BONSEN 20-Sheet Heavy Duty Paper Shredder

This shredder just keeps going. I have been using this shredder for a couple weeks. I filled up 17 x 30-gallon trash bags. It never jammed and it never overheated. Good solid choice for home office or small business.

I received my shredder today and just finished running about 800 pages through it. Here’s my review:

Delivery – it came next day and looked new.

Assembly – there’s nothing to do, just plug the power cord in and start shredding!

Controls – my power button is a bit wonky, like I need to jiggle it a little to get it to come on. I almost returned it but decided to take my chances as I never turn my shredder off. Also the blue light below the Bonson logo doesn’t work. Not sure if it’s supposed to, but I’m actually glad it doesn’t because it seems distracting. I’d have taken half a star off for these two things, but don’t feel they justified a full star.

Burning smell – other reviewers mentioned this, but I think it’s just the oil/grease. It smelled no different than other shredders I’ve used in the past.

Paper thickness – it’s rated at 20 pages of 20# paper. I was shredding old bank statements that were thicker and was getting ~12 pages. Which for me was plenty.

Speed – it takes around 7 seconds for a batch. Again, plenty fast for me.

Capacity – the bin is awesomely big, and the shreds are really fine and self-pack pretty well. I’d say I’m getting 2.5x the capacity of my old Staples 12-sheet shredder.

Bin – I LOVE the pull-out bin. So much less drama and mess than my old shredder where I’d have to life and balance the shredder head with every emptying. It also self-aligns really nicely, so no fuss getting it back after emptying.

Bin Full – this shredder does NOT have a bin full indicator. Instead you look through the peephole and make the call. I made the mistake of shredding well past full and it just kept going, and packed the paper pretty tightly while increasingly making straining noises. I actually LIKE that there’s no bin full warning (my old one would annoying trigger at half-full), so now that I know this I’ll just keep an eye through the peephole.

Bags – I read other reviews and decided to go bagless. It does a good job like this, and is overall less dusty than my old shredder. That said, it does have some internal hooks if I ever wanted to use a bag.

Messiness – I’ve yet to have a perfectly clean emptying, but I’m getting close. I think it’s possible with this shredder.

Construction – some reviewers complained about it being too thin, but I think it’s fine and it will last. I wouldn’t put this into a busy office, but for home office or small office with careful officemates, I think there’s no issue.

Noise – definitely quieter than what I’m used to. I could easily have a conversation while using it.

Power Cord – it’s a little over 5 feet long. But the GREAT thing is that it’s a standard PC/montior power cord, so if you need longer you can order a replacement for a few bucks and it’ll plug right in (just be sure to get a heavier gauge if you’re going really long).

Oiling – manual recommends once a month. I use shredder oil and it goes into the slot easily with no mess.

Looks – utilitarian and optimized for its purpose. Which, for a paper shredder, is what you want.

I can’t believe I wrote so much about a shredder; hopefully this helps someone! I’ll post back/lower my rating in case there are any issues I come across in the future. But overall, I feel this was a good value for a “prosumer” level product.

Ordered this to shred a 13 gallon kitchen trash can filled with paper containing personal information, old tax returns, etc. I ordered some oil to go along with this shredder. I shredded enough paper to fill four (4) garbage bags in about 3.5 hours total over two (2) shredding sessions. The shredder never overheated and chewed through the reams of paper and staples without issue (no jams). I tried emptying the bin into a garbage bag without much success. It was quicker for me to open the bin and just scoop the paper into the garbage bag and then continue shredding. Every other bin empty I lined a piece of paper with oil edge to edge and ran through the shredder. After shredding I used the vacuum to clean up the mess that I made that took longer to unwind the cord and rewind onto the vacuum. This fellow now is setting nicely under my desk out of the way and will allow me to shred documents as needed without a marathon session. Also, it was quiet enough I only had to bump the TV volume up a few notches while sitting on the couch. It is plenty quiet for me.

Shreds multiple sheets with ease.