Bosch Garden Shredder AXT 25 D (2500 W, Cutting Capacity: Max. Ø 40 mm, in Carton Packaging)

I had a Bosch shredder before this model for about 10 years and it had given great service but had worn out. As a result I found this model which offered an effective replacement and would perhaps be even better. I was not disappointed. My garden has a lot of wild rhododendrons and they grow almost like weeds, and so require quite extensive pruning back. This results in branches of between just 5cm up to 40cm or more, the more I keep back to cut up for woodburning stoves. The cutter on this shredder was like my old one, but driven by a more powerful 2.5kw motor, and on the first full day of use did not jam at all. The speed of cutting was the same and the collection box is rigid v a collection bag, and the box must be in place for the shredder to work. I have just one criticism on this the view into the shredder box is very limited and the cut material piles in a pyramid so it is necessary to stop shredding to "spread" the material in the box. It only needs to be done once but you need to guess when to do it, although after about 6 or seven box fills you know almost by instinct when it is necessary to do this. As others have commented wheeling the shredder is an art as it will start to "rock" from side to side if pulled along, I found it easier to push it and put a little weight on the top to keep it from doing this. With rhododendrons on a long thicker branch of 40cm you get a lot of foliage at the end, only once did the hopper get a bit clogged up with that and that was mostly as a result of the box "pyramid" clogging the out side. For 2 days - 7 hours each day the shredder consumed all the cuttings - with all the cut up foliage put back as mulch. I also have to commend the sound level it is very good and although I was used to putting on ear defenders found I did not really need them. I like the top hopper being detachable to store in the collection box, and it also means that if the hopper does get jammed up with soft foliage I can easily get it out, unlike on my old one which you could not. I contemplated getting the next model up with the new turbo cutter but in the first place it was £75 to £100 more, and although it would add a further 5cm to a thickness of 45cm cutting I was not certain it would offer me any real advantage for the extra cost - perhaps next time when I have worn this one out in another 10 years!

Bought this to deal with large budleija's 'trees' ~ 6-10' tall. Does well on the dry thin bits or any large branches (what it is designed for). Too much leaf / small green branches tend to block or chain - but I did better on the second attempt - my tip feed next bit of main branch as last leafy bit of the previous one going through. Sets up easily. Collector bin is easy to get in and out for emptying. Good 'wedge' piece - which sits neatly to hand in part of the top section whilst shredder is in use. Not very stable to wheel around once set up - too high a centre of gravity vs narrow footprint. Uncomforable to wheel around when 'packed' as you need to bend over to get a hold. No sensible place to wrap the electrical lead when packed away - so this keeps ending up on the floor :-(

I've used shredders for 20 years or so and have had at least 4 different models. This is by far the best. I did a lot of research before buying this as it is expensive and I feel I should pass on what I've learned over the years - especially as there were a significant number of 1 star reviews for this model. This shredder is as good as you'll get. There is no magical shredder that will shred everything and anything at high speed, to a fine texture and never get blocked - that is unless you pay a fortune for some huge industrial scale machine like tree fellers use, and they're really dangerous. Firstly, no shredder will deal perfectly with both green/sappy material and woody material. The rapid shredders [have a number of blades that whizz round at very fast speed] are in my experience more or less useless. They will only shred quite thin twigs and green material and clog very easily. If you have a lot of say, hedge clippings, they're OK, but that's about all they'll shred. The crushing type shredders - like the 25D - firstly will not shred to a very fine texture and secondly don't cope very well with a lot of green sappy material; they need something a bit harder to keep the stuff passing through without clogging. So you need to mix up green stuff and woody stuff - prunings are fine. But you you need to ask yourself, what are you shredding for? The texture to which the 25D reduces material is absolutely fine for reducing bulk - for a trip to the dump - or crushing/shredding sufficiently for effective composting. No one needs to shred leaves or other soft green material; just stuff it in bags or stick it on the compost heap. Secondly, the thinner stems and twigs that come out of a crusher type shredder will still be in one piece; but they are crushed enough to collapse into a bag and compost easily, so the bulk is reduced. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is a immutable fact of shredding life that all shredders will clog up at some point unless you have the patience of a saint. Inevitably you will push too much of the wrong stuff in - because you're trying to get the job done - and you'll need to clear the shredder. so you'll have to dal with blockages; the issue is, how easy is it to do so? Fourthly, with all shredders you have to keep an eye on the output. If you do not empty the collecting box/bin/bag the shreddings will back up and clog the shredder: that's another fact of shredding life. So from my experience you need a shredder that has, in order of priority, (a) a powerful motor and sharp crushing cog that will not chew through the toughest stuff and not blunt or corrode (b) a feeder hopper that is easy and quick to remove to clear any blockage and (c) a decent sized collection box that is easy to empty I say 'in order of priority', but if it falls down on any of these counts you'll be in for a life of frustration and fury. The Bosch 25D scores well on all counts. My old and cheaper shredder had problems with the crushing cog which corroded but the biggest problem was you needed to undo 4 screws with a screwdriver to take off the feeder hopper to clear blockages. The Bosch just has one knob to turn and off comes the feeder in seconds. The feeder hopper seems very well designed and I've had very few difficulties - compared to my old shredder - in getting material into the shredder. A lot of people don't seem to like the collection box as it is too small or causes blockages when only half filled with the shreddings backing up. The same thing happened with my old shredder which had no box but needed a bag put underneath it. You do have to empty the box regularly but it is simplicity itself. The problem is that for health and safety reasons you do need a cover over the bottom of the shredder to stop people reaching up and under to clear blockages - and losing their fingers; trust me, it does happen. The other good thing about this shredder is it cuts off the motor if you pull it out and so clearing blockages underneath is easy and safe. This shredder is heavy and tips over easily if you wheel it around over uneven ground, but that could only be avoided if it's profile were a lot wider, which would make storage more problematical. I have one quibble; why oh why is there no decent cable storage solution? Apart from that, this has lived up to expectations and is well-worth the - fairly high - price. I can assure you cheaper ones will be a lot more frustrating and difficult to use.