Slightly Off KIlter

(This is, of course, a desirable trait in a shredder.)

It also chews, chomps, engulfs and devours, and all with far less noise (at a
much lower pitch) than we expected.

We've been using a Royal CX7000 cross-cut shredder, a $99 model that did well
enough but had some trouble with more than 3 sheets of paper (although it
laid claim to 7). We tend to want to shred a few more sheets at a time,
possibly without unfolding them. For example, my credit card company keeps
insisting on tempting me with cash-advance checks – not something I will use;
not something I can simply toss into the recycling bin.

So, we looked on the web. We found a terrific unit that would do everything
we wanted it to do, with a hopper and everything. But, for $8000, we thought
perhaps we should keep looking 😉

Then we found the Royal 5000X, for $90, so we ordered one. It turned out the
model had been recently discontinued, but they had some factory refurbs so,
OK, we bought one of those. It arrived, we assembled it… and I simply could
NOT make it work. I kept getting paper jams.

Then (duh) we discovered the "paper tray". OK, so now it didn't jam as often,
but it appeared to want to shred perfect, flat, never folded, white printer
paper in neat stacks. I actually fed about 30 sheets through it (an early
inspection printing of my tax forms). Then I mistakenly got optimistic,
unfolded a bunch of CC checks, flattened the stack, put them in the tray,
started the shredder…

vrooommm whirrrrrr chatter rattle CRUNCH grrrrrrrrunch

Why does a shredder trying to eat paper sound like a disposal with a fork
caught in its throat?

Rich turned it over and peered at its blades (it doesn't come apart). The
teeth seem to be jammed. So the Royal 5000X is being returned as
terminally-ill-on-arrival (it's amazing how threatening a vendor with a
complaint to the CC company will oftentimes shake loose an RMA number 🙂

Last night, we stopped by Fry's to browse. There was a shredder that claimed
to do 15 sheets at a time (so it can probably do 12 🙂 as well as credit
cards or CDs (so it probably can really do 12 sheets of paper, and even the
occasional staple). We brought it home, plugged it in, and shredded my entire
accumulated stack of CC checks, 401K statements, and miscellaneous
confidential "trash".

The best feature of this shredder is that it is QUIET. It makes a low hum. It
does not make a high-pitched screal. When it's chewing papers it's actually
quieter than when it's waiting. It doesn't annoy either the humans or the
cats. We are appropriately amazed.

If you want one for yourself, it's an Aurora model AS1512X
Heavy Duty Home /
Office Paper Shredder. Approx. dimensions: 24" by 18 by 12". It has a nice
'pull out" drawer for emptying paper shreds, as well as casters for easy
moving about. Nice stainless steel finish. Not half bad to look at, actually.
It cost us $200 off the floor at Fry's.
froogle.goole shows $149 at Costco.