Customer Reviews

Aurora AS1040C 10 Sheet Micro shred JAMFREE Crosscut Paper Shredder with Pullout Basket and Casters

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a REAL confetti shredder. The pieces are very fine and much smaller than other brands that claim to be confetti shredders. (Compare the shred sizes!)

Anything else I have found with such small shreds has been much more than twice the price. Smaller shreds mean more security and less time between emptying the basket, because the shreds take up less room per page.

Works very quickly and efficiently, and I have not found this to be much louder than other comparable shredders.

I have used 13 gallon bags to catch the shreds in the basket. This makes cleaning out the shreds much easier and neater.
------------
Warning: The plastic on the unit base is a little thin and brittle. I have had a few cracks. The heavy shredder head should be put gingerly back onto the base when emptying, and once when I rolled the unit over a door threshold and the wheel broke loose because the base plastic cracked - so be very careful!
-----------
Functionally this is great unit.

I wanted a microshredder for disposing of a lot of personal documents following my mother's death. The Aurora AS1040C does an excellent job of microshredding. However,I was disappointed to find that it consistently stops working due to overheating after 10 to 15 minutes of continuous use. Once it overheats it takes awhile to cool off to the point where it will work again. By contrast, I own an inexpensive strip cut shredder that works virtually nonstop for hours. The Aurora AS104C also lacks credit card or CD/DVD shredding capability, but I like being able to roll it easily. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive microshredder that you don't expect to consistently keep in use for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time, then you'll probably be happy with the Aurora AS104C.

Works great. Shredding into "Confetti shreds" are much better than the "strip shreds" because you can fit alot more of it into bags. The large receptacle is nice: no need to empty as often. Unfortunately this shredder is SUPER LOUD which is annoying for a small office like mine. That knocks it down from 5 to 3 stars.

I have used this shredder for 5 months and am entirely satisfied with it. It is the only micro shredder I could find in its price range that could handle 10 sheets at a time (which it actually does). I don't understand why, if you are going to bother to buy a shredder and shred documents, you would use a strip shredder which does not provide as high a level of security.

To be clear, this is not a true confetti shredder, since the strips are 9/25 inch long, but that's pretty close to confetti.

One nice design feature is that you feed sheets in vertically, that is, you place up to 10 sheets in the opening and drop them in! Unlike my last shredder, which fed horizontally, you do not have to hold them for a few seconds until the shredder grasps them securely.

It's hard to describe noise quality and level in writing. All I can say is that the Aurora is not as noisy as my last shredder. Unlike the constant roar of the old one, the Aurora makes a rhythmic "chug-chug" sound as it devours the paper. It does not bother me at all for the brief periods that I use the shredder. FWIW, I would rate its loudness as moderate. No one in adjoining offices has ever commented on the noise.

I don't think I have ever run this shredder for more than 10 minutes at a time, so I have not encountered overheating. (If you have boxes full of documents, as described by one reviewer, it's faster and cheaper to take them to a document destruction place; for a higher fee, mine destroys the documents while I watch.)

I appreciate that the manufacturer gives this practical advice instead of trying to make extra money selling "special shredder oil": "We recommend you oil your shredder once a month with vegetable or cooking oil (nothing petroleum
based). Drizzle some oil on a few pieces of paper and feed those pages through the shredder."

Note that this model does not accept CD's, DVD's, or paper clips. Staples are O.K., although removing them first (which I do not do) is said to extend the life of the shredder. The manufacturer also advises not to shred anything with adhesive, e.g., envelopes and adhesive labels.

I am much more concerned about function than form, but it is nice that it has an unobtrusive yet attractive design.

this sucker is heavy. The packing is so nice ,, cut the tape off and slide the top off and the shredder is on the floor with no lifting... YES it is about 30 pounds.. It is quiet but I have neighbors below so I use it during the day only. Shredder leaves tiny pieces. It is worth the money. you probably don't need a micro shredder but I love them. Most micro shredders over heat and can't take non-stop all day feeding. I use this for my bills. At the end of the week I feed in the stack in about a minute. My last micro burned up from over heating so I learned use it for a min or two and stop. If it doesn't get hot it will never melt or burn out. I LIKE this!

I am very happy with my purchase of this shredder.
It really confetti shreds my documents. I am so much more at ease knowing that it would be impossible to garner any information from the shredded pieces. It does have quite a low rumbling sound to it. But considering the price and the excellent shredding it does, I don't mind the noise. Unlike others, I have had no jamming problems or any problems at all. Treat it well and it will return the favor.

This shredder has provided good service for more than a year. The capacity is just right for me. The occasional jams, which are caused when I misjudge the number of pages, recover easily. All parts seem very sturdy and I feel it will last for years to come.

I am on my second shredder having returned the first one because it was damaged in shipping. The shredder works fine (so far) but even the second one I received was damaged in shipping (in the same location as the first one).
The packaging looks like it's substantial enough, but there must be a deficiency for the same damage to happen twice in a row.
And...I was disappointed by the lack of a response by Amazon to my comment on the packaging of the item.

Update 19 Oct 11: This shredder has started to stop on me after only a few sheets of shredding. It also takes longer to cool down, making shred jobs a bit frustrating. I have to remember to shred my junk mail as soon as I receive it, rather than wait for the stuff to collect in my shredbox. I've taken a star off for this annoyance.

I bought this for two reasons: it truly is a micro-shredder and it's very affordable. I shred all my junk mail and personal papers. My daily junk mail keeps my kitty box constantly filled with fresh layers of this finely-shredded paper. I save tons of money on clay kitty litter AND my cats can physically tell the many satellite TV and cable providers that send me weekly ads what to do with their so-called bundling bargain prices.

PROS:
Shreds 6-8 sheets of paper at a time flawlessly, but it does take up to ten sheets depending on the thickness of the paper.
The small shred size and curled confetti guarantees no ID thief could steal your personna with this paper confetti!
It's relatively quiet.
It's easy to use.
A yellow warning light will let you know if the paper layer is too thick.
Quick and easy to empty.
A warning beep will let you know if the basket door isn't closed properly, or if the basket needs to be emptied.
It's easy to move around the office with the small wheels.

CONS:
Best for low-office work as it stops shredding after 15 or so minutes to cool down. Cool-down time is only five minutes, though.
It does get messy if you don't use a plastic bag to catch the confetti. The mess is small paper and pulp dust. Don't use this on a carpet as the machine leaves paper dust behind, although the carpet will help stabilize this shredder as compared to letting the wheels roll around on tile.

Despite these cons, this is still a great shredder for the price and small confetti.

This machine works great. I've had fellows shredders in the past and Aurora makes a much better machine. I bought this because my 10 year old Aurora died but I probably burned it out as I had it doing the work of a much bigger shredder. Non stop shredding for hours at a time. This model shreds the pieces really small so you don't have to empty it too often and the motor is pretty quit.