Aurora AU870MA High-Security 8-Sheet Micro-Cut Paper Credit Card Shredder Black

I bought this over 4 years ago, and though I don't shred paper all that often, it is still doing an amazing job. I've never had an issue with it jamming or struggling to shred what I've put in. It has shredded its fair share of credit cards, large documents, and miscellaneous papers, and I expect (and hope) that it will last many more years. The shreds are thorough and not something even the most avid puzzler could reassemble (this is coming from someone who enjoys a good puzzle). Though the price has gone up since I purchased it, it was well worth it and I would definitely buy it again or recommend it to someone that is looking for a decent shredder at home.

I've had this shredder for 5 years and it still works great! I do not shred papers every day but when I do use it, I am shredding hundreds of sheets. I love the overheating feature as well, it stops when it gets too hot and needs a break.

This review is for the Aurora AU870MA High-Security 8-Sheet Micro-Cut Paper Credit Card Shredder Black. I bought this a few months ago to replace an Aurora shredder that had lasted over a decade. I had some issues at first. It has to be on a stable flat surface and you feed the sheets to the right of center. I think the trick to keeping these things is do not put too many sheets in at a time - even less than the 8 specified for my unit. Also do not start a marathon shredding session or it will overheat and hopefully shut down before you damage it. I never oiled my previous shredder so am not sure about the instructions to put oil on this one.

I bought this to replace a very reliable strip shredder that has done a good job for years. Faced with deleting 6 years of personal financial records I needed something that could do as good a job for more than 3 pages at a time without frequently overheating or jamming. The basic shredding machine part works well. The top handle which is easy to miss if you don't read the manual is strong enough to support the heavy machine, and comfortable enough to lift it one handed. If you don't overfill it, and you run the machine in reverse for 15 seconds, it lifts off with no residue on its underside. It has an automatic paper sense and a container safety switch that prevents it from working if not tightly fitted to its catch bin. It will shred approximately 200 letter size pages between emptying, and has no difficulty with standard office staple or credit cards with chips. It can shred 8 sheets of fresh 20# copy paper, although its motor ran louder as I increased the number from 3 to 8. I found that it has a harder time with older records. I had to limit those to 5-6 sheets at a time. I was able to shred batches of 100 sheets with natural breaks of 2-3 seconds without it overheating in an 85F non-airconditioned room. This shredder does that, but it has what I consider a very annoying flaw. With little or no encouragement, it falls over where my previous shredder didn't. WHEN it falls over, home vacuum cleaner has a hard time collecting the micro-shreds and paper dust it creates. I tried bracing the back against the wall, which helped until the torque of the motor made the narrow base creep toward the wall and it tipped over -twice. The second time the machine detached from the base and spilled shreds and dust across the floor. When I tried vacuuming it some of the paper dust was lifted into the air by the brushes and scattered wider by the exhaust. I like the shredder enough that I'm going to fasten it against a wall or table leg with a tether strap like B008RIUTX0 or B09MZDK9Y2. I suggest that if you get the same design unit that you do the same.

Overall extremely satisfied with this shredder. It says 8-sheet but I found its most efficient putting 3-4 sheets in at a time because for 5+ sheets it shreds slowly. Since the blades continuously rotate once you've put in paper, you can keep inserting 3-4 sheet packets back-to-back. It takes a LONG while before the shredder overheats so you can get a lot of bulk shredding done in one sitting (I had years of papers to shred, so this feature was a real time-saver). It really does take around 30-40 minutes before its cooled down and you can continue shredding. When it does overheat, whatever paper was going through will just stop where it is in the feeder until the machine cools and it will allow you to continue shredding. Because of the safety features you have to use the bucket they provide and it fills decently slowly, so you're not constantly emptying the bucket. You cant let the bucket fill too much unless the blades just keep rotating already cut pieces of paper around in circles. The little window on the front of the bucket really helps and makes that process easier. The shredder is quite loud. If you want to talk to someone while shredding you'll have to speak louder than normal conversational tones. And the shredder can be heard from a couple rooms away. The head of the shredder is quite heavy so be prepared for the weight when you lift it to empty the bucket. The blades are exposed on the bottom once you've lifted it off so you have to be careful not to touch them on accident. This shredder is amazing for the price and really gets the job done well and I havent had a single issue with yet. Would definitely buy it again!

I purchased this shredder for my home office, as a replacement for an older shredder that still worked, but didn't have the crosscut feature. The newer shredder is smaller, I was a little disappointed about that, but like the Little Engine that Could, this little shredder is a hard worker! I've got many years' worth of papers to shred (insert embarrassment) so I was concerned about it overheating and needing to shut down at certain intervals - stopping my progress. The top gets warm but it hasn't shut down yet! The crosscut is perfect. I'm not concerned about identity theft. The noise of the shredder is a little louder than I'd like but it's tolerable. There is a sensor at the top, which recognizes even the smallest receipt and it starts the motor for shredding and will continue until the item is either removed from the detection area, or reinserted properly. I wouldn't say it shreds 8 pages at a time, but 4-5 pages - yes. Safety - I believe the insertion space is too small for curious, little fingers but it's good to be careful. The top of the shredder has a built-in lip over the insertion section which should prevent injury to small, curious hands that want to "help" shred. There is also a feature that allows the shredder to remain on to automatically shred instead of having to turn it off and on. If children are unattended, there is the risk of injury, which would not be the shredder's fault - watch your children around any shredder! Stability - The built-in lip is also connected to the hand grip (great feature) and motor which makes it pretty heavy to lift with 1 hand and stops it from moving around while shredding but also makes the tip-ability (made up word) higher. The catching basket is very lightweight plastic and can be easily tipped when the lid is not in place which could create a mess and give access to the super sharp, multiple rows of teeth. Value for the money - definitely a smart purchase, I would recommend it for big and small jobs.

I purchased this Aurora 8 sheet shredder after spending a great amount of time researching and reading reviews. This shredder is replacing a Fellowes 11C shredder that we had for years so I wanted to be sure that I was getting something comparable. I've been using this shredder nonstop for 5 days now and I am quite happy with it. When shredding, I would not recommend placing 8 sheets of paper (as noted in the product description) into the feeder because the motor slows down and it seems to struggle a bit... I would suggest 6 sheets max or the equivalent of that if you're shredding card stock or similar. Although this shredder has been in constant use since I received it 5 days ago, it has not shut off due to overheating... most likely because when I feel that the unit is warm, I stop shredding in order to give it a rest. The only con is the sturdiness (or lack thereof) of the wastebasket... it seems a little flimsy compared to the weight of the housing unit which contains the motor and the blades. It doesn't seem as if it'll collapse under the weight of the housing unit but the flimsiness is a bit odd. Maybe this is the reason that this shredder costs a little less than a Fellowes. Overall, I'm pleased with this shredder and it is doing a great job.

We shred things regularly and when our shredder of 15+ years had the nerve to just quit one day, we went in search of a new one and, based mostly on customer reviews, bought this Aurora model. The shredder is very easy to use (on/off/auto) and is holding up very, very well. It has never jammed on us, not even when we first got it and deemed it time to clean out the filing cabinet which resulted in my husband spending two days shredding paper that resulted in four- yes, FOUR- garbage bags full of the clippings. Because this is a cross-cut shredder, the clippings are like accordion paper pellets, quite different than the long shreds that a regular shredder creates. The garbage bags looked and felt like bean bag chairs which was actually pretty cool so I thought 'What could we do with these?' Answer: give them to my extremely brilliant SIL who is a crafting genius to make something mind-blowing and wonderful. But our very old dog had other plans. The next day while we were out shopping Daisy decided to liberate the shredder pellets from their confinement and set them free. All over the sun-room. Every. Single. Bag. There she was when we returned, sprawled out happily among the emancipated Shreddites looking awfully pleased with herself, tail thumping in a full-on wag. But those eyes melted us... we couldn't be mad at her... she was ancient at the time and it was the most puppy playfulness we'd seen from her in ages. But yikes what a mess... Anyway, the product continues to perform flawlessly and we are very pleased and would absolutely purchase this again.