Earthwise GS70015 15-Amp Garden Corded Electric Chipper, Collection Bin

About 20 hours of use now over the last month. I did not know this kind of thing existed until recently. I wish I had bought something like this over a decade ago. There is a good review going over some use advice and I'll give some more. I chose this chipper over the competing chippers because the design seemed better although I frankly am not entirely clear what the operating mechanism is on some of the other competitors (most clearly are doing essentially the same thing). What seemed most different was the use of the integrated box to collect the mulched material. The other products did not have as good a way to collect the mulched material. After using it... I still think this was the better product although like other reviewers, I have not use a competing machine. Also some others reviewed had pictures of the mulched material which did not look chopped up like I wanted it and the picture on this one looked better processed. Although I really think this is a great machine.... it is not a magic machine and has to be fed properly to operate. The negative reviews seemed to just not want to understand that If you are doing leaves... that could be impossible with this device without clogging. The feed material can only have so much moisture laden leaves go through without them turning into a clog. Even heavily leafed branches can be a problem and the best solution is to alternate dead old branches with a leafier one as stated in the directions. The box for the mulch can be a problem in that it can back up and clog up the machine. You need to check the box frequently, initially pushing the mulch towards the back as the material enters the box at the front part. Don't try to get too much in the collection box or you will get the machine backed up. I have experienced what I will call clog up jams and a jam into the cutting blades. Both cleared easily enough once you unscrew the knob to open access to the cutting blade and the area which empties into the hopper.As noted so helpfully in another review.... you will quickly experience when clearing clogs that a sensor gets some junk in it which prevents the machine from operating... so take a look when you experience this problem and clear out the stuff that has gone into this small rectangular area.... unfortunately it is easy to get material in this area when clearing out a clog. With experience in operation you will learn to prepare feed material better to keep the device operating better without problems. So I would suspect any of these small chippers require quite a bit of care to operate successfully. What you gain is a huge reduction in volume and you are producing some nice mulch you can use.... Not big chips like purchased mulch or as produced by big chippers.... but material closer to wood shavings used for pet rodents.Safety... don't kid yourself.... what this is doing can cause injury. Although the design keeps your fingers from getting into the cutting parts effectively and keeps the cutting effectively shielded, you will want to wear gloves, ear protection and eye protection. Versus safety glasses... a full face shield might be nice. When stuff can fly about with things like this and wood cutting tools, I personally use a helmet type PAPR which provides excellent protection. There is much less material kicked into the air from this than from a chainsaw, jig saw or circular saw but some does pop out. Also in feeding branches in they can seriously jerk about at times which can sting a bit. Any chipper will do this I would think. The key to feeding is figuring about what can be fed and then learning to rotate the larger feed material about while pushing it in.With all the work clearing bushes, trimming trees over the years.... this would have been so great to have then ... but I am enjoying using it and highly recommend.

This is truly an amazing machine. I don't have a very large yard, but I am definitely pleased that I made the right decision to make the purchase. I have been trimming some overgrown scrubs in the yard and this machine has not only saved me time in disposal but saved me disposal space. For those of you that have done yardwork, you understand how bulky yard trimmings can be. You trim and trim and all of a sudden you have a mess of debris that needs disposal. It is usually relatively easy to trim branches and the like, but it is very time consuming and tedious to get these bulky items into the green yard waste container. With this Earthwise woodchipper/shredder, it not only makes disposal faster, but it minimizes the space it takes to dispose of this material. You will be surprised how all the bulky cuttings are reduced to extremely small amount of material. The attached picture shows what the shredded trimmings look like. In fact, with this machine, you don't actually have to dispose of the majority of the debris because you can put it directly back into your yard as mulch. The debris from this machine drops into a sturdy 10.5 gallon plastic bin. I prefer this big, solid, plastic bin versus dropping the debris into a bag like many other machines do. The machine is easy to use. You easily get the hang of it as you start putting the branches in. I did have a few clogs over several hours of use, but I was aggressive with the machine and kept feeding it. The machine is easy to unclog so this issue shouldn't deter you from getting one. This problem is probably universal to all chipper/shredders. The machine prefers branches over leaves because of the moisture content of the leaves. The excessive leaves are how the machine sometimes gets clogged. The clog is easily and quickly cleared. I like that this machine runs on electricity vs. gas. With electricity, there are no smelly and unhealthy gas fumes. With common sense, this machine is safe to use. The one feature that I don't like about this machine is that the lock knob to access the blades and inside of the machine is a screw lock knob. I believe the lock knob is the screw on type because it prevents someone from accidently opening it. It takes effort and deliberate action to open it vs having just a latch. I was so impressed with this machine, that I ordered one for my brother. I wish I found this machine earlier when my dad was still around. He would have liked and benefited from the ease of use and time savings with this machine. As another reviewer mentioned, he wishes he had gotten the machine years ago. I can't agree with him more. This machine is well worth the cost when you consider the time savings and the reuse of the debris as mulch. It is a win win situation. Originally, I was going to hire a gardener to trim the overgrown shrubs which would have cost a minimum of $500. I figured I could do it myself with the right equipment. Get yours today and you will be pleased you did.

I don’t know how I have existed on this planet for as long as I have without experiencing how fun a wood chipper is to use! Just flip a switch and watch it suck the limb in and spit it back out in little pieces! It holds the potential for hours of fun! I LOVE this chipper! It’s easy to assemble, use, and the collection bin makes cleanup ridiculously easy as well! I was able to just dump the wood chips into one of our raised garden beds which beats having to bundle limbs into a specific size for trash pick up.I do recommend wearing gloves, long sleeves, protective eyewear, and ear protection. I did operate this without ear protection and after an hour of use, I did have initial issues with ringing in my ears that went away shortly after I stopped using the chipper (which didn’t bother me too bad as I am already hard of hearing).Soft, fast growing wood from vitex and crepe myrtles were grabbed up and sucked in very quick and easy! The harder wood with prickly limbs like those from our elm trees required a bit more prep work in order to run through smoothly. I had to prune off all the little prickly limbs before running the main part of the branch through. There was an audible difference in how long it took to shred the hardwood limbs when compared to the softer wood limbs.Overall, I highly recommend this for hobby farms or suburban yards. You haven’t really lived until you have experienced the pure joy of feeding a branch into this chipper! My husband is a bit concerned but if they have a model made to handle large limbs and logs, I could see myself chipping up wood for the rest of my life!