10 minutes. Be aware that shredding continues where it has left off, meaning that a half-shredded stack will begin shredding as soon as bin is replaced if the unit has sufficiently cooled. Remember to put 6-8 drops of oil on the grinder blades when you empty the bin. (A sample of mineral oil was included with the shredder.) Unit operates as pleasantly and quietly as it did with the first shred. IF, it does get overloaded (i.e., the stack is too thick either there is an indication at the outset, so you can pull a sheet or two before shredding begins, or if a problem occurs during the shred, the unit pauses, reverses, pauses again and then proceeds to shred the remainder. VERY civilized. You can also intervene during the pauses and manually reverse the unit in order to avoid any straining by your fine machine. I am still very happy with this purchase.

This is a big improvement on all the shredders we have had before. Just wish to bin was slightly bigger to hold more waste.

Den Aktenvernichter haben wir jetzt seit mehreren Jahren im Einsatz und er ist wirklich unverwüstlich. Wir werden wieder von dieser Marke kaufen!

Funciona adecuadamente.

Sturdy, quiet and well built.

This really has to be a top-of-the-line shredder for home or small business office, and I wish I'd purchased it sooner. I had a midget "5-page" shredder before (which could only really handle a couple of sheets at a time, and even then jammed more than Smuckers), and I recently had ENOUGH. This model tells you if you've over-stuffed it. Better yet, it tells you if you've UNDER-stuffed it: an indicator light meter reveals how many pages it could handle compared to how many you put in. If the light meter only goes up a couple of bars, that means it's hungry and you need to give it more on your next go-around. This thing even detects if there's any skin touching its gaping maw, in which case it won't operate until safe to do so. Best of all, there's a "do not put a baby in here" interdiction labelled on the side of the aperture. If you think you can get away with something smaller and cheaper, you might be right...but why would you want to be?