Ditto Shredder 10 Sheet

So cheap and still going after 13 years of home use… – Bout this in 2010/11 sometime. Use it weekly to shred front covers of bank letters, credit card statements etc. yearly it’s used to shred tax returns etc… Its been discontinued which is a shame, as I wouldn’t hesitate replacing it with exactly the same unit when it finally decides to give up… The only negative is when the bin starts to get over… Read more

3/4 full, it starts eating the paper it’s already shredded… so being mindful to only half fill the bin and then empty it is a tip…

Fantastic shredder – Don't go past it. Cheap and efficient. I recently stuffed too many pages in and it wouldn't work. I was in a panic to replace it but couldn't find it anywhere.Fortunately I was able to get it going again. This model has been replaced at Big W by an 8pg shredder which doesn't have as good reviews.

Boo Hoo my Ditto died! – What a great shredder, but it was pushed it to the limit with 10 years of tax records to shred. Got 3/4 of the way there with a couple of "time-out" sessions for overheating when I noticed smoke.....wasn't sure if it was the motor or paper starting to ignite!! Anyway after about 40 minutes it was ready to go but carked it when MY HUSBAND… Read more

relentlessly shoved copious amounts of tax lurks into its maw. This machine honestly had a heart bigger than Pharlap and I am devastated to find that this model (FS1007XD) is no longer available. Tried Gumtree and Ebay but no one is selling which tells me that everyone is very happy with this model.

I only paid $40 for it and went to Big W today to find a new model at $56 but it is considerably smaller and lighter so wasn't prepared to risk it.

If you have this model, treat it with respect, don't try to cheat the taxman and you will be rewarded!

This is great for $46 – My ditto lasted about 2 years for home use only. For $46 from Big W that is a good buy. The equivalent Fellows machine only lasted me 9 months and I payed twice as much.

Follow Up on earlier review – I just received an email indicating the number of readers that had looked at these reviews. It is now January 2014 and my unit is still working without a problem. I shred a reasonable amount through the machine and it just handles it without a complaint. I had a small shredder before this one that just shredded the paper into strips. It was… Read more

continually jamming. This unit has never jammed. I only put up to about 6 or 7 sheets maximum but it has never stopped. To be honest I really don't even think about it not functioning. I just shove sheets into it and simply expect that they will be shredded and they are.

It also fits into my small home office better than the Fellowes where the shredder had to be lifted off the waste bin to empty it. This waste bin one on this one just slides in and out which is much easier and it seems to conserve space more than the Fellowes.

Boba Almost everything, particularly the price. Nothing really apart from a few stray bits of paper when emptying the waste bin.

For the Price... Who can complain..?! – Knowing full well that any sub-mega$$ shredder will need to cycle through a heat-up / cool-down process during heavy use, i discounted all thought that this machine would be anything other than an occasional-use beastie that would sit bedside the rubbish bin for easy access for destroying sensitive documents instead of tossing them in the bin. … Read more

However, i did have a big task to set it before it would ultimately settle into this sedentary existence - we were moving house in 3 weeks and needed to destroy 15 years worth of bank statements, receipts, tax files etc that i didn't want simply dumped at the tip with every chance of being blown to all corners of town.

I was in two minds in spending $50 on this unit or a `brand name' unit at double the price and less capacity (sheet shredding and bin capacity). An possibly no cd shredder. At least in buying this unit and it didn't work then at least i can get my money back and spent the extra on the more expensive machine. Lesson learned. If it did work as hoped, then at least it has saved me the value of its own purchase price.

Now, with this machine like many others, you will only get 15-20 minutes of use before the machine will be in need of `a bex and a good lie down' for 30 minutes. Show me any sub $200 unit that will chug along for hours on end without the need for a break and i would consider this. (well, no i won't.... Personally i don't need to pay for that.)

So, how did it go - if the stars above didn't already give that one away: in one weekend of continual (read: 15mins on, 30 mins off) use (we got some good tv watching in there) we had gone through around 80% of the documents and filled four large, black plastic garbage bags (and squashed down, mind you) ready for the tip. (after the move however.... We shall be using the cuttings for compost, as i am sure this little shredder will happily munch down a few bills in his semi-retirement.....)

And what did i learn:

You will need to oil the blades, like any other. And often - every basket load or so simply coat a sheet of paper with canola oil (i used olive oil because it was handy), cover it with another sheet of paper and simply feed this oily sandwich goodness into the unit as it shreds. Run it in reverse for a few seconds and you're away..

Whilst it within the machines capacity, you *shouldn't* shred 10 sheets of paper every time, all the time. Doing this will reduce the cycle times down to seconds. You will prematurely destroy the cutting blades and reduce the life of the motor. But with the speed this thing cuts at then 2, 3 or 4 sheets at a time is plenty - it runs strong and hard just like the 'little engine that could'

Shredding cds is a bonus - one that you will appreciate if you have seen the broken shards fly from simply snapping them in two. Sure, microwaving a cd on high for 30 seconds may do just as damaging a job on the data (and look spectacular in doing so), that's not so safe.

In conclusion:

Knowing this machine's capabilities and using it within such you will find a very competent machine at a fraction of the price of a comparable unit. Price, capacity. Cycling time..... but that is common with most, if not all units of its ilk

Better spend some money than not! – I second this review by The_Midge! My first DickSmith shredder we bought "on deal" for $30 carked it within days, without a decent service must I say; but Ditto…I had some expectations from it paying a bit more…! The first one died just like The_Midge said and the second we got as replacement died from jamming 4 sheets of paper, all within 4… Read more

months of having the two machines! Better spend more to get a decent service and quality. The design, price

When I got it home it was a piece of – After having to return a $20 paper shredder that failed miserably, history repeated itself with the Ditto Shredder 10 Sheet (we should have sensed there was misery afoot with a name like that, but alas). Okay, this baby is supposed to be able to take 10 sheets at a time and shred CD's and credit cards. The user manual states that users should… Read more

only load seven sheets of paper at a time and shred no more than 200 before giving the machine a 30 minute break. I went easy on it and at put four sheets at a time through it at first, then I dropped back to two sheets at a time. Well, it performed as well as the $20 failure that we returned: shredded about 40 sheets of paper before it stopped working altogether. No paper jamming...just stopped working! It got about a two hour break and it was still on strike.

My husband is returning it to Big W as we speak.

Pfft! Don't think that spending $50 is going to get you a decent shredder. THUMBS DOWN!

Lasted 5 minutes without being pushed to advertised limits.