Prevent Identity Theft with the Fellowes Shredmate Paper Shredder

Author's Rating:

Pros: Small size to fit almost anywhere and easy to use.

Cons: Paper entry width, but it is a small personal shredder.

The Bottom Line: 
You definitely need this shredder for your home to help prevent identity theft.

Author's Review
With all the stories you here on the news about identity theft, it makes sense to get a personal shredder. We wanted to be able to shred all our old bank statements, credit card statements and all those credit card applications and special offers that seem to pour into our mailbox at an unbelievable rate so that we won't be one of the victims.

We wanted a simple shredder, we didn't need anything fancy, but we also wanted it to come from a company we could trust to make a good product, so we choose the Fellowes Shredmate Paper Shredder.

Features

Small Size - This shredder is small enough to fit on your desktop without taking up too much space. It measures 9.2" X 7.6" X 6" (measurements taken from the box).

Automatic Shredding - When the shredder is put into the Auto settings (other settings are off and reverse) the shredder will automatically start shredding the paper when it is put in the feeder.

Four Sheet Feeding Capacity - The shredder can shred up to four sheets of paper at a time. This is perfect for all those credit card offers you get in the mail and it also shreds staples, so if you have papers with staples in them, you don't have to remove them before putting them into the shredder.

Confetti Cut - Shreds paper into confetti, 5/32" x 7/8". For those of you that aren't good at estimating size by measurements, I can tell you that the paper comes out in very small confetti pieces, there is no way someone could piece them together to get any account numbers off of them.

Wastebasket - The clear wastebasket that comes with it will hold 30 to 40 shredder pages, we haven't filled it to it's capacity at any one time, we usually empty it when we're done, but Fellowes says 30 to 40 and I think that's a fairly accurate number. I like the fact that it's clear, so you can see if you need to empty it.

4.5" Paper Entry - To keep with the small size, the paper entry (feeder) is only 4.5" wide, so if you have full sized documents that you want to shred, you will have to fold them in half, but it still works great.

Overload Protection - If you happen to put too much paper into the shredder or something gets stuck, the shredder will automatically shut off so it won't burn it up. When this happens, it will be two minutes before you can use it again.

Reverse - Just like anything, paper can get stuck in the shredder, you can usually tell by the sound it makes, not the normal shredding sound and you can switch it over to reverse to back the paper out. This feature works well.

My Thoughts

I couldn't be happier with my new shredder. I have shredded numerous things from old bank statements to the daily junk we get in the mail, all with no problems. Just like all paper shredders, it does make some noise, but it's not that loud. I have shredded paper at my computer desk while my youngest was sleeping on the couch about 5 feet away and it hasn't disturbed his sleep at all.

I definitely recommend the Fellowes Shredmate Paper Shredder for anyone who needs a personal shredder for the home, it's small enough to fit just about anywhere and can give you a piece of mind when it comes to your security.