Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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81 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Shredder, April 1, 2008
I have had the Fellowes Intellishred PS-79Ci Shredder for one week. I have used it on several occassions for up to 15 minutes of intermittent shredding and it has worked flawlessly.
I have shredded up to 12 sheets of paper at one time (shredder works a little harder but still smoothly shreds), a couple of credit cards and approximately 15 CD/DVD disks. The operation with paper and credit cards is surprisingly quiet. You could probably shred with someone sleeping in the next room and not wake them. The noise level (dB) is probably doubled when shredding a computer disk, but it still is quieter than any other shredder I've worked with.
One time the shredding process stopped with paper still sticking up above the shredder. I had a pair of 8-10 bank checks, side by side, so that a total of 16-20 total checks were being shredded at one time. I thought that since the checks took only a fraction of the available space for feeding in paper that I could shred two stacks at one time. Well, the shredder stopped. I pressed the reverse button for a couple of seconds, then the forward button until all the checks were gobbled up. No further misfires since then, even doing the same thing again with checks.
Everything functions as Fellowes states. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a small bottle of oil and several clear waste bags. The bags work great. The operating manual is brief but answers some essential questions like what to do with shredding malfunctions, what not to shred, how long to shred and maintenance. While Fellowes tells you when to oil (at every waste bag exchange), Fellowes could have detailed exactly how to use their oil. Hopefully Fellowes technical support will be helpful when a question arises.
Shredded material size is as stated and is the same for paper as well as computer discs and credit cards. There are units with more finely shredded material, and there are many units that do not shred as small. A motivated thief with patience and plenty of time could reconstruct most any retail shredder's output. That said, a thief would most likely dumpster dive for someone else's unshredded documents before sifting through your well shredded ones. Overall, I feel reasonably comfortable with the level of security of the shredded material with this unit.
The construction and design appear to be of excellent quality with appropriate ruggedness. There is no bowing or undue flexibility of the frame when the drawer is out as has been commented on with the Fellowes Powershred PS-77Cs Shredder. The castors are resonably medium duty and can lock down to keep the unit from rolling away. The shredder without the castors sits flat and stable.
Would be nice to know about the quality of the internal parts. I have read that some machines use plastic toothed gears which have higher/earlier failure rates than metal ones. At least this shredder has a two year warranty for the entire unit, which is twice many competing machines.
Overall, the PS-79Ci shredder is an excellent unit, working exactly as advertised. The Fellowes website has a nice multimedia presentation on the operations of this unit, including the noise level. I haven't had this unit for very long but I am extremely pleased so far with its performance and fit and finish. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light to medium duty shredder for home or home-office, especially if they want a longer warranty, low noise operation, very good build quality and plenty of whistles and bells that actually are useful and work.
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FELLOWES CUSTOMER SERVICE, June 13, 2008
I had such a rare customer service experience I could not let it pass without a public compliment. In a nutshell, I wrote to Fellowes complaining about a problem I encountered with two shredders. I did not ask for anything, but I wanted someone to know that there was a problem with the shredder.
To my utter surprise, I was contacted directly by Mr. Fellowes and without excuses, recognized the problem and solved it on the spot.How refreshing it is to deal with a company that where the principal is directly involved and customer service is not farmed out to some third party in a foreign country.
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54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Shreds Great - but check out the overall design, October 25, 2008
I just unboxed the shredder last night, so the review is fresh from one night's use. I am stepping up from a lightweight waste basket top unit. The many reviews touting the shredding head are correct, I am commenting on the design subtleties.
* There are no instructions in the owner's manual for oiling the shredder. It is stated that the shredder should be oiled with every empting, but the how and where are not stated.
* This puppy is a significant piece of office equipment. Previously, I would put the shredder head in a drawer, and pull it out every week or so for a shredding session. The PS-79Ci works best when sitting on the floor, and as such you must commit a chunk of floor space for the shredder. I opted not to use the included casters.
* There are two on and off switches. You must first have the power rocker switch turned on, and then you activate the shredder control micro switches with a front-panel push button. Sometimes simple is easier. Why not have just one switch that turns everything on and off?
* The owner's manual has no recommendations as to the electrical state in which to leave the shredder between uses.
* When the cutter is activated with the front-panel push button, a brilliant blue LED comes on. This light is bright enough to serve as a replacement nightlight in my home office.
* The shredder comes with a couple plastic bags for the paper bin. I found that the shape of the paper bin did not accommodate the bag very well. The bags are also a stiffer plastic that does not conform to the bin interior, and the bag itself takes up a lot of volume. I wound up pitching the bags, for they don't work as wastepaper can liners due to their shape.
* The bin takes a fair amount of force to remove and replace. I found that I needed two hands to get the bin to snap back in place. One hand is needed to push the bin while the other hand holds the shredder. This situation would be more pronounced if the casters were installed. It would be nice if bin replacement was a one-handed operation.
* Shredded paper builds vertically above the bin level. You must first settle the pile, getting it below the bin top, before completely removing the bin. If you just yank the bin out, you may wind up with confetti all over the floor.
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