Review of Executive Machines EPS-511X Crosscut Shredder

A nurse was leaving the hospital one evening when she found the doctor standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.
"Listen", said the doctor, "this is important and my assistant has left. Can you make this thing work?"

"Certainly", said the nurse, flattered that the doctor had asked her for help.

She turned the machine on, inserted the paper and pressed the start button.

"Excellent! Excellent!" said the doctor as his paper disappeared inside the machine.

"I need two copies of that"

Sometimes you just have ONE of those days! You feel like you've been shredded up in a million pieces and spit out.

Well, think of what the average piece of bank credit card application junk mail must have to endure: stuffed into an envelope, stamped and to the post office to be thrown through machines which will sort and send it on its way, sometimes thousands of miles to my mailbox.

So what happens to it, then? I come home and say, "oh no, that's the 179th credit card application I've received in three days!" Upstairs to my trusty, Executive Machines shredder. I think I hear the paper scream as it enters the blades, "but I have 1.9% interest!!!"

I had no IDEA there were SO many shredders on the market!

There's different types of shredders?
Yup.
Strip-cut shredders will cut the paper into long thins trips of paper.
Cross-cut shredders provide more security in shredding because they cut the paper across and down creating confetti type strips.

The Executive Machines model we purchased on sale for $30 is a cross-cut shredder. It cuts strips into an average of 3/16" x 1-3/16" but your experience may vary. I haven't actually measured the strips. I have to trust the instructions to tell me. And you know what? I don't really care about the size that much. As long as no one will go through the trash and start trying to tape the credit card applications back together!

Some models will allow you to shred DVD/CD's and credit cards. I wish ours could do that. Our little old machine is supposed to shred up to 5 sheets of 20lb bond paper. It struggles with shredding one of the credit card applications folded in half.

No need to turn me on baby! I'm on AUTOMATIC!
Normally the shredder is on automatic so as soon as you start to feed a document, the machine jumps into life and eats it up, waiting to be fed some more. But there is an on/off button which is also used for a manual "Clear" and "Reverse" feature. The Clear button clears the opening in case excess paper is left in the shredder. The Reverse button is used when something has jammed. It reverses the cutter blades to try to clear the jam. Generally, the only time the shredder will jam is when the basket is too full and paper backs up.

Does Size Matter?
I have no idea! But you probably want to know the dimensions of this little office product. BTW, I would definitely say "HOME" office product. This is not meant for any kind of heavy duty frequent shredding. We bought it mostly to make sure the credit card applications we get in the mail are shredded properly.

The unit weighs a little more than twice the combined weight of my twins when they were born: 9 pounds. For those who are conscious of space considerations, the dimensions are 12.6x7.1x15"

The basket holds 3.2 gallons (12 liters) and considering that this is NOT used in a commercial office environment we can go a month or so before needed to empty the paper.

There is a One-Year Limited Warranty on the machine.

Final Thoughts
This isn't a BAD machine for the occasional home use. I do wish it was more powerful and had a credit card shredder feature. I haven't had any maintenance problems with it.