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63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great value in a competent home office shredder, January 30, 2006
Our old shredder cut paper in strips 1/4" wide, the length of the paper. Although far better than not shredding, a very patient individual could reconstruct readable documents from these strips. This shredder cuts paper into 3/16" x 1" pieces, plus the ends are angled and ragged. This makes it highly unlikely that anyone would even attempt to reassemble a cross-cut document, much less one document from among hundreds of pages of co-mingled confetti. So, if you're serious about shredding, buy a cross-shredder device. In addition to paper, this thing utterly destroys CDs and credit cards - as the pieces are 3/16" wide, but even shorter than 1".
The shredder is shipped in the factory box, with large Kapox protectors at each end, with the device itself wrapped in plastic, for more protection. Our unit arrived unscathed. It comes fully assembled. Plug it in and go. The instruction "manual" is very thin, but this device isn't complicated. Remove any glue after peeling off the label, with paint thinner - quick, and zero damage.
This shredder has only three buttons. On/off, forward, and reverse. The on-off button's green LED illuminates when it's on; this means the device is ready to be fed paper. The motor starts when it senses something in the input slot. The forward and reverse buttons are only necessary when it overloads (i.e., paper stops feeding).
Our home-office has hardwood floors, and rolling the Royal about on its four casters is a cinch. Each caster can be locked, if you want the unit to stay put. The all matte-black plastic construction is attractive. It stops working when the integral bin is full. It's simple to empty - pull the bin out with the handle and dump/recycle the chopped-up remains. The bin has to be fully inserted to resume shredding.
From an electrical point of view, this shredder doesn't even register 1 watt (on a Kill-A-Watt meter), while in "ready" status, and draws variable wattage when in use, depending on the load. E.g., one sheet of paper draws about 35 watts and a full load (chopping up a CD) draws 273 watts. Since it uses almost no measurable electricity at idle, it would seem that the principle reason to turn the device off is if small children are in the house. On that note, the feed slots are designed so little fingers can't (shouldn't?) fit - however, you never know what a kid might do.
We're very satisfied with the 160MX for our home office, but don't confuse Royal's sales-pitch of "office ready" as meaning it's OK for any office (e.g., a small business). That may not be the case because of sheet-capacity, the 10-minute-maximum run-time, and/or it's plastic (although solid) construction. Instructions say to let the motor cool for 30 minutes after 10 minutes of use at maximum capacity; however, the motor doesn't get as hot when shedding only a few sheets at a time.
As of this writing, Amazon sells shredders from $15 to commercial-grade shredders up to $5,984. That makes this device clearly aimed at the lower end of that scale - the home-owner. Royal says it takes up to16 sheets of 20 lb. bond paper at a time. We use 24 lb. Kodak bond paper exclusively, and this shredder will only comfortably take about 10 sheets of that weight paper at a time. More than that and it just stops, requiring use of the reverse button or pulling the partially shredded paper out, then re-feeding less thickness. Because of this, it's easier to just stay below the maximum when feeding it.
The LCD display is blank when off, or says "ready auto", "forward", "reverse", "bin full", "overload", or "overheat". Technically, this machine doesn't "jam", so there's no indicator for that - instead, if you exceed its capacity to pull in material and shred it, an "overload" results and the motor stops. The instructions do no mention periodic maintenance as being required.
The 5-star rating is because this an excellent choice for a home-office, and based on the competition in this price range, an excellent value. I.e., we couldn't find another model with comparable features for near this price.
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
perfect SOHO shredder, October 20, 2005
I purchased the Royal 160MX crosscut shredder to replace a Boston strip shredder that I have used for years at home for small office/home office needs. I wanted a quality crosscut shredder for added security. I also wanted one that could shred more documents at one time and handle CDs. The Royal 160MX fits the bill.
I compared the Royal 160MX with comparably-priced Fellowes shredders, and there was no comparison. You get much more for your money with the Royal.
The 160MX arrives completely assembled. The packing is good -- no damage from shipping. All you do is remove the plastic bag surrounding the shredder and plug it in. It's ready to go. The motor is heavy -- it definitely feels up to the task -- and it sits atop a plastic housing with a removable basket. The housing has casters so it can be rolled around easily, and there are handles on the sides for easy carrying if necessary. The shredder has a big easily-removable basket to catch the shredded material. The shredder will not operate unless the basket is pushed completely into place, which is a nice safety feature. There is a large opening to feed documents for shredding -- this unit can handle up to 16 documents at one time with continuous shredding at max capacity up to 15 minutes. There is an LCD display to let you know if the unit is jammed or overheated, and it will also tell you if the basket needs to be emptied. I shredded numerous documents and credit card receipts, and the pieces are so small that one can feel secure that no one is going to gain any meaningful information from them. Unlike other shredders I considered, the Royal 160MX does not require any periodic oiling.
Bottom line: excellent shredder for home or small office usage. Highly recommended and well worth the price paid ($139.95).
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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If it could speak, it would say, "FEED ME!!!!", August 31, 2005
This thing is hungry for junk mail. It'll gobble up those credit card applications right in the envelope they come in. You'll have no reason not to securely dispose of all of that stuff. The construction seems very solid. Mine was shipped in the retail packaging which was beat to heck when it got here, but the shredder itself was unscathed and functions perfectly. It sits on four locking casters, has some serious steel inards, and has a built in bin to catch the aftermath. Curious fingers are relatively safe as removing the bin cuts power to the unit. It's got a two prong polarized plug. The display indicates: "Ready Auto", "Forward", "Reverse", "Bin Full" and, I would imagine, some sort of jam message. Although, I doubt if you'd ever jam this thing while following the 16 sheet guideline. The display also will indicate an "Overheat" condition, but only if you're stuffing the shredder with 16 sheets at a time continuously for 10 minutes or more. Just let it cool down for 30 minutes and it's ready to go again. And for those of you who need to destroy "sensitive" data on CD or DVD, this will take care of it. Time will tell if it's going to last, but I generated three lawn bags full of shreddings the first afternoon I had this with no problem.
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