The Dahle 20390 is a high capacity
shredder designed for use in the busiest offices and mail rooms, and
anywhere else that large volumes of documents need to be destroyed on a
regular basis. In this review, we take a close look at this
machine and present you with a list of what we consider to be its
strengths and weaknesses.
The Dahle 20390 is a high capacity
shredder designed for use in the busiest offices and mail rooms, and
anywhere else that large volumes of documents need to be destroyed on a
regular basis. In the following review, we take a close look at this
machine and present you with a list of what we consider to be its
strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:
The 20390 comes promised as a high capacity shredder,
and it certainly is that. This machine can shred an astounding 60
sheets of paper at one time, and an equally impressive 28,000 sheets a
day, thanks to the high volume, continuous use 2 ½ HP motor. There are
few, if any, machines on the market with that kind of capability.
The 20390 features a nice wide 16" feed opening. This will get you
through not only the vast majority of shred jobs (letter and legal size
sheets), but can reasonably accommodate any if not all irregular sized
documents as well, including computer printouts that contain sensitive
data.
The operation of the 20390 is fully
automatic, and gives you three options for mode of operation: auto
on/off, continuous run, and reverse. The control panel is easy to use,
and it is always easy to tell what mode the machine is in at any given
time.
This machine includes some nice safety
features. If the door to the shred bin is opened, for instance, the
machine will shut off automatically. Also, there is an auto reverse
function in the unlikely event there is an over feed.
This appears to us to be an extraordinarily well-built machine, and
should provide you with years of service. The cutting heads are made of
high-quality German steel and are guaranteed for the life of the
machine. This is a fairly large machine, but the footprint isn't
unreasonably high, and it should fit nicely into a larger business'
mail room or wherever you take your shredding material. We also really
appreciated that the 20390 comes on wheels, so you can move it around
if need be. Pretty handy for a machine that weighs in at a hefty 400
lbs.
Weaknesses:
The one glaring
weakness of the 20390 is that it is a mere quarter-inch strip cut
shredder, and thus does not offer you what could be considered a
terribly high level of security. It would be best suited for shredding
sensitive (as opposed to confidential or secret) documents. This is,
however, the same level of security that is offered by many outside
shredding services, and you can do just as well, and save a great deal
of money over a relatively short period of time, by doing your own in
house shredding with a machine like the 20390.
Though the footprint, as we said, is pretty reasonable for such a high
capacity machine, you will need to make sure that you have the room to
keep the 20390 in a dedicated location. Though, as previously
mentioned, it does come with wheels, you will not want to be put in the
position of having to move this machine around too often, if you can
help it. You will also want to make sure that you have the appropriate
electrical power installed before this machine arrives.
You may want to consider placing this shredder in its own room or in an
industrial location. This is an industrial shredder and as such is not
going to be as quiet as most of the Dahle office series shredders. You
will need to keep that in mind before placing a shredder like this in
the middle of your quiet office environment.
If you are interested in more information about the Dahle 20390 High-Capacity Shredder, you should really check out MyBinding.com. They offer a great price on this machine and they even offer Free Shipping. MyBinding carries the full line of Dahle Paper Shredders, shredder bags and shredder oil. Check it out today.
