Review on 🔪 Aurora AU1640XA Anti-Jam Crosscut Shredder - 16 Sheet Capacity for Paper, CDs, and Credit Cards with 5 Gallon Pullout Basket, 30 Minutes of Continuous Run Time by Jeff Warne

OVERVIEW This is my second Aurora. I broke the last one trying to clean the blades. =( I bought my first Aurora over 10 years ago. I was so impressed with its quality that Aurora was the first name I looked for when it came to shredders. The first one was $90 and did micro cuts. This one had a special price of $109.with a bonsai chopper for $70, an aurora chopper for $90 and a boxis chopper for $120.My newest aurora and these have cords and electronics within sight of the blades which means that you can leave it alone if you want to pinch something on the sides to clear jammed paper.This is how I broke my first Aurora and it has the same exposed wiring as my last.I have a feeling the Aurora should be better at protecting electronics and I think this is the only downside I know of and a reason to warn anyone who buys Aurora shredders, CAREFULLY REMOVE THE PAPER AROUND THE BLADES ! LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES! 2) In principle, in my opinion, it doesn't matter, but this is a cross cut, not a microshredder. It cuts pieces about 1"L x 1/8"W. I don't think anyone will ever attempt to piece together or successfully piece together hundreds of thousands of pieces, but I'm sure there is a person. Who could and has done it anywhere on the planet, what caused the microshred, or maybe it happened to the most paranoid among us? I don't see any reason to worry about needing a microshred; I believe the shreds of these things are fairly well shredded. 3) Be sure to purchase a 5 gallon slide out basket. Get bigger if you can. 5 gallons isn't as much as I thought and the reservoir seems a bit short. It doesn't take long to fill out. This can negate one of my advantages of the 30 minute processing time as it takes less than 30 minutes to fill the cart. I don't want to get much smaller. Be prepared to take the bin outside, because throwing away indoors requires cleaning up the mess - paper goes everywhere. 4) If I was picky I would like the hole to be wider. I can't fit the longest envelopes in a long way - I have to turn them sideways. Also, there are sometimes problems with the engine turning on automatically - you have to put paper in your mouth to turn it on, for example. This is more noticeable with individual torn, sagging pages and crumpled receipts. Advantages of this shredder over my last AURORA shredder which cost $90 over 10 years ago: 1) I'm glad to see that the price of shredders hasn't increased significantly over time 2) This shredder is so quiet. I listen to TV or speak to this run. The last grinder was insanely loud. There was hardly anything else to do while at work. 3) When you get into the grinding rhythm, this thing can work continuously for 30 minutes. My newest and cheaper one can only work continuously for 5 minutes. If more than one person is trying to clear a pile of junk, it's easy to run the shredder almost continuously for 10-15 minutes. I find that the little effort paid off for a longer professional motor. 4) I like the capacity of 16 pages. My old Aurora was probably 10 pages long, would have gotten stuck in the middle, this thing wouldn't have gotten stuck in the middle yet. I put 2 unopened envelopes in at the same time and I can hear the motor fidgeting a bit but it won't stop. 5) I had no jam. He claims it's backwater proof, but also says it's backwater proof. The reverse would sometimes refuse to clear the jams on my old Aurora, but I was always able to pull the device hard enough to clear the jams, but that bothered me a few times. I've run enough paper through this device to jam the old one, but you'll need to be smart and patient to try not to do anything that might jam the device. Traffic jams are terrible: this block hasn't jammed yet: it seems that the block will be difficult to jam: but find out and don't overload it. It's going to be hard to break, but I don't recommend thinking it won't get stuck, and if it does, because it requires more capacity, it might be even harder to unravel than my old system. I just think ahead.