Fellowes 32197 Reviews
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Below are 5 randomly chosen reviews of Fellowes 32197 .
See all Fellowes 32197 reviews.
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Rating: 5 (excellent) 
Nickname: anonymous |
Date: 2008-05-01
Summary: Great Shredder, Great Price |
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We have been using this product now for 7 months & it is wonderful. It lives up to all our expectations & we have used it regularly with no issues. I highly recommend it & I looked many places, this was the best price by far!!!!
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Rating: 4 (good) 
Nickname: greyhater |
Date: 2008-02-19
Summary: Solid unit, but messy (and made in China). |
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Wow, is this shredder ever messy! Yeah, I read how messy it was, but until you actually see the pile left in the bottom of the base housing, you can't get a clear picture (I'm talking a handful here, sometimes more, not counting another handful or two left hanging from the shredder mechanism). The cause is simple enough. The cutter assembly (for whatever reason) leaves "gobs" of cut paper hanging down that gets partially scraped off when removing the basket ... and guess where a lot of it ends up? This might happen to other shredders with a removable basket, but I don't know this for a fact. I suspect a slightly shorter basket would help alleviate much of this problem. Still, I feel there is something basically wrong in its design to allow the amount of paper that is caught and left hanging. My old Fellowes P50CM (which I still have) doesn't have a mess problem because you lift off the head assembly to empty the basket. Plus, my old unit doesn't leave huge gobs of paper hanging down (just a few bits). Then again, my old shredder is a light-weight tinker toy (3-sheet capacity) compared to this powerhouse.
What else don't I like about it? It's pretty big, but not unreasonably so (I measured 25-1/4 H x 10-1/4 W x 18 D) and heavy, but I knew that going in. Actually it's not all that obtrusive looking and can be rolled around easily. It's also not as quiet as I had hoped (although it's not that loud). The saving grace is that as it munches through the paper the sound that it emits is at a lower frequency and not the high-pitched annoying whine of my old shredder. And the thicker the stack being shredded, the quieter the machine is. I suspect that the large housing amplifies and deepens the sound somewhat (a "tub" effect). I also wish the paper slot was a little longer (it is 9-inches long, which is the same as my old unit, so care needs to be taken, especially with legal documents -- a very small tilt when loading and the paper will bind up at the corners). There is also no window to see how quickly the basket is filling up (it would be blocked by the solid plastic basket anyway). Instead, this unit use a sensor. An indicator lights up when the basket is full (too full IMO, causing more paper to gather at the blades). As a safety feature it will not allow you to continue shredding without emptying the basket or mashing the paper down (nor will it operate without the drawer being fully seated). Since a small amount of sheet paper creates a large volume of cut paper (I estimate you can shred about one ream of paper per basket of shreds), I recommend not relying on the indicator light. I partially pull out the drawer and check it often since it can fill up the generous sized basket in a hurry (of course, that probably leads to more spillage).
The unit itself, while no beauty, isn't unattractive (it actually looks like its picture -- some will like it, some won't). It came fully assembled, including the casters, so all one has to do is lift it out of the box, unwrap the protective material, and roll it to where you want it used. It comes pre-oiled as it should (I could readily smell the oil when unpacking) and is ready to tear into your reams of paper (after you have read the instruction sheet, which is inside the basket along with the oil and plastic bags). Since it requires you to add oil through the paper slot, getting the right amount of oil and full coverage is a hit and miss prospect. It is recommended that you do this procedure (oil, shred a sheet of paper and hit reverse for 3 seconds, then repeat the procedure) at the end of each basket full of shredding. You gotta be kidding me! Twice per basket? That's a lot of oil (so order the larger bottle to go along with what the manufacturer supplies). I think I'll be ordering the oil sheets in the near future and try them out or just go to the grocery store and buy some vegetable oil (I wonder how much vegetable oil I can buy for $6.99?).
Shredding? This is what it's all about, and this shredder does it well. I haven't tried the limit yet (17 sheets of 20-pound bond) to test out its claim that it won't jam, but since it had absolutely no problem tearing through 12 to 14 sheets of 24-pound bond, 17 sheets of regular paper should be a cinch. Even more impressive, I didn't hear it bogging down whatsoever, and 24-pound bond is pretty hefty paper. I ended up filling up 3 baskets of paper in one sitting (I could have shredded more) without it turning off (my old unit would shut itself down in about 2 minutes or less). While it's no speed demon, it does cut through paper reasonably fast (12 sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 paper in about 5 seconds per pass), but really it's no faster than my old unit, and may even be a second slower (of course it cuts through 5 or 6 times as much paper per pass!). It also took care of a couple of old credit cards without issue. I haven't chewed up a CD yet, but have no doubts it will work fine (you slide the credit card feeder over the paper slot to cut CDs or credit cards). It also comes with a touch sensor. If your fingers touch the metal at the opening the unit stops until you remove your fingers. Yes, it works. It looks to be kid proof (but don't let your children near it).
How secure are the shreds? Secure enough for me (surprisingly, my old shredder cut the paper into lengths half the size -- about 3/4-inch lengths instead of this shredder's 1-1/2-inch lengths). If someone wants to go through my garbage and try to piece these bits back together, be my guest. If you are looking for extreme security (and quietness ... or so I've read), then you might be better off with the MS-450CS or the more expensive MS-460CS -- the cuts are amazingly small -- little more than 1/4-inch long. I almost purchased the 460, but wanted to chew through twice as much paper on a single pass (I have boxes full of old documents and manuscripts that I need to get rid of).
So far, the SB-97CS has fulfilled most of my expectations (I've had this for only a week, but I've worked it very hard). It's a nice, solid unit that's fairly attractive and "reasonably" quiet in a carpeted room (I'm judging this against my older shredder that is a real screecher), but make no mistake, it is messy (have your vacuum cleaner ready) and it leaves far too much paper hanging from the shredder assembly mechanism.
So what do I rate it? Between 1 and 10, I'd rate this product a 7 (or a marginal 4 stars, which means I think it's a good product). It cuts through a lot of paper effortlessly, and doesn't shut down every few minutes (it is rated for 20 minutes of continuous use, but I have yet to test that). The SB-97CS seems like it would be a solid workhorse in most homes or small office environments. Since my older and cheaper Fellowes shredder is still going (and I didn't even bother to oil it) I expect this one will last (but only time will tell). However, once I get rid of all my stored documents in a few weeks, I might be wishing I had opted for the MS-460 (sigh ... the grass is always greener...).
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Rating: 5 (excellent)
Nickname: anonymous |
Date: 2007-04-04
Summary: This shredder is better than advertised |
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I have burned through three shredders. Each time buying a higher capacity model. I have finally found a shredder that can keep up with my needs. This shredder can eat paper to its advertised capacity and then some. It has the most safety features I have had on a shredder. I am sure I will not work this one to an early retirement. Shredders are notoriously nasty to clean and this one is no exception. The bin full is a little late, so when you pull the bin out, it still drags paper over the bin and into the stand. Cleaning out the inside of the stand is more difficult becase the walls are not smooth, and you have to sweep around the reinforcement mouldings. This would be a simple task with a vacuum, however, you may just be transferring the problem. In short, the shredder is virtually indestructible, but I would like to see a little better design for the inside of the cabinet.
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Rating: 5 (excellent)
Nickname: angelafrew |
Date: 2008-06-27
Summary: great value |
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This shredder really does perform well for my small office - I don't use it constantly, but when I do, it never fails.
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Rating: 5 (excellent)
Nickname: anonymous |
Date: 2008-07-13
Summary: Good Product |
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Got tired of shredding every individual sheet of paper received in the mail. No problems now! It chomps through multi-layers. Saves me time and frustration. I am very happy with this machine, it does what it said it would do. I'm happy!
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