Makita UD2500/2 Electric Shredder 2500W 45mm 240V, Blue, Large

Does the job. Powerful and quiet

This has basically done what it said on the tin and saved me a fortune in not ordering skips. And has turned all my garden waste into a compost heap instead. Easily munches through wood up to 4cm diameter and draws branches through well with a little guidance. Have found it best to alternate dry wood with fresh cuttings to keep blades clear. Excellent product highly rated.But….that annoying safety catch is so awkward to set and it won’t work unless in place. Very fiddly and annoying. So drop a star for that. I may yet disconnect that if I can.

Can recommend this product 100%.My friend has a Bosch one, which is a good deal cheaper, but it does not chop as thick branches. Smaller bucket, as well as it just dices with blades rather than this barrel-like blade. Which pulls the branch in, crushes as well as cuts the chippings. Perfect for malching the flower beds.Dealt with 12ft, 40mm branches as easily as 5mm green shoots. Length is not an issue and it does not really matter if side shoots are clipped off. It deals with them. (depending on size etc)yes, it is heavy I guess. But who wants to put a 12ft branch into a lightweight shredder?The only negative is as others have said. The bucket fastener is poor. it slides up to make a connection and will not work without it. It feels flimsy. But it works. And when it does break (as it does feel like it will one day, plastic goes brittle over time) I can see it will be easy to remove the handle and "fix" in place for good.

After 4 years of heavy use without once getting clogged or jammed, it's still working as well as it was when brand new. The annoying bin placement interlock is gradually wearing and becoming easier to engage. The annoying ledge just above the cutter is still annoying me. The fact that the Makita machine is still running after 4 years of heavy use is amazing. (Impact cutters are barely able to last a year and resharpening, balancing and replacing their cutter blades is a nightmare.) The chute is stil in very good condition - on most shredders, the chute's the first thing to deteriorate. Had a look at the online manual, it's been on a value engineered diet, down from 32kg to 27.6kg and the cutter and chip flow path appear to have been drastically improved. The highly annoying feed-in ledge is gone too. Think that after this detailed review Makita should send me a current production machine to review?

This will probably be the heaviest item of machinery that you have. Even though it's got wheels you really don't want to move it more than you have toSo, well made, chunky, and I'm sure reliable, so why the low rating?Because it's a one trick pony, and doesn't do that trick particularly wellThe trick - perfectly straight branches with no side shoots from 1 to 4 inches in diameter. The machine reduces these tp chunks for composting very quickly - greatAnything else - complete failureBranches with thin side shotts - jamsThin branches - does not cut all the way throughYes, I have adjusted it, no, that makes no differenceNot recommended, particularly at the high price unless you have 1-4 inch prepared branches

Easy to assemble and works well

A big beast! Heavy. Takes up a lot of space. Hard to move. Need a lot to shred to make it worthwhile setting it up.Difficult to align lock lever & retaining basket, without which it won't work.Difficult to feed soft thin branches with leaves.I'd say for the professional/ semi professional gardener, bordering on groundsman only( Masculine used advisedly)

This is a heavy lump of kit and needs some muscle to manoeuvre and assemble from the outset. After that I would say I am 90% happy with the build quality. You have a very heavy shredder unit sat on the base which is supported by a sturdy tubular steel structure. I am a bit concerned that when you assemble it you are fixing plastic on plastic which also flexes a bit. However I assume they have done the maths and the stress levels are well within the tolerance of the materials. It operates well, chewing through all green wood passed through it as described. Because the receiver bin is enclosed it quickly forms a pyramid under the cutter and you have to disengage the safety lever and slide out the bin to redistribute the waste before restarting. I'd have preferred an open option where I could place my own waste bag underneath. As it is now you have to juggle a weighty bin to bag for disposal in my case. I went for this one as it is a trusted make and is about half the price of the equivalent Bosch shredder. The cable is of a good length. And remember, this thing weighs, if you have to shift it up steps it takes a bit of effort.