I have a small business and this shredder works great!! Just what I needed!

Frankly, it’s too early for me to give an accurate review of the “Dahle ShredMATIC SM 300,” since I’ve only used this product for two weeks. However, thus far, I am impressed! Though this shredder is pricey, it seems quite sturdy, skillfully constructed, easy to use, and outperforms all other shredders I’ve used in the past. Its elegant design and color are very appealing. The P-4 Security Cross Cut is better than I expected, and the 300 Sheet feature is not only useful but has performed flawlessly for me. I also like the fact that the shredder has a small footprint, which is convenient. There is a reasonable expectation of durability and long-term use for this shredder. I will provide an updated review, if needed, after I’ve used the product for a longer period of time.

I needed a serious home office shredder. My last shredder only did 16 sheets at a time and after several runs, had to rest for a day or two for the motor to cool down. This left piles of "to be shredded" papers laying around because I could never get them all shredded at one time. When it stopped working I started looking for a shredder that would do serious shredding! The Dahle ShredMatic caught my eye because it said it can hold and automatically shred up to 300 8.5 X11 sheets of paper at a time. It will also shred up to 14 sheets max at a time in the slot for all the uneven papers that need shredding. Plus it shreds credit cards, CDs, DVDs, etc. There were many positive reviews on Amazon. So even though it was a bit pricey, I really wanted to get and keep my sensitive information papers shredded. I bought it. It arrived on time. It was packaged well enough for a HEAVY electronic item. I cut open the sides of the box to remove it properly. The directions are in multiple languages so you need to review the pictures carefully to understand how to use it correctly. I'm used to using shredders so it was not a problem for me. I shredded about 1150 papers in 2 hours. Most were 8.5 x11 that I put in the 300 page paper tray but there were also many of various sizes and some credit cards. It jammed a few times because I folded some 8.5 x 14 papers down to 8.5 x 11 size (to use in the 300 page try) and the shredder roller "unfolded" them and then jammed. The jam removed easily and I put the odd sized papers down the regular shred slot and kept going. It also jammed a few times when I had too thick of a stack in the regular slot. Again, the jam was easy to remove and separate into thinner stacks. It allows you to move the rolling blades backwards or forwards to remove jams. All of this is typical for a shredder and everything was easily taken care of (and was due to my errors not a fault of the product). The ShredMatic was fast and efficient! I have a LOT more papers to shred so that's why I said it works great so far. I'm hoping it will last me many years. But just in case. . . I took out the Amazon extended warranty. :) It is an attractive piece of office equipment. It looks nice sitting in my office, and the wheels allow me to move it around easily. I'm happy with my purchase.

I was told that this brand was manufacturered in Germany but very disppointed when I received,it is made elsewhere. Not good at this price.

This is a good paper cutter design. The cutter design is built well from initial testing. The only problem with this unit is that the underside, is built with cheap plastic. I had 2 wheels break away while trying to roll the unit, as it is heavy. I don't know why they tried to put wheels on it. As this design is inferior to what the actual shredder is capable of. They should have used metal or solid plastic. However, with this being said, I took the remaining wheels of and just set it on the floor. It is too heavy to send back, and I am interested in the cutting function not the mobility of the shredder. So I will try to keep it, but would hope that this company gets this issue fixed. A couple of pennies will go a long way, as German Engineering did a poor job on the design of the wheels.

I had done copious research prior to making this purchase. I had wanted the 300-sheet capacity model, but I could not readily find one at the time. I purchased a returned, 150-sheet capacity model. It came directly from the North American headquarters from Dahle, located in New Hampshire, arriving in a day. Instructions were useless. However, it was easy to figure out. At first, the shredder did nothing when I simply powered on and placed a stack of sheets inside. Pressing the forward button solved that. It can be tripped up by envelopes or by papers with frayed edges. Overall, it is extremely reliable. In the first days of ownership, I needed to clear a backlog. I shredded a set of 3,000 pages, and then a set of 2,000 pages. at P-4 size, that filled 2.5 lawn-care bags, or 75 gallons. The shredder did not overheat (sometimes, in the case of a rare paper-jam, it will say it is overheated; take paper out, turn off, turn back on, press forward to clear paper remnants, then reload). Shredding 3,000 pages took approximately 15 minutes of my own time, due to the abiltiy to load and walk away. This shredder will pay for itself in a year based on the opportunity cost of my billable hours (I am a trial lawyer). If I get five years out of it, which seems likely based on the build quality, I'll be very pleased and order another one to replace it. Any time beyond that will be gravy. I had budgeted $1,500 for a much larger shredder, but this thing is a little champ. Each day, I load it and forget it. And when I'm done with a trial, it just chomps up the trial binder, so they're no longer floating about my office. Same thing with large sets of medical records. What a great machine, with the German engineering and very good build quality showing through. Plus, with a smaller size, the bin is easy to tip into a bag. The bin holds about two stacks worth, or 300 pages worth of shreds. All in all, I could hardly be more pleased. Very high-impact, bang-for-buck, quality shredder, that has already met and exceeded expectations. [For background, my prior shredders include, inter alia: a gigantic, straight-cut, industrial shredder from the eighties (straight-cut fills bags too quickly, and a single, plastic gear proved to be an Achilles heel; and, a 24-sheet Amazon Basics shredder that had been impressive, but that used a lot of electricity, and that I had to stand there and feed, losing time).] The shredder says it does not need to be oiled. I'll probably oil the blades periodically. Noise is medium-level. Another reviewer had stated he could do phone-calls in the same room. That is probably true of a large room, but not a small one. At this size and price, I would not consider that a demerit. I would order this auto-feed shredder over many, very expensive, commercial shredder models that are not auto-feed. It will undoubtedly pay for itself over time.