Fellowes Powershred LX180 16-Sheet Cross Cut Personal Paper Shredder (FEL5501601)

This is such a great shredder, smooth, quiet and powerful!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I've used Fellowes brand shredders before at my work and currently have a Fellowes Powershred 79Ci for my home office. I obtained the LX180 for testing purposes and ran it through some vigorous shredding. I must say it performed just as well if not slightly better than my slightly more expensive 79Ci shredder. The first thing you notice about the LX180 is it has a nice modern design look to it. Out of the box the LX180 comes with casters (already installed), a long 5-foot electric cord, and even includes the lubricating oil. The electric cord has a right-angle connection to allow the shredder to be closer to the wall if need be. There is an LED light on the top that shows the status of the shredder. Blue means it's ready to go. Green means you are shredding the proper amount. Yellow means you are getting close to the maximum that it can shred and red means you have exceeded it shredding capacity. I tried several different thicknesses of items to shred and I was impressed. I did attempt to shred something that was too thick and the light turned red and then the shredder pushed the item back out. I decided to try the item in my more expensive 79Ci and it wouldn't even try to shred it. I again tried the same item in the LX180 and to my surprise it shredded it! There is a couple of things I would like improved upon though. The first might be a little nit-picky but I had a hard time figuring out how to take out the paper bin. I felt like an idiot when I found the slot on the front to grab and pull but it's not marked and not obvious where to pull from. The second thing that was a little bothersome is the design of the paper bin. When emptying the paper bin, I noticed I was spilling out some of the shredder paper on the floor. The reason is there is a 1-inch hole in the back of the bin that allows paper to spill out if pouring from the back. There is also a lip around the top of the paper bin that makes it hard to get all the shredded paper out since the small confetti catches on the lip. Overall, I am very impressed with the LX180 and with the exception of not being able to shred CD/DVD's it is just as good if not better than my more expensive 79Ci shredder. I received this product free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.