Engineered for continuous document shredding in small offices. Shreds 20 sheets per pass into 5/32 ” x 1-1/2″ cross cut particles. Jam Proof System eliminates paper jams by preventing overloads and powering through misfeeds. Auto-Oil feature coats the cutters for you to improve performance and extend shredder life. Enhanced shredder safety with Patented SafeSense Technology stops shredder immediately when hands are too close. Continuous duty PowerShred motor. For 1-5 users.

Fellowes  C-220Ci 100% Jam Proof Cross Cut Shredder

If you shred A LOT, you need a burly shredder capable of continuous shredding. We shred thousands of sheets a week and after exhaustive research, I chose the Fellowes C-220Ci for its speed, power and huge capacity. For the vast majority of consumers, however, this shredder is overkill. Save some serious money and get the excellent SB-89Ci (which I also have). It’s about 1/3 the size, weight and cost of this beast.

This shredder has some interesting technology, some good, some not so good. One of them is the auto oiling feature. The single most common cause of shredder failures is the failure (no pun intended) to oil the blades/cutters. The 220 remedies this with a built in 12 ounce oil reservoir that will automatically oil the blades at regular intervals. Unlike most other shredders, including the SB-89Ci I mentioned above, the 220 is capable of continuous, non-stop shredding. You can literally shred hour after hour without it overheating.

The “Jam Proof” system measures the thickness of the paper stack before it reaches the cutters and will determine if it’s able to shred it, literally eliminating jams. This works nearly perfectly; the problem surfaces when you want to feed it something thick but easy to shred; cardboard, for example. The sensor will prevent it from shredding because it’s too thick, even though cardboard is mostly air. To get around this, you can manually override the sensor and feed the shredder that way.

Another technology is called “Safe Sense”; this instantly turns off the shredder if your fingers come in contact with the metal that surrounds the entrance slot to the blades. Never mind that your fingers physically can not fit through the slot. I suppose if you have small children around, this could be helpful; then again, children should be no where near this thing.

Finally, there’s a “Mess Reduction Feature” that actually works quite well. When you pull out the basket to empty it, a plate slides in to place under the shredder blades that prevent any stray shreds from falling where you just pulled the basket from. It makes it the cleanest shredder I’ve used.

In summary, this is a pretty impressive piece of equipment. Make sure you take a close look at the specs; this thing is massive; literally the size of a small refrigerator. For huge shredding jobs, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Pros:

- Super fast, continuous shredding (20 feet a minute)
- Huge bin capacity
- Separate CD shredder
- Auto oiling
- Incredibly quiet
- Casters make it relatively easy to move
- Storage in the door for extra oil and plastic bags
- “Jam Proof” system works great
- “Mess Reduction Feature” works quite well
- Idiot proof display tells you when the bin is full

Cons:

- Huge and heavy (almost 100 pounds)
- Pulls paper in slightly crooked
- Occasionally doesn’t grab thick stacks of paper; you have to physically cram the paper in.
- Odd sized, expensive bags for the bin
- “Safe Sense” sensor (turns off the blades if your hand gets too close) is annoying

by Ross Fenton

Fellowes  C-220Ci 100% Jam Proof Cross Cut Shredder