YARDMAX YW7565 Chipper Shredder, 3" Diameter, Briggs & Stratton, CR950, 6.5HP, 208cc

Update 2 years later. Still 5 stars. Still very easy to start. I keep it in a garage when not in use, so no rust and very little maintenance. Found that newly cut pine bows and small pine trees go through very easily. Oak and maple take more time. I do not chip anything that is stringy like junipers as they get caught around the flywheel. Still on the original blades but its probably time I sharpen them or buy new to replace. This machine gets used for about 4-6 hours every 3 weeks and looks also new still. Moving it around is still a chore but doable. Luckily my 16 year old son moves it for me and he doesn't seem to mind. Overall good investment so far. If goes for another couple years, I'll feel like I got my money's worth. Purchased early this year. Have been using every weekend for last 3 months. Pros Packaged very well Easy to put together Extremely easy to start Chips green pine/maple/oak branches very easily up to 3"+ Shreds dry leaves, twigs, pine cones, etc.. without any clogging (just don't put too much in at once) Tank of gas will give hours of work Very sturdy, heavy, solidly built, thick metal and good finish (does make for a con though for move-ability) Pro and Con Chips dried pine/maple/oak branches but bogs down on anything over 2" (always give time for flywheel to speed back up) Clogs but if you take your time and feed properly you shouldn't have any issues (i removed the safety flap) Moves around but not real easy (flat level land is great, anything with rocks or roots will be difficult) It isn't that loud (i don't use hearing protection and its fine), but if it bothers you, please use hearing protection Cons Stringy type branches can wrap around flywheel and its a tough job clearing out (have to use long needle nose pliers) Not as powerful as I would like for dried branches 3-4" Wish it was a little easier to move (or some type of attachment to pull with my tractor) All in all, I really like this chipper. Have been cleaning up a couple acres (mix of pine, oak, and maple trees). No real complaints. I immediately removed the safety flap inside the discharge chute. I managed to clog it once more, but I was just being impatient and put too many wet pine bows in at the same time. It does matter how you feed branches. Can't really explain, but after you used it for a couple hours, you will get the hang of it. Once I got through the learning curve, I can now take care of a huge pile of large branches in an hour or so. So much better than trying to burn everything or wait for the semi-annual town pickup or taking to the town dump.

This is the first major item as far as expense that I have purchased online at Amazon. I did several hours of online research and this little jewel as stated by reviews from numerous websites is a good bang for the buck. I'm a bit older so it took me a little while between reading the directions to ensure I didn't miss anything; actual assembly in total about 3 hours. I plan to use it today to chip up fruit tree branches; depending on how it operates and if the seller provides me replacement items mentioned in "CONS" will likely bump it up to a "5". PROS: Definitely beefy! I read some reviews talking about big, bulky, hard to move... In my opinion its built right, and relatively easy to move and looks to be very mobile; maybe others did not tilt it far enough down ensuring based cleared the ground. It is built very solid, great heavy duty commercial level paint one would see on farm equipment. I am excitedly looking forward to using it today. CONS: Two of the bolts stripped, one was part of the 9 nut/bolt assemblies for connecting the larger housing to the smaller. The 2nd and more important one was the was the larger nut/bolt assembly that is critical to holding the large funnel to the chipper. The 1st of two large bolt/nut assembly no problems, but the second one started and got as far as the bolt coming even with the outside of the nut then just spun and it should have tightened to the point there was 3/8 inch or so of the bolt sticking beyond the nut. Additionally, several of the bolt/nut assemblies did not have a lock washer despite the directions stating otherwise (had 2 washers, just no lock washers)...this is a concern since this thing likely will be vibrating a lot, hence the need for lock washers. I have spent my life working on machines and definitely did not over torque. My opinion is the bolts are not made of very strong metal hence why two of the stripped. Despite these couple of negatives I think this thing will be considered an excellent purchase and last a very long time. FOLLOW UP TO ORIGINAL: Ok, so I fired this up it took a few minutes to engage the clutch without stalling the engine...likely my fault. After using I would agree with the reviewer that stated use it on seasoned wood clippings as the fruit tree trimming I put in the chute frequently clogged it and stopped the engine. I had to loosen the large nut w/phillips head screw retainer to allow me to flip the exit funnel so I could get to the material that clogged the machine about 10 times. A bit frustrating, but LIKELY due to the fact that the trimmings were green and small resulting in spitting out 8-12 pieces of the smaller branch ends. My intent was to just let it spit the chips on our garden, and till them into the soil to decompose. However, looks like it may be somewhat problematic for the tiller...we'll see. I still give it a 4+ because anything from 3" down in diameter except for the 1/4" clippings did fine. I have rented a commercial chipper before and it did much worse than this little guy. I again reiterate this thing is very easy to move around and I did so parallel to my garden area to ensure chips were evenly spread...simple to do and feel this machine is a keeper....starts very easy as well.

I've had this chipper for several years and it works ok when used correctly. HOWEVER... Customer service is terrible. I broke a part on the chipper when I was working it to hard and need to replace the part. I contacted customer service and they refused to sell me a part because I didn't register the chipper when I bought it, and because I couldn't provide the serial number on the machine. It's tough to provide a serial number when the mfgr puts the number on a paper sticker that faded after several years of use (see picture). Funny thing though, I can easily buy an engine part from Briggs without having to show my papers. Yardmax customer service is terrible, the chipper is ok, buyer beware.

Great chipper for the price, very heavy-built, and a simple design. Much easier to access the blades and grease points than others I've seen. Belt-driven, so easier to start, too. Briggs engine has plenty of power. I've had no issues with it (yet), but haven't used it that many hours to date. The only negative with my purchase was the shipping; I ordered it the 29th of January, with an expected delivery date of February 21st, which turned out ridiculous in itself, as the chipper sat on the freight terminal dock (less than 60 miles from my home) from February 2nd to March 14th,when I finally tracked it down and discovered they couldn't deliver it at all, as none of their trucks had lift gates. I just went and picked it up on that date; good thing I wasn't in any hurry! To be fair about it, though, I had several conversations with Amazon customer service personnel about finding it and getting it delivered, and they were very helpful and made it right with me for the bad experience with the shipping. I've always had great customer service help with any issues I've had with other orders over the years. Think mine this time was just a fluke, and I'll continue to be an Amazon customer. Update-June 2020 I've used this for going on 3 years now, with no real issues. I did do away with the OSHA flap because it just caused clogs, as others have mentioned. It works best with green wood for me, not dried-out; regardless of what others have said. Most problems of clogging can be avoided with not over-feeding the machine. It's not a huge, commercial one, like you see being crammed with branches as fast as they can. I've only had one clogging issue, due to the flap causing too much restriction in the output chute. None of these homeowner chippers can be overfed, regardless of their product videos. Just take your time feeding debris, and there should be no issues. The only real problem I've had is with the original tires-can't keep air in them, having to always air them up before use. I'm replacing them with flat-free, so that really has nothing to do with the machine itself. I would more than likely buy one again, considering the cost savings over other brands.

This is the 1st wood chipper I've ever used, so, I can't compare with other models. I tried chipping 2” diameter branches -- worked, not perfect. Dirty job and very noisy. Reason I got it was: it took a long time to dump trimmed tree branches every year - trash company takes only 1 yard waste bin every other week. It took a long time to dump the branches. Generally, it kind of works. (1) Anything with long fiber easily jammed the blade side rotating axle and causing engine to stall. This is a design mistake — Stanley wood chipper didn’t have this problem. (2) Cutting blade and the anvil has a large angle. This is another design mistake. Overall impression of the chipper: sturdy but have design mistakes. The company shipping folks did excellent job on packaging.

This was my biggest disappointment since finding out that there is no Santa Claus. This in all appearances looks like and feels like it would tear apart just about anything... but it better be dry for at least 4 months or it just won't work. Ana about that 3" wood, it also better be Balsa wood or pine dried for 6 months. About 3 years ago I built a compost bin in the back yard out of 4 4'x4' pallets. I put some leaves, grass cuttings and some pine cutting in it. After 4 years, not much success, probably my fault? Anyway, when the weather cleared up, and the sun was out a week or so, I decided to give this "Big Boy" at try. Now don't bet me wrong, this went together pretty easily, and is made of really sturdy materials...not including the shredding mulching cutting wheel inside. You can't see much about it... but I do know, it doesn't cut a 1" green stick...actually not much actually goes through the wheel without a push. Green cuttings from plant trimmings are difficult to get to go through the small hole right next to the cutting wheel. The top of the shoot is pretty big so it's easy to push a bunch of brush through it's to hole, but as soon as it jams up at the bottom, you have to pull the jam out and feed it through a little at a time...and if they are green, the machine will merely shred it into long stringy pieces or just throw it out the shoot. The discharge shoot jams quit often if your debris is damp or green, so be sure everything is DRY before trying to shred it. When this arrived it was packed like it was from Fort Knox. It was in a cardboard box, framed with iron rods on a wood pallet. Nothing was damaged in shipment. I think the manifest said that it weighed over 200#. The machine weighs over 100#. I had to unpack it and take it piece by piece to the shop to assemble. Putting it together was easy and everything worked well, including the engine after assembly. Getting the flywheel to spin takes some practice but it also works fine. Once I got used to using it for small loads at a time that are dry or even smaller, it actually ran for hours on one tank of gas. I had a "Roto-Hoe" for 15 years that would shred and chip anything I put into it It's limit on diameter wood was 2" but it did not matter if it was green or wet, it would cut and chip it into 1/2" chips. I used It to clear out blackberry bushes and this thing would take the plant, 15' long with a root on it, down to just the root inside the chipper bin rattling around. I would have to shutdown the machine to get the root out. All in all, I'm going to keep the machine and try to teach an old dog new tricks with it. I'm 80 years old and don't have much patience for wimpy machines.

One Year Later I'm keeping the 4 star rating; although I can no longer lift the black handled lever to engage the belt tension. I can easily just manually lift the engine; but something is clearly wrong. A called and emailed customer service who I give one star. They were of no use and didn't call when they said they would multiple times. Nonetheless, the chipper has really done the job after some heavy recent use. Day 2 I’m amending my rating to 4 stars from 5 stars after second day of use. Other reviewers had advised to remove what they referred to as the OSHA flap. I didn’t do it because I believe in following instructions. Well, after having the discharge chute clog up 4 times today, I removed the OSHA flap also. I consider this a design flaw. I wasn’t feeding too much too quickly. That flap is going to clog up eventually no matter what. After I removed the flap, no more clogs and I don’t view the machine any less safe by doing so. And, because the discharge chute clogs up, so does the cutting disk unless you immediately realize the chute is clogged and you stop feeding additional material. Also, a tip when cleaning the material from around the cutting disk is to blow is out with a leaf blower rather than digging in with your hand. Another minor item is that that the black rubber handle, used to adjust the tension on the belt drive, slipped off when I was engaging it. I still love the machine and would still buy again and would recommend to others. Day 1 I’ve only use once; but I’m very pleased with the Yardmax chipper. Sometimes you buy something that gives you a good feeling before you even use it. This wood chipper was very well packaged. Beyond the cardboard box were 2 pieces of plywood on the top and bottom which was all enclosed in a steel cage. Even before assembling, you could just tell that this thing was well made. Assembly was easy and instructions were clear. Next, after putting in the oil and gas, the chipper literally started the first time I pulled the starter rope. I chipped up some branches and leaves that were very wet and slimy due to a ton of rain that we had. The chipper had no problem with any of it. No clogging of any type. The one lesson I learned is to bring the branches to the chipper. I have a very hilly yard and took the chipper down to the branches. Pulling this chipper back up hill was quite the challenge. Again, I’ve only used it once; but this chipper is exactly what I had hoped for.

This was exactly what I hoped for in a home-use chipper! As other reviewers noted, it can handle the 3" branches as advertised, if you feed it incrementally, allowing the flywheel to pick up speed again in between. Smaller branches - no problem! Assembly was easy, with clear instructions provided. The clogging noted by others when shredding pine needles and other leafy debris does happen - but I discovered an easy and permanent fix. There's a safety flap in the discharge chute to keep you from sticking your hand in there - I'm sure this is something required by some agency somewhere - I nicknamed it the "OSHA flap". Were it made of a lighter material, it wouldn't be a problem, but as it's steel (like the rest of this machine) it's too heavy to be pushed open by lighter output. I simply used a beefy screwdriver to remove this "OSHA flap" once and for all, and voila', discharge never clogged again despite a weekend of heavy use, including lots of pines. As an added benefit, the discharge is much more powerful with any form of chips. You do have to be more mindful not to stand in front of the discharge, but I figure I'm smart enough to keep my hands out of my snowblower's discharge, so I'm also smart enough to keep my hands out of my chipper! This is a well-built machine, and I'm looking forward to many years of use on my wooded property!