Finding the high traffic, heavy use shredder that is right for the needs of your business can be quite a task. Given the growing threats of identity theft
corporate liability, however, there may not be a more important choice
than which shredder to purchase for your office. If you are looking for
a commercial grade shredder that is designed for use on a fairly
continuous basis by ten users or more, Fellowes has a few machines that
they have positioned as being up to the task. One of these shredders,
the C-420C, is what we will be taking a look at in this review.
Finding the high traffic, heavy use
shredder that is right for the needs of your business can be quite a
task. With so many makes, models, and features to consider, it is easy
for the average person to get a little lost in the process. Given the
growing threats of identity theft corporate liability, however, there
may not be a more important choice than which shredder to purchase for
your office. If you are looking for a commercial grade shredder that is
designed for use on a fairly continuous basis by ten users or more,
Fellowes has a few machines that they have positioned as being up to
the task. One of these shredders, the C-420C, is what we will be taking
a look at in this review.
Pros:
We will start with the three year warranty. If you have
any doubts as to whether Fellowes has any faith in the reliability of
this shredder, you can put them to rest. When it comes to the actual
cutters, the warranty extends to the life of the machine.
Most
people don't even know that a shredder needs to be oiled every now and
then in order to assure proper functioning. Even if you are aware that
your machine needs oiling, remembering to do it can be a problem. With
its auto-oil system, the C-420C takes care of this maintenance issue
for you, and a light comes on to let you know when the oil canister
needs to be replaced. This is a fantastic feature for a machine that
sees heavy use.
A nice safety feature, and unique on the
market, is Fellowes' patented "SafeSense" technology, in which a sensor
detects body heat and immediately shuts down the machine if hands get
too close to the paper feed. This is especially important considering
the large capacity of this shredder.
Not everybody on you
floor is going to know how many sheets your shredder is capable of
handling at one time. While the C-420C can shred a respectable 26
sheets at a time, it also features a jam proof system that
automatically senses if someone is trying to feed it too much paper,
and the machine is prevented from running. There is even a bulldog mode
that will allow you to power through papers if you feed a few too many
sheets in at once.
While a lot of shredders have a
recommended on/off cycle to prevent overheating, the C-420C is a heavy
use machine that is built for continuous use. It doesn't require a cool
down time after a period of continuous use.
Cons:
While the twelve inch width of the paper feed will
accommodate most needs, it might be a bit narrow for others. Fellowes'
next machine up, the C-480C has an opening that is sixteen inches
across, which is something to consider. Especially if you shred a lot
of large format documents.
We are curious as to why there is no power saving sleep mode on the C-420C. It seems that this should be included.
We
are also scratching our heads a little bit as to why Fellowes didn't
include some sort of other safety measure to work with the SafeSense
sensor. It left us wondering what would happen if someone's tie were to
get caught in the paper feed. When we asked the Fellowes rep about this
he smiled and answered "It will stop shredding when it gets to your
neck."
Even with these few disadvantages, we have no problem highly
recommending the Fellowes C-420C for use in a high volume environment.
With so many safety and productivity features, there few machines on
the market that really compete.
If you are looking for more information on this paper shredder or would like to purchase the Fellowes C-420C Crommercial Cross Cut Paper shredder you might want to visit MyBinding.com. They offer great prices and free shipping on the entire line of Fellowes Paper Shredders
along with shredders from other manufacturers such as GBC Shredmaster,
Martin Yale, MBM Destroyit, Dahle and HSM of America. You won't find a
better source for paper shredders anywhere on the web.