Ratings: Ease of Use, Performance: 25/25, Look & Feel: 25/25, Features 21/25, How much I enjoy 25/25
Total: 96/100
The Fellowes Powershred series of home and home office shredders is what any person that wants the security of shredding documents and other personal information in their home. With today’s rise in identity theft and the constant need to keep not only your personal information secure but the confidentiality of your clients and work relations the need to shred papers and even CD’s and DVD’s is important.
In a home you get mail everyday with personal information and those annoying credit card applications. The information is right on the front of many of these applications to give thieves a head start in stealing your identity so shredding this evidence of who you are is important. In a home business the papers and client information that you use are also important to keep from getting into others hands.
A simple strip shredder is no longer the best option as you can imagine. The finer cut and smaller pieces of a confetti shredder is what you want and need to ensure your private information is secure when it is sitting out on the end of your driveway waiting for the garbage truck.
The Powershred series of shredders from Fellowes not only securely shreds your papers and mail into one by one eighth inch strips so that piecing together any one piece of mail or paper is extremely difficult but shreds credit cards and discs as well. Add this to the fact that you are shredding papers, junk mail and anything else you want to shred and just finding that one piece that fits with the next is almost impossible.
The safety concerns of identity theft are one area that Fellowes has spent a lot of effort and hard work but also the safety of users and those in the immediate area of their products are also there. Fellowes has added numerous safety devices to their shredders to ensure pets and small children do not get hurt near their products.
The Safe Sense Technology that prevents the shredder from shredding things like fingers works very well. An adult could probably not get their fingers into the area of a shredder where the blades are but a child or even a pet could. The sensor bar is just inside the lip of the shredder where the paper goes in and stops the shredder from running when fingers or other body parts get near.
When you read the instructions this is the first thing they tell you to check out and verify the operation before shredding the first junk mail. You just do a quick check by placing a finger near the slot and see that it does shut off. Don’t worry about actually shredding a body part though, the actual cutting blades are more than an inch in from this slot.
The Powershred PS-77Cs is a very good shredder for getting rid of all that evidence, okay not the top secret stuff but it does an exceptional job at shredding credit cards, mail and papers. The PS-77Cs shreds using blades that cut the papers and other materials into a confetti mix that is about an inch long and 1/8 of an inch wide.
When you shred CD and DVD discs it also cuts them exactly the same but the ends of each piece will be curled up. The Powershred PS-77Cs does an excellent job on credit cards and CD’s to make sure no one can read the numbers on the card. I shredded several older cards that I have had replaced and had a hard time reading the numbers on the card when I had the pieces of just one card in front of me.
Add to the fact that you are shredding your CD or card to the fact that you are shredding all kinds of other papers and junk mail and you would have a hard time picking out any two pieces of mail that used to be the same one. The mix of confetti that winds up in the bin is so mixed up just when you shred it but then just dump it into a bag it really gets the pieces stirred up. Finding the pieces of those credit cards when I shredded several and then a couple of CD’s and then junk mail was hard to even find two pieces of one card that I could identify as the same card.
Once the shredder shreds the papers it is every easy to mix or stir the container of papers shreds to even further confound anyone attempting to steal your identity by piecing together your shreds. When you do shred other things like newspaper ads and junk mail the mix looks like confetti from New Years Eve and identifying anything is difficult. The bin is easy to use and stirring the contents quickly before dumping into a bag or garbage is simple.
Using the Fellowes Powershred PS-77Cs is very simple, plug it in after snapping the head onto the base and insert the bin. Turn on the power switch to the I or on position and test the Safe Sensor bar to make sure the sensor works and correctly shuts off the shredder. Then insert junk mail and such to see the confetti pile up.
The bin has a handy window so when it gets close to full you can see and empty the bin. You can also use plastic bags inside the bin that you purchase from Fellowes or even your local grocery or department store. The regular 13 gallon kitchen bags fit nicely and do not interfere with any operations of the shredder such as the bin switch or the regular shredding. You just have to check more often to see if it is full when using those white bags or just find clear plastic bags to use.
The shredder does an excellent job of shredding papers, newspapers and mail. You can shred some pretty hefty things like small catalogs and such without having to remove the staples. I shredded papers more than twelve pieces in a stack without problems but my shredder was new and to use the shredder so that you don’t wear it out you should stick to limiting it to 12 pages or less.
If the shredder jams the reverse works very well to remove the jam easily. I shredded some catalogs and other items and jammed the thing to see if it would easily clear and I had no problems getting the stacks of papers out. I folded and jammed mail and catalogs in and had no problem getting them through and most of the time they shredded without jamming as long as I did not put a large stack in.
I also had no problem with the shreds jamming the inside or hanging down from the cutting blades like I have seen on other shredders. The blades stay nicely clear after shredding papers, mail and other things for simple shredding in your home, home office or small business.
It is pretty easy to just tear a catalog in half and shred it a bit at a time so the shredder doesn’t get overworked. And speaking of over working the shredder you should oil your shredder very often to eliminate the wear problem and clogging of the shredder blades the tiny pieces of paper can cause in the cutting blades.
Oil the shredder using Fellowes or other shredder oil by just squirting some into the slot or on some paper and then running the shredder in forward and reverse for several seconds. This will lubricate the blades and remove those tiny pieces of paper so you have a good long life with your Fellowes paper shredder.
The manual as well as several internet websites recommend using special shredder oil and not just motor oil or other lubricant on your shredder. The oil is designed for the special cutting blades and the paper removal of the shredder and using other oils may damage the shredder and cause it problems.
I have been using the shredder, and having to keep the kids from shredding everything in sight, for a couple of weeks and have enjoyed the added security and ease of use of the Fellowes shredder. Shredding all those credit card applications and other papers I don’t want others getting their hands on is easy and quick and with my own home business the shredder gets used plenty.
I highly recommend the Fellowes Powershred PS-77Cs shredder for a great shredder for home and small business use. If you have other specific uses for a shredder the entire Fellowes Powershred line use the same technology and quality manufactured parts so check out their line of shredders at Fellowes.com.
