Aurora AU120MA 120-Sheet Auto Feed High Security Micro-Cut Paper Shredder / 30 Minutes (Black)

Worth the price! Works great, relatively quiet and cuts documents into tiny pieces. The only issue for me was the top control panel is a bit heavy and emptying the bin is a little cumbersome an awkward. The size is good, does not take up much space and fits well into a home office. The power cord is a bit short, a longer cord would would be a bonus. Be careful when moving/rolling into place, it's a bit top heavy. There is a warning light that alerts you if it's becoming hot and to turn off to cool down before resuming shredding function.

I've been using this shredder for about two months. It works very well and has already saved me about $150 I would otherwise have had to pay a commercial service to shred my documents. Here are some things I've learned to do, to optimize its operation. 1. Empty the bin when it's about 2/3 full. 2. Oil the shredding teeth once a month; performance oil works better than vegetable oil. 3. To avoid jamming, don't insert more than about 10 sheets of paper at a time into the shredding slot. 4. The shredder will take CDs one at a time, but if it jams, open the lid, remove the CD, and try again. I'm not shredding CDs any more than is absolutely necessary, as the machine definitely struggles to pull them through the shredding gears. Shredded paper, CDs, etc. come out in confetti-sized pieces, which is a definite improvement on my previous strip-cut shredder. All in all, I'm very happy with this shredder and would recommend it for purchase.

This is a bit pricy and will not shred CDs but it is otherwise a solid purchase and has worked well for days at a time shredding lots of documents.

Powerful, compact, and soooo quiet! Turned boxes of old documents to confetti without a complaint. One of my best purchases this year

It shipped fully assembled and in a box well suited for rough handling. Good thing as I happened to be close to my front door when it was delivered. I heard a loud slam as if it had been dropped or tossed. After unpacking, I immediately tested it's claimed 16 sheet capacity with 'HP Office 20' paper. Confirmed. It plowed through it without a hitch. Probably capable of more. I also fed two unopened envelopes of junk mail that my previous shredder would have choked on. Both went through easily. Note that my previous shredder, a ~16yr old Fellowes MS-450Cs (now discontinued) was rated at 7-8 sheets so comparing the two isn't fair. Staples aren't a problem for this and most shredders. Probably stating the obvious, don't try shredding old *metal* bank cards. Don't ask. Plastic cards go though easily. Pox on the banks that issue metal cards. No practical reason to do so aside from what seems to be a status gimmick. Listening Amazon/Chase? Customers shouldn't have to use industrial tools to securely dispose of old cards. If you're shopping shredders, start by checking claimed continuous run time to see if that meets your needs. Many relatively inexpensive residential level shredders have very limited continuous run times before they shut down to cool. I haven't hit the cool down limit yet with the Aurora. I purchased it in large part to tackle a large shredding project, reams of paper. I'd estimate that I didn't use it for more than 30 minutes at a sitting. During these sessions, it didn't shut down to cool. Unknown if the advertised continuous runtime limit of one hour is accurate but for my needs, more than adequate. Somewhat offsetting the longer continuous run time of the Aurora is the significantly longer cool down time. The manual says it's 45 minutes which is significantly higher than many others. In comparison, my Fellowes had an 8-10 on/15 off run cycle. You'll have to factor in your usage habits and do the math to make a determination about what best suits your needs. Having a shredder that will run continuously for long periods of time without having to shut down and cool is nice. That said, if you rarely use a shredder for more than ~10 minutes at a sitting, you can save some money and buy something with a shorter continuous run time. The Aurora is marginally louder than the Fellowes it's replacing but not annoyingly so. Both are quiet compared to a couple bargain basement shredders I've used. Compared to the ~16 year old Fellowes this is replacing, it uses cheaper plastics, the slider switch (the only switch) doesn't feel like it's in it for the long haul. Loose and lacks precision. When using this switch, use care. Don't fast-slide it or use too much pressure. The Aurora slider switch makes me wonder where else they may have chosen to cut costs. A high quality rocker switch and high quality buttons such as what my Fellowes used are much more confidence inspiring for long term reliability and proved to be so during it’s ~16 years of service. The collection bin isn't as sturdy as the one in my Fellows. When removing and reinstalling the Fellowes bin, it was usually a one handed process. With the Aurora and perhaps because it's larger, it flexes a bit resulting in having to be more careful when reinstalling it. Sometimes a two handed process. Unlike my Fellowes which has two well designed feed slots (one for cards and cd/dvd's, the other for paper), the Aurora has one slot that's harder to feed paper into. It's a subtle difference but one that demonstrates the attention to detail in a Fellowes product. If you have cards and cd/dvd data disks to shred (anyone still use those?), Aurora says to use the middle area of the shredding mechanism. The Fellowes feed slots are smooth, unobstructed, beveled on both sides and low friction surfaces that makes feeding paper and plastic a smoother and less error prone process. I barely had to look at the slots when using them and rarely had to use two hands. With the Aurora, I have to pay more attention. I often have to jiggle, align and angle the paper for it to feed properly. Sometimes a two handed process. My Fellowes used a fat high quality electrical cord with a three prong plug. The Aurora uses a simple two prong plug with a flimsy two wire cord. Three prong plugs are safer if plugged directly into a wall socket. Further, if you accidentally stress the cord in the Fellowes (step on it, hit it with an office chair wheel, accidentally yank the cord out of the wall socket, etc.), it will probably survive the abuse. This Aurora may not withstand these things. Aurora recommends lubing the cutting mechanism after each filling of the bin. For most (I guess) using lube sheets from an established supplier will provide a more consistent and confidence inspiring result. Fool proof. Using oil alone isn't hard to do but it can be messy and evenly applying the right amount across the cutting mechanism requires some attention. That said, look up the 'sandwich method' for applying oil to shredders - DIY lube sheets. There are two types of lube sheets. Lubricant and lubricant with added 'grit' which supposedly sharpens the blades. I'd recommend buying both. The lube-only sheets should be your go-to. If you notice a degradation in performance, use a combo sheet to see if that helps. Insert the lube sheet, shred it and then immediately run your shredder in reverse for about 10 seconds. Done. I'm partial to to Fellowes brand lube products but I'm sure there are others. Coating the cutting mechanism with whatever you have on hand can result in shorter continuous run time, higher heat, degraded performance and a shortened service life. It may be tempting to buy a 50 pack of lube sheets from a mystery supplier for a fraction of what a name brand sells a 10 pack for but with that comes significant risk. There are good ways to save money and some very bad ways to do so. Yes, I have some buyer remorse but the overall value is solid and it's performance has been more than up to the task of what I bought it for - so far. Also, that Fellowes is a US company that manufactures at least some of their product in the US. Long term reliability? TBD. If you want the gold standard, I'd suggest Fellowes. If you're looking to save a few bucks, the Aurora is attractive. I'll update if I have any issues with it.

This is a nice home office shredder. It is a good size and shreds paper and credit cards and staples well. It does not jam much, which is good. It has a nice feature where a user can open the lid and place up to 120 sheets at a time for shredding. It shreds very small pieces, which is great for security. The only downside is the lightweight plastic design on the door. It is somewhat flimsy. Also, it would be nice to have a larger than 5-gallon waste container for larger shredding jobs. Most competitive shredders have a 6-gallon basket. Overall, I would recommend this shredder.

Cheaply built out of low quality plastic. There were loose, broken plastic parts inside the box. One of the broken plastic parts still had a metal screw inside. The feed tray was all warped and bent in weird shapes, almost as if the box had been stored in conditions too hot for the plastic. As cheap as the plastic was, I wouldn't be surprised if it warped in normal warehouse conditions. The box had a big gash along one edge of the top when I received it. The molded paper tray for securing the top of the shredder in shipping also had several gashes along it. Needless to say, I instantly started a return after unboxing it and boxed it back up. I think I'll buy my next paper shredder from a brick-and-mortar so I can inspect it for quality first. This was my first purchase of an Aurora product. Aurora just lost me as a potential customer forever.

Almost didn’t buy because of some of the negative reviews but soooo GLAD I took a chance. It is so quiet. I work from home and my old HP shredder died. I shred a lot of paper weekly. So I had around 400 pages in the shred pile before I finally ordered this one. Immediately put it to use when it arrived. Loaded several times with piles of pages (didn’t count each page but it was piles of around 50-80) and it chomped right through them. No problem at all. Never jammed once. So quiet! And when I emptied the bin, there was no mess (like with my old shredder that inevitably dumped more shredded paper out of the blades whenever you removed the bin). I absolutely recommend this shredder!