Home > Consumer Reviews > Fellowes 32177 Powershred PS-77Cs Shredder

Just received this beast from Amazon today & couldn't wait to try it as my old one (Royal Orca) finally died after several years of faithful service & credit card checks were starting to pile up. My old Shredder was a table top model that would only shred a couple of checks at a time & I wanted something more "formidable" Well this critter fits the bill. Its intake is a full 9" so I can unfold a sheet of checks & make fast work of them. Its 7 gal basket means less trips to the garbage. Plenty of indicator lights to give it that "Gee-Whiz" look, & one feature that makes this shredder a must have for families with little children.....a safety lockout that cuts power to the shredder if little fingers are touching the intake area. A size gauge on the front is small but very handy feature so you don't overload the machine. Another handy feature is the pull out basket,makes emptying this thing a breeze. Any complaints? So far just one......the basket assembly seems flimsy, especially on carpet it seems somewhat "wobbly". Take the basket out & it seems it might collapse. The pluses far outweigh the cons so I highly recommend this item.

Pluses:
1. Shredding capabilities are all any home could need
2. A great shredder for a good price
3. safety lockout
4. Shreds credit cards & Cd's
5. Looks great.
6. Indicator lights to tell whats happening

minuses
1. Flimsy basket assembly


Update 7/20/07:
auto shutoff quit working. Major hassle to turn it on & off manually. after a couple of weeks this I e-mailed customer service @ Fellowes & explained the problem. I received an e-mail from a nice CS lady the next asking for clarification of the problem(bad sensor) she e-mailed back the next day that Fellowes was sending a new unit(at their expense) & to return the bad one in the same carton with a downloadable label(also at no expense to me). When I returned home the following week there was my new shredder on the porch. Scheduled a PU for Fed-Ex the next business day. All in all a positive experience. I wish more companies were like Fellowes.
BTW the flimsy baqsket is still going strong :o)

My seven year old Fellows Power Shred PS-80 cross cut shredder finally stopped working after I gave it too much paper (broke a gear). So I replaced it with this PS-77Cs. I noticed that this PS-77Cs shreds more quietly than my previous PS-80. Both will shred credit cards. But my old PS-80 won't shred CDs or DVD's: I noticed that there are two small points (like canine teeth) on each of the PS-77Cs' cutter blades that probably help grab and help pull the plastic cards and CDs in its shredding action.

What I don't like about the PS-77Cs shredder is that it shreds slower than my old PS-80 (probably because of the more powerful motor for shredding 12 sheets versus 5 sheets with my old PS-80). Usually, more torque = slower speed. So I've developed some patience as a result. What's a real disappointment is that the output cross cut pieces from the PS-77Cs are twice the length of my old PS-80 (1 ½"inch for the PS-77Cs versus 3/4"inch for the PS-80).

Something not mentioned in the included instructions: you can carefully flip up the SafeSense /credit card / CD slot up to more easily add the Fellows Cross Cut shredder oil. I think it gives me better control so I don't get the oil onto the safety eyes used to sense when paper is actually in the shredder slot.

After just a few weeks of use, this unit just won't stop, I've used compressed air to clean, remove every bits of paper I can see inside, still it just won't shut down. Funny thing is that although a different model, we had the same problem at work with this brand, I wonder if they have a bad design on the sensor.

Update: I called the customer support line, and I was very impressed, I got a person on the line. They offered to replace the shredder and they offered a label for free shipping of the defective one. Once I get it I'll update. Very surprisingly, I was told that I can't leave the unit on "I" all the time (where it start if it detects paper). I was told to leave it on off at all time, and only turn it on when I was feeding it paper. The tech support even told me that they recommend leaving the unit unplugged as much as possible. I found that a bit strange, why have a sensor if you have to turn it on manually anyway.

We bought this shredder to replace our old broken cross-cut model, and found this to be one of our very best purchases from Amazon. Yes, it's about twice the cost of the cheaper $40-$50 models you will find but the marginal extra cost will repay itself in spades! Below are some of the advantages I liked most:

PROS
1) While this is a bigger unit, the trash bin holds a much greater capacity. This means fewer headaches of dumping and cleaning. There is a little window that shows the trash level. I recommend compressing the shredded paper once you see paper reach this point. This will help prevent paper jamming into the blades from the mound below. After 2 rounds of compressions, it's probably time to dump the shreds. The trash bin conveniently pulls out without lifting the heavy motor (and it *is* much heavier than the smaller units). The design is nifty and elegant!

2) The shredder chomps paper away with ease and rips through staples like butter. While it's supposed to handle paper clips, I still think it's best to pull them off before shredding to help protect wear & tear on the blades. It also rips through credit cards and CD's. It's perfect for junk mail too - even with plastic cards already included.

3) The sheet limit rating is pretty accurate! Like a car's MPG, this rating tends to be embellished to compete with other manufacturers. But common sense should prevail: Normal paper stock can probably handle 8-10 at a time (11-12 with a slight slowing of the motor). Thick paper stock should be kept to about half this amount. With thin paper stock (like thermal ink receipts), we've inserted as much as 16 pages without missing a beat. You will get a good feel for what the unit can handle after a few tries. This shredder is easy to use and is very forgiving.

4) It is safe. A touch sensor (like the touch-sensitive lamps) will automatically stop shredding if a finger touches the metal area around the mouth of the shredder. There is a switch that can easily turn this feature on or off, but there should be no reason why folded paper would cause the safety to turn off (it's not grounded like a person's hand).

5) The shredding is surprisingly quiet. Our older model had an annoying high-pitch "buzz saw" sound that was very noisy. This shredder has a pleasant low-pitch "hum", and the volume is much softer. There is no such thing as a silent shredder, but this model produces about 1/3rd the volume of our smaller unit. Some actually claim using this shredder is a great stress reliever, and I can see why.

6) It also has an automatic shut off feature when the motor gets too hot. The manufacture recommends using the unit for 15 minutes at a time. I've found we can actually shred for about 30-40 minutes before overheating. An LED light will show you when this happens, so there is no alarm when the unit decides to rest. This feature alone should protect your purchase for many years to come as motor burn-out is a common problem with shredders. We also opted to buy the lubricant oil to help things run smoothly. I believe this model should last at least 10-20+ years.

There is only one MINOR complaint I have about the shredder:

CONS
1) The far edges of the "mouth" do not shred as well as rest. The mouth accommodates more than 8 1/2 inches of paper (about 1" extra on both sides). When a page reaches one of these edges, the shredder tends to lose the confetti cut in these areas. Shards may also become a little thicker - potentially causing sensitive information to be seen. As long as you keep shredding towards the middle (or at least 1/4" away from the sides), you should be just fine.

To sum it all up, Amazon's low price + free shipping make this shredder and incredible deal! Do yourself a favor and spend the extra $40-$50. You will thank yourself in the long run.

This shredder has far exceeded my expectations. It looks great. It's the perfect size for a home office. It has a convenient pull-out wastebasket, and it quietly shreds everything you feed it into confetti sized bits. CDs? No problem. Credit cards? Piece of cake!

The best feature of all, however, has nothing to do with what this thing shreds. In fact, it's what this thing doesn't shred ... fingers. This shredder is among the first on the market to feature the new Safe Sense technolgy. Fellowes should be commended for this breakthrough. As a father of two-year-old twins, I'm obviously very concerned with safety. As soon as a hand touches the paper entry, the unit automatically shuts off. Bravo Fellowes!