Good for light use only. Prepare to throw away in a couple years.

I got this as a Christmas present in 2005. Christmas 2006 is was still working but not properly. Christmas 2007 it was totally broken and I had to throw it in the trash.

I was disappointed from day 1 with the number of pages it could shred at a time. It was rated for 8 pages but it really could only handle 5 or 6 pages at a time without making funny sounds and slowing down significantly.

I use the shredder to chop up any paper (junk mail, old bills, etc) for my compost pile, so I do a fair amount of shredding. The shredder ended up catching pieces of paper up inside of the motor housing. The paper build up and built up and broke the motor.

The shredder had a nice automatic turn on feature, where it would sense if there was paper in the path of the teeth (i.e. you put paper into the feeder slot) and automatically turn on until the path was clear (i.e. the paper was completely through the shredder). However, with the buildup of paper inside the motor housing, the shredder didn't ever turn off in this mode.

The shredder has a bin in the bottom that catches to shredded pieces. The top houses the motor and the shredding teeth, and is removed for emptying the bin. There is an excellent SAFETY mechanism that automatically stops the shredder teeth when the top is even partially removed from the bin. There is also a flap that hangs down to prevent you from sticking your hand in the bin and touching the back side of the shredder teeth. If you really tried hard, you could possibly get your fingers caught in the teeth, but they try really hard to prevent that from happening.

The top must be removed to empty the bin. The top is very heavy -- it has a motor in it! -- and can be difficult to maneuver and reposition onto the bin after emptying. This is not for the elderly whose coordination and strength may not be what it used to be.

Also, when you remove the top, you have to put it down. Every time you do so, little scraps of paper drop on the floor (come out of the back side of the shredder teeth). Just be prepared to clean up this mess.

Aside from the product breaking on me, it was a useful tool to have in the house. For most lightweight household use where you are only shredding the documents most critical to securing your identity and bank accounts, it is likely good enough. The rest of your junk mail and other paper waste, take to the recycling bin.