Bosch Shredder AXT 25 TC (plunger for trimmed material, 53-litre collection box, cardboard box, material throughput: 230 kg/h, max. cutting capacity: Dia. 45 mm, 2500 W)
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Space-saving storage
The removable hopper fits exactly into the collection box. This facilitates easy, practical and space-saving storage of the shredder. When collapsed for storage, the AXT 25 TC is only 67 cm high.
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Impressive performance with any garden materials
Shred green trimmings and woody garden materials without having to separate them first. The impressive performance of the AXT 25 TC is ensured by the hopper in combination with the drum cutter unit
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Practical collection box
The removable 53-litre collection box not only collects the shredded material, but is also easy to transport and empty thanks to its handles.
Technical data
•Motor power: 2500 W
•Cutting capacity: Dia. 45 mm
•Material throughput: 230 kg/h
•Collection box: 53 l
•Weight: 30.5 kg
 AXT 25 TC |  AXT 25 D |  AXT 22 D |  AXT Rapid 2000 | |
| Motor power | 2500 W | 2500 W | 2200 W | 2000 W |
| Cutting capacity | Dia. 45 mm | Dia. 40 mm | Dia. 38 mm | 35 mm dia. |
| Material throughput rate | approx. 230 kg/h | approx. 175 kg/h | approx. 170 kg/h | approx. 80 kg/h |
| Cutting speed | 41 rpm | 41 rpm | 41 rpm | 3650 rpm |
| Torque | approx. 650 Nm | approx. 650 Nm | approx. 600 Nm | approx. 12 Nm |
| Voltage | 230 V | 230 V | 230 V | 230 V |
| Weight | 30.5 kg | 31.3 kg | 31.3 kg | 11.5 kg |
| Collection box | 53 l | 53 l | 53 l | – |
| Automatic feed | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Space-saving storage | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Weight: | 30.5 kg |
| Dimensions: | 77.6 x 68.4 x 39.4 cm; 30.5 Kilograms |
| Model: | 600803370 |
| Part: | 600803370 |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Bosch |
| Quantity: | 1 |
I love my new shredde
This shredder is quieter, smoother and feeds easier than my previous one. And it didn’t block up for the whole job.
My biggest problem is now working out what to do with the previous one, which still works, but I got fed up with having to dismantle it every time it blocked.
Surprisingly light which is handy for moving around but it feels flimsy and the wheels snapped off on the first day – replacement parts received but I had to jump through so many hoops to get them.
On the plus side the unit has shredded small branches well. The blade has two sides so when one is blunt, you just swap it round. As a result, I filled 5 green wheelie bins before I needed to buy another.
Replacement blades cost 25 a throw, so if you have an angle grinder or something, it’s much cheaper just to sharpen them yourself.
Bear in mind your local council will quote to take away garden rubbish – I was quoted 45. So if you are looking at a one off exercise, consider that as an option.
I found it was fine for branches up to 15mm. Beyond that it regularly jams – and it gets worse as the blade gets blunter. Twigs and leaves don’t really break down well. Avoid hardwood.
The subsequent mulch is great for the soil -although use with a nitrogen based fertilizer in the first couple of years if planting with it (it won’t contribute anything until it starts breaking down). Good weed suppressant.
Make sure you have a large container to stick under it, Gorilla Tubs work well.
Conclusion – disappointed in the build quality, I certainly didn’t feel like I was getting any benefit from buying a Bosch product this time. But overall it did the job and I am pleased with it.
Excellent purchase of you have a garden full of trees and shrubs
Happily munched its way through all sorts of branches from my garden, up to an inch or two thick. Produces mulch for under shrubs and areas i don’t want weeds growing so a win-win! Far easier than burning or dragging prunings to the dump. Folds up neatly for storage too.
Excellent purchase of you have a garden full of trees and shrubs
Happily munched its way through all sorts of branches from my garden, up to an inch or two thick. Produces mulch for under shrubs and areas i don’t want weeds growing so a win-win! Far easier than burning or dragging prunings to the dump. Folds up neatly for storage too.
Totally fantastic shredder.
A number of years ago I had a cheap shredder which never worked well and then stopped working altogether.
Therefore I was unsure that domestic shredders were of any use!
Having felled two large trees I had a large quantity of branches to dispose of.
After reading the reviews I decided to buy the Bosch ATX25 TC. It has been the best purchase that I have ever made. It shreds branches, complete with green leaves, up to 2 inch diameter with no effort. I have shredded over 50 large sack fulls in a very short time.
I an an engineer and familiar with machinery therefore not easily impressed but this shredder has amazed me.
You get what you pay for, if you want perfection this is definitely the multi-purpose shredder for you.
Well done Bosch.
Totally fantastic shredder.
A number of years ago I had a cheap shredder which never worked well and then stopped working altogether.
Therefore I was unsure that domestic shredders were of any use!
Having felled two large trees I had a large quantity of branches to dispose of.
After reading the reviews I decided to buy the Bosch ATX25 TC. It has been the best purchase that I have ever made. It shreds branches, complete with green leaves, up to 2 inch diameter with no effort. I have shredded over 50 large sack fulls in a very short time.
I an an engineer and familiar with machinery therefore not easily impressed but this shredder has amazed me.
You get what you pay for, if you want perfection this is definitely the multi-purpose shredder for you.
Well done Bosch.
Very good purchase.
We decided to take down our Leylandii conifer hedges as part of landscaping the back garden. In all we took out 29 trees of 6′ to 8′ in height. In 3 days I shredded a mountainous pile of branches without it jamming once! The Turbine system is a huge improvement over a previous blade shredder. So long as you are patient and don’t overload the Hopper , and be careful with the branch size it shreds very well. It also shredded wet branches and softer material without any problem. The mulch produced is a good size to put on the garden. I wore ear protectors but my neighbour told me it was very quiet and not annoying! You do need to be careful moving it as the weight is above the stand. It is more expensive than some other models but it was worth every penny.
Very good purchase.
We decided to take down our Leylandii conifer hedges as part of landscaping the back garden. In all we took out 29 trees of 6′ to 8′ in height. In 3 days I shredded a mountainous pile of branches without it jamming once! The Turbine system is a huge improvement over a previous blade shredder. So long as you are patient and don’t overload the Hopper , and be careful with the branch size it shreds very well. It also shredded wet branches and softer material without any problem. The mulch produced is a good size to put on the garden. I wore ear protectors but my neighbour told me it was very quiet and not annoying! You do need to be careful moving it as the weight is above the stand. It is more expensive than some other models but it was worth every penny.
I’ve been using this now for about 1.5 hours non stop. It hasn’t jammed, slowed or stopped.
Trick is, to take your time, don’t force 537 branches down in one go, if a branch looks like it will get stuck, it probably will. It easily chipped branches of 35mm, but if you try to chip 5 x 15mm branches… Its gunna fail.
I use power tools all day, so far, this is doing well!
Fantastic.
Awesome. Used this to clear up after chopping down 2 trees in my garden. They were way too big and we had no time to really manage them. One was a plum tree and the other was a very overgrown pine tree. Thing beauty managed to mulch through all of the branches and leaves. Absolutely worth the price. A tree surgeon would have charged me 2K easily. I managed to get the job done for less than 500 after purchasing this a mini pole saw (chain) and the van hire to get rid of the waste. Perfect if you even need this for a large scale one time job. Never missed a best.
Fantastic.
Awesome. Used this to clear up after chopping down 2 trees in my garden. They were way too big and we had no time to really manage them. One was a plum tree and the other was a very overgrown pine tree. Thing beauty managed to mulch through all of the branches and leaves. Absolutely worth the price. A tree surgeon would have charged me 2K easily. I managed to get the job done for less than 500 after purchasing this a mini pole saw (chain) and the van hire to get rid of the waste. Perfect if you even need this for a large scale one time job. Never missed a best.
I owned the cheaper bosch axt2200 before but when it failed after many years of use decided to upgrade.
Surprisingly, despite the extra cost, this shredder doesn’t shred as quickly as the cheaper model which has a much faster spinning blade.
This version slowly crushes branches at the same time as cutting them. It very rarely jams up but you have to push branches in at the right angle for the turbine to grab it.
It is much quieter than the axt2200 too which required new blades on a regular basis.
I notice that while the turbine blade on this model is meant to last a long time, when it finally does go blunt a replacement blade is almost as costly as the shredder itself.
Overall, I am happy with this quieter model despite the slower speed. I just hope the blade lasts.
The price is regularly reduced to 300 and my review is based on this price. I wouldn’t pay more.
Impressive
Decided to trim down my large garden then realised I would easily fill a large skip or many many trips to the dump so decided to buy one of these. Used it for about 3 hours of continuous shredding and as long as you don’t get carried away ramming branches in there it made light work of everything I put in there ( nothing over 30mm though) Noticed the blade is getting a bit blunt now but you can turn it over as they are double sided. It has jammed up a couple of times when I put lots of leaves in there but it’s easy to clear out. Should have got one ages ago
Let me start with the only negative. On delivery one of the wheels was smashed (very similar to one of the existing photos in the reviews). Instead of sending it back and getting it replaced, I easily found a replacement wheel online for about 15, and Amazon more than compensated me in return. Great experience from Amazon Customer Service.
Having used other smaller shredders, which were slow going, constantly clogging up, and blades blunting quite easily; this Bosch machine is a revelation. I’m really glad I paid the extra for the Turbine Cut. My neighbour has the cheaper drum cutting equivalent, and he also speaks highly of it, but I think the TC gives you an edge on larger branches. Its copes happily with branches up to the advertised 45mm. If you can get it in the hopper, it can munch it. The resulting shredded material makes great mulch around trees.
It’s quiet enough that I can run it for over an hour without the feeling I’m annoying the neighbours, and it’s fine to use it without ear protection in my experience.
A few tips about use….
If you’re working with brown material, or small leaved evergreen leaves you shouldn’t have any problems with clogging. A previous review mentions that the blade appears to clog when you put large branches through. This is true, but doesn’t affect it’s cutting performance. The bits lodged in the blade will free themselves and fall through. If you try and put lots of green leafy material through, it will clog up. If you have got a lot of leafy material, leave it to dry out for a week before shredding, and that will make your life easier.
The blade is located towards the front of the machine, which means the box doesn’t fill up from the centre. Every so often, pull the box out, give it a shake to flatten the shreddings, and you’ll need to empty it less often.
If the machine does clog with leafy material, try putting some branches through. This can often pull through some of the leaves clearing the blockage. If that doesn’t work the best way of removing blockages is to pull out the hopper and reach under and scope out (with gloves!) the blockage from around the blade. This takes about a minute and is quicker than removing the top of the machine.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this if you want an efficient, easy to use machine.
I’ve been using this in the garden for a while now. I’ve found that it is excellent for branches, but not so good for softer / smaller material. Thinner twigs are likely to pass straight through without being shredded. These thinner twigs have a tendency to block the output chute and if not cleared regularly will result in shredded material backing up and eventually cause the machine to stall. In addition, whilst the ‘hopper’ has been designed with branches in mind and is good at helping to prevent overly large branches from being passed through the shredder, I found it very restrictive when trying to shred a pile of twigs and leaves – smaller, lighter material – which made the process quite frustrating, long and laborious.
Excellent product and excellent company
This is an excellent product and does exactly as advertised. We have a large garden with lots of trees and hedges, most of the trees are dealt with by tree surgeons on a regular basis but some of the smaller stuff we look after ourselves – this product (so far) does a great job. Howe Tools are also a good company to deal with; I had need to contact them when the shredder arrived and my problem was dealt with within 24 hours – good product and an excellent company – thank you
Excellent product and excellent company
This is an excellent product and does exactly as advertised. We have a large garden with lots of trees and hedges, most of the trees are dealt with by tree surgeons on a regular basis but some of the smaller stuff we look after ourselves – this product (so far) does a great job. Howe Tools are also a good company to deal with; I had need to contact them when the shredder arrived and my problem was dealt with within 24 hours – good product and an excellent company – thank you
It's the dog's danglies
Thicker branches come out in somewhat crushed slices rather than chips but rarely blocked in an afternoon of non stop shredding, didn’t overheat and took everything reasonable thrown at it. Trivial to unblock on rare occasions I was too enthusiastic. Can be difficult to get smaller soft stuff through but mixing thin branches with loose stuff solves. Buy again? Definitely.
It's the dog's danglies
Thicker branches come out in somewhat crushed slices rather than chips but rarely blocked in an afternoon of non stop shredding, didn’t overheat and took everything reasonable thrown at it. Trivial to unblock on rare occasions I was too enthusiastic. Can be difficult to get smaller soft stuff through but mixing thin branches with loose stuff solves. Buy again? Definitely.
Far more expensive than most shredders, but works extremely well, efficiently and quietly. It is a boon being self feeding , and no longer have to keep pushing material down. Not had a jam up, as yet, although once whilst shredding trre branches, it did need help to push down some leaves that refused to work through. To me, it wheels much easier fully set up, than when it is collapsed down for stowage, when it tends to wobble a lot. The only reason i have marked it down, is, for the price you are paying, why aren’t the wheels made of metal? This is a very heavy unit, and when my order arrived , one of the wheels was smashed to bits. All credit to Amazon, replacement arrived within two days. But I am worried that after a fair bit of use, the plastic wheels will start to crack, due to the units weight. Time will tell
Far more expensive than most shredders, but works extremely well, efficiently and quietly. It is a boon being self feeding , and no longer have to keep pushing material down. Not had a jam up, as yet, although once whilst shredding trre branches, it did need help to push down some leaves that refused to work through. To me, it wheels much easier fully set up, than when it is collapsed down for stowage, when it tends to wobble a lot. The only reason i have marked it down, is, for the price you are paying, why aren’t the wheels made of metal? This is a very heavy unit, and when my order arrived , one of the wheels was smashed to bits. All credit to Amazon, replacement arrived within two days. But I am worried that after a fair bit of use, the plastic wheels will start to crack, due to the units weight. Time will tell
Good garden workhorse
Chomps up dry wood, stalks, leafy hazel branches with no problem at all. The box is a convenient container to take the shreddings to the compost heap or to use as a mulch. I have a lot of brambles and this shredder copes well with them particularly if you feed them in unbunched, so the shredder pulls them into its hopper bit-by-bit. Convenient to put away in the shged as the feed mechanism goes away into the shreddings box.
Good garden workhorse
Chomps up dry wood, stalks, leafy hazel branches with no problem at all. The box is a convenient container to take the shreddings to the compost heap or to use as a mulch. I have a lot of brambles and this shredder copes well with them particularly if you feed them in unbunched, so the shredder pulls them into its hopper bit-by-bit. Convenient to put away in the shged as the feed mechanism goes away into the shreddings box.
Does exactly what it says on the tin! Demolished a ten foot conifer and various other tree cuttings and prunings in a couple of hours straight out of the box. Like other reviewers have mentioned, once you get used to the amount it can handle at a time the job becomes a doddle, I did bung it up a couple of times but it only takes a matter of seconds to release the top and clear the cutters. My only very slight criticism would be that the exit chute at the bottom of the machine is only around 12 inches from the floor and so limits the size of box or bag collecting the clippings and you need to keep in mind to regularly keep it clear. All in all its a Bosch Powertool and it certainly lives up to its name. Its the best bit of money I’ve spent in the garden in a good while.
This is an excellent heavy duty garden shredder that munches through the the ...
This is an excellent heavy duty garden shredder that munches through the the thicker stuff with ease. Health and safety has been improved but at the expense of mobility and convenience. Getting the box in and out is no mean feat! The really disappointing aspects that made it 4 star were the small wheels with a small wheelbase that made moving the shredder over even slightly rough ground difficult and with a danger of it falling over. the AXT 2200 HP had larger wheels and much wider wheelbase making it easier to move. the final disappointment was the plug … an ordinary indoor household plug rather than the rubberised outdoor plug.
This is an excellent heavy duty garden shredder that munches through the the ...
This is an excellent heavy duty garden shredder that munches through the the thicker stuff with ease. Health and safety has been improved but at the expense of mobility and convenience. Getting the box in and out is no mean feat! The really disappointing aspects that made it 4 star were the small wheels with a small wheelbase that made moving the shredder over even slightly rough ground difficult and with a danger of it falling over. the AXT 2200 HP had larger wheels and much wider wheelbase making it easier to move. the final disappointment was the plug … an ordinary indoor household plug rather than the rubberised outdoor plug.
his is the best bit of kit I’ve ever bough
Put simply, this is the best bit of kit I’ve ever bought. It does exactly what it’s supposed to. It shreds stuff easily and I’ve put some big branches through it and have shredded a huge amount of stuff which would have taken hours to dispose of with it. I wished I’d bought one years ago. (And no, I don’t work for Bosch ). Amazon customer service as usual was excellent when the first one was delivered damaged but they replaced the next day. Set up is child’s play. Fantastic product and well worth the money, plus a three year warranty, you can’t go wrong.
his is the best bit of kit I’ve ever bough
Put simply, this is the best bit of kit I’ve ever bought. It does exactly what it’s supposed to. It shreds stuff easily and I’ve put some big branches through it and have shredded a huge amount of stuff which would have taken hours to dispose of with it. I wished I’d bought one years ago. (And no, I don’t work for Bosch ). Amazon customer service as usual was excellent when the first one was delivered damaged but they replaced the next day. Set up is child’s play. Fantastic product and well worth the money, plus a three year warranty, you can’t go wrong.
still wonderful after three years of heavy use
I have used this now to create over 10 cubic metres of mulch over three years and it is still going strong. First shredder I’ve ever owned that doesn’t get blocked and didn’t break from normal use. (The most you have to do is put it on reverse and then put through a thick branch to clear any twigs, or) Totally different mechanism from the cheap ones. Rotating set of blades pulls the branches in. Well worth the investment.
still wonderful after three years of heavy use
I have used this now to create over 10 cubic metres of mulch over three years and it is still going strong. First shredder I’ve ever owned that doesn’t get blocked and didn’t break from normal use. (The most you have to do is put it on reverse and then put through a thick branch to clear any twigs, or) Totally different mechanism from the cheap ones. Rotating set of blades pulls the branches in. Well worth the investment.
Pros:
Very good for munching up sticks and small branches, tall, tough grasses (e.g. miscanthus) and even tall, tough royal fern (which doesn’t rot down in my compost bins otherwise). I also use it for woodier herbaceous stems like tall phlox, helenium and aster, as long as they’re not wet.
If leaves clog it up, it’s fairly quick and easy to clear from below, if you’re careful and sensible.
Surprisingly quiet. I don’t feel any need to wear ear defenders
The blades pull the longer pieces through well, without pushing
Easy to move round the garden
Cons:
This type of blade isn’t suitable for lush greenery but is ideal for long, woodier garden waste. Not easy to feed in short hedge trimmings.
You have to use the collection box (which is a safety feature, as it prevents people putting their hand into the whirling blades). The shreddings pile up in the middle long before the box is full, then backup into the machine. I kick the side of the box every now and then, to settle the contents. Not a big problem, but a bit annoying and I guess I may break the box one day!
I recommend looking at Fred the Shed’s website if you need advice about what kind of shredder is best for the kind of garden waste you have.
This is a very impressive shredder that seems to deal effortlessly with hedgerow branches up to 2 inches in diameter. It just chomps through them. I used it initially for a 3 hour stint to shred a huge quantity of leylandii branches – and it dealt with this extremely well leaving a huge quantity of chopped material suitable to mix in with our other compost. The machine blocked on three occasions during this session – due to me being a bit over ambitious with what it could deal with. It was absolutely simple to unblock – by just pressing the yellow button which reversed the drive. I also thought that it was very safe to use as there is no danger of getting your hands into the shredding mechanism.
Another big plus point for me is that the shredder is much quieter to operate than many garden shredders. I used ear protectors to operate the machine but in practice it is not likely to cause huge noise interference for your neighbours.
At the moment I have not yet used the machine on any wet garden material so cannot pass comment on how it copes with this.
I am very pleased that I decided to spend a bit more on the shredder than I had originally intended to get this model.
This is a very hardworking and effective shredder, which steadily munches up large amounts of mixed prunings with Germanic efficiency.
It works fast, and pulls in the handful you’ve just fed it, so you can get on with selecting the next stems.
Larger stems are cut and crushed into pieces about 2cm. long, and smaller bits finish up reasonably well chopped and crushed, so they’re compacted and will break down when composted.
It is indeed very quiet – it can hardly be heard from the length of our garden – and makes quite a companionable, low-pitched chugging noise as it works, unlike our previous shredder, which made high-pitched screaming noises hard on the ears.
When in action, I couldn’t ask for a better performance, and although it’s not cheap, I feel sure it will go on working for me for many years. It does have a 3-year guarantee as well.
So why only 4 stars?
It’s been designed to go under a worktop when not in use. The top comes off and is stored in the collection box, which sits under the mechanism. this is fine for those who want to store it like that, but doesn’t save any floor space and it’s more difficult to manoeuvre in and out with the top off, as the handle which swings the weight over the wheels is part of the top section. I don’t need this modification, the top stays on in my shed.
It’s very heavy indeed, and difficult to move around, especially when going down even small steps. If you ease the machine down on the wheels, there comes a point where its weight takes over and it drops hard on to the lower level.
The collection box has to be replaced correctly under the machine, as a safety feature, or else it won’t start. Unfortunately the box doesn’t hold very much, and it’s hard to see how much has gone in. The machine deposits shreddings in just one area of the box, so when you see you need to pull it out, you find the box is only about half full. Take care also when pulling it out – it needs a firm jerk, and can give your shins a painful knock. Lastly, it’;s not easy to transfer the shreddings from the box into a bag for temporary storage or transport. The box is rectangular and you need a very large bag or container to shake the contents into. It’s difficult to fit a rubble-sack-sized bag over there end of the box, and not too easy to shake the last pieces in to it. On both our previous shredders, I greatly preferred the option of placing a storage bag or container directly over the exit chute, and then just removing it when full.
The instructions are poor, and really I do feel that, when customers are spending this sort of money, Bosch could afford to produce a more attractive and informative booklet, rather than a few pages on very cheap paper, mainly concerned with all the normal common sense precautions for using electrical equipment. My machine started up OK but stopped running after about 10 minutes. Fortunately my mechanically- minded husband worked out for himself, (no help from the handbook) how to re-set the cutting mechanism so that slivers of metal were shaved off, which needs to be done ready for the initial run. Why this could not have been set top in the factory as part of its quality checks, I do not know.
Finally, I’ve not yet been able to register the guarantee, as mine appears not to have the identity plate with the individual number of the machine, though I have looked most carefully all over it. I have e-mailed the Bosch helpline but so far, have had no reply.
Am I glad I bought it? Definitely. Its a very good machine and I enjoy using it (apart from emptying the box.) I really like its quietness, its speed and power. With a 1/4acre garden with large hedges and many shrubs, it gives me a sustainable way of managing the pruning without too much strain.
I think its probably the best available on the domestic non-professional market at the moment, and would certainly recommend it to anyone with a large garden and limited time to look after it.
Very Impressed
OK, I’m usually too lazy to write a review unless something really impresses me – this does! Having purchased a Bosch ATX 2000 some years ago, which I was seriously unimpressed with, I figured that garden shredders were poor. However, with a very large quantity of tree branches to dispose of, I read many reviews. It seems that designs have improved somewhat. This is expensive – but about the same cost of having my branches disposed of commercially (this time). So I bought one…and WOW, what a machine. It’s pretty big and very heavy, but good heavens it does the job. It’s pretty quiet too. The blade isn’t going hyper-fast, then slowing down as it starts to ‘chew’, it just rotates slowly and chomps everything you throw at it. I doubted that it could cope with the advertised 45mm, but it easily gobbled up the 50mm willow branches. It doesn’t cut these into tiny pieces though – you end up with 50mm * 15mm hockey pucks – but these look quite attractive when scattered over my flower beds. Very pleased I bought it.
Very Impressed
OK, I’m usually too lazy to write a review unless something really impresses me – this does! Having purchased a Bosch ATX 2000 some years ago, which I was seriously unimpressed with, I figured that garden shredders were poor. However, with a very large quantity of tree branches to dispose of, I read many reviews. It seems that designs have improved somewhat. This is expensive – but about the same cost of having my branches disposed of commercially (this time). So I bought one…and WOW, what a machine. It’s pretty big and very heavy, but good heavens it does the job. It’s pretty quiet too. The blade isn’t going hyper-fast, then slowing down as it starts to ‘chew’, it just rotates slowly and chomps everything you throw at it. I doubted that it could cope with the advertised 45mm, but it easily gobbled up the 50mm willow branches. It doesn’t cut these into tiny pieces though – you end up with 50mm * 15mm hockey pucks – but these look quite attractive when scattered over my flower beds. Very pleased I bought it.
Bosch AXT Shredde
Not being an expert at shredding anything other than paper I did some research and this machine seemed to be one of the best. Scored 74% in Which.
It has not disappointed – it basically EATS wood for breakfast. Brilliant and as the ads suggest the machine is very quiet considering what it is doing. Had a few initial set up problems due to the very poor instructions and the basket not fitting just right but I got there in the end. Good fun day in the garden had by me. What can I cut down next?
Bosch AXT Shredde
Not being an expert at shredding anything other than paper I did some research and this machine seemed to be one of the best. Scored 74% in Which.
It has not disappointed – it basically EATS wood for breakfast. Brilliant and as the ads suggest the machine is very quiet considering what it is doing. Had a few initial set up problems due to the very poor instructions and the basket not fitting just right but I got there in the end. Good fun day in the garden had by me. What can I cut down next?
I was going to buy a petrol shredder from a local garden centre, but although I have a large garden (supposedly about 1/3rd of an acre), access to the rear of the property is very narrow and I couldn’t find a petrol machine that would get round the side of the house. So I purchased this almost 2 years ago now and it has been truly amazing. I either shred green material and put the output in the compost bin, or, at other times, shed more woody material (cotoneaster, elder, hornbeam, laurel etc) branches and twigs and put the output directly on the soil (around the shrubs) as a mulch, rather like wood bark that you can buy from a garden centre. The machine does everything it says and just keeps going and going. On about 2 occasions over 2 years of regular use, its protection device has cut in where I have inserted a branch that was just too much for it: just stop the machine and then put it into reverse and remove the oversized material. This machine is far superior to a cheaper device I owned several years ago and subsequently discarded. As it is quite narrow, always move the machine around the garden carefully and with two hands! I would also recommend gloves for handling the material and especially wear eye protection, it is only a matter of time before a twig of bramble or similar swings round as you load the hopper.
An excellent shredder if you have a quite a few shrubs and large amounts of material to shred.
*Pros*
Cuts branches with large diameter.
Once you feed a branch it ‘pulls’ it all the way in.
Quite enjoyable to use
Quiet compared to other shredders.
It is ideal for shredding something like a large budleia bush or privet hedge.
The shredded material takes up less space and can be composted (given right mix)
Once you read instruction manual and set up correct (quite easy to set up) it works very well, Hardly ever jams and works through big piles of stuff quickly.
*Cons*
Pricey
Quite large thing in your shed
The shredded material isn’t super fine. If you shred a tree branch, I wouldn’t advise putting on standard compost heap.
*Overall*
Very happy with purchase. Not needed for v.small gardens, but if you cut a lot of shrubs and woody perennials, this will make gardening more fu
Chomp Chomp
This has coped with everything my garden “tidy up” has thrown at it including laurel, conifers, holly and buddleja. As long as you take your time feeding the branches into the machine and alternate the very leafy stuff with the more woody stuff it copes really well. It’s not as noisy as I thought it would be, but I would still recommend ear defenders and definitely safety glasses.
Chomp Chomp
This has coped with everything my garden “tidy up” has thrown at it including laurel, conifers, holly and buddleja. As long as you take your time feeding the branches into the machine and alternate the very leafy stuff with the more woody stuff it copes really well. It’s not as noisy as I thought it would be, but I would still recommend ear defenders and definitely safety glasses.
The Shredder to Buy
This really is an excellent shredder – not cheap but worth the money. We previously owned a JCB and it was extremely noise and clogged easily while chopping green materials. The blade on this turns much slower and there is quite a low level of noise while it is cutting quite significant branches. It seems to handle green stems without clogging and has a large collecting tank for the shredded material.
It seems very well designed with a blade that can be adusted to self sharpen and a feeding assembly that easily stores to minimise the footprint.
the only negatives are that it is quite heavy and can be tricky to manoeuvre. The shredded branches are also shredded into coarser pieces than some shredders – although this is not really a big issue.
The only negative
The Shredder to Buy
This really is an excellent shredder – not cheap but worth the money. We previously owned a JCB and it was extremely noise and clogged easily while chopping green materials. The blade on this turns much slower and there is quite a low level of noise while it is cutting quite significant branches. It seems to handle green stems without clogging and has a large collecting tank for the shredded material.
It seems very well designed with a blade that can be adusted to self sharpen and a feeding assembly that easily stores to minimise the footprint.
the only negatives are that it is quite heavy and can be tricky to manoeuvre. The shredded branches are also shredded into coarser pieces than some shredders – although this is not really a big issue.
The only negative
BUT the collection box needs emptying frequently compared to my old 2200AXT that did not have an integral box. If you do not empty quickly the shredded material is scooped up by the cutter and stops further material being processed. More of a problem with softer material than woody but we have always shredded everything to put in the compost heap. It is expensive and should the cutter need replacing it is about half the cost of the machine even if you DIY it. Not as quiet as my old machine that has lasted 10 years (also Bosch) before dying – I,m going to try and repair it. In retrospect I would probably have bought the direct replacement for my 2200AXT instead and saved 100.
I recently raised the canopies of several conifers, and I bought this shredder to deal with all the branches I removed: 3 big piles of them. I’ve added 2 pictures. Within about 2 hours, it turned a pile of branches like the first picture into the pile of chippings in the second picture. Handled branches up to the 45mm limit, and easy to clear when it jams. Big basket to catch the chippings, easy to remove and empty. First time I’ve used it but so far so good.
This has been marvoulous so far!
This has been a boon!
So far my husband has been able to shred all the hedge cuttings he would have had to haul down to the tip.
After buying the Bosch I was worried when I saw comments on here that their shredder stopped working or its gears/ motor burned out at once.
I can only think they were pushing far too much into the top without thinking.
This shredder is meant for normal garden shrub cuttings not commercial grades of huge branches etc.for which you would hire a loud petrol engined shredder, far too loud for round here to use often but for cutting large tree branches that is required, so go hire one of those if its a one off job or your neighbours are deaf.
Privet branches seven foot long chugged through the cutters easily.
Yes perhaps a bit slow but faster than cutting to small bits with loppers?
We used to have green council bags for recycling, into which we laboriously cut every thing into small pieces but recently the council stopped taking green bags..
They replaced them with large green bins into which all our now perfectly shredded stuff has gone!
Perfect for when your in your late seventies like us!
There is only so much mulch you can put onto the garden and a compost heap soon gets full to the top.
So its a big thumbs up from me & my hubby!
So Far.
It does exactly what your other 5 star rating reviewers stated. I agree with the guy who thought it could do with rubber solid tyres overlaid onto the wheels. The plastic wheels are as he stated just a tad too small & pick up on every bump when the shredder is being moved, which can be a little trying if you have an uneven surface beneath it I purchased this shredder from my experience of my own Bosch hedge trimmer, plus of course, all the five star reviews on here. As Bosch state it’s main purpose is shredding tree branches, not shredding plants. It handles everything I throw at with no drama. It has a voracious appetite for work. I deliberately do not exceed branches over 40mm in. width, but do not doubt the Bosch set limit of 45mm., is met with aplomb. NOW, SAFETY! Bosch recommend wearing ear mufflers & goggles. I consider that “the minimum”. IF LIKE MYSELF, you have a chainsaw user’s FULL SAFETY HELMET WITH FACE VISOR & EAR DEFENDERS, USE IT! You may look a bit silly, but when a branch feeding through sometimes rotates, you will not get a nasty slap in the face from its fronds! The AXT 25 TC is a fairly heavy piece of kit, so I was amazed that the delivery driver carried it from the back of his van parked on the road & placed it just inside my drive! He advised me to unpack it where he had left it & then wheel it to its new home. Good advise, especially if you have back problems; but why he wasn’t using a sack trolley himself, I found very puzzling, to say the least! If the Shredder proves as durable over the years as my Bosch Hedge/Tree Branches Cutter, I shall be a happy customer, indeed.
It does exactly what your other 5 star rating reviewers stated. I agree with the guy who thought it could do with rubber solid tyres overlaid onto the wheels. The plastic wheels are as he stated just a tad too small & pick up on every bump when the shredder is being moved, which can be a little trying if you have an uneven surface beneath it I purchased this shredder from my experience of my own Bosch hedge trimmer, plus of course, all the five star reviews on here. As Bosch state it’s main purpose is shredding tree branches, not shredding plants. It handles everything I throw at with no drama. It has a voracious appetite for work. I deliberately do not exceed branches over 40mm in. width, but do not doubt the Bosch set limit of 45mm., is met with aplomb. NOW, SAFETY! Bosch recommend wearing ear mufflers & goggles. I consider that “the minimum”. IF LIKE MYSELF, you have a chainsaw user’s FULL SAFETY HELMET WITH FACE VISOR & EAR DEFENDERS, USE IT! You may look a bit silly, but when a branch feeding through sometimes rotates, you will not get a nasty slap in the face from its fronds! The AXT 25 TC is a fairly heavy piece of kit, so I was amazed that the delivery driver carried it from the back of his van parked on the road & placed it just inside my drive! He advised me to unpack it where he had left it & then wheel it to its new home. Good advise, especially if you have back problems; but why he wasn’t using a sack trolley himself, I found very puzzling, to say the least! If the Shredder proves as durable over the years as my Bosch Hedge/Tree Branches Cutter, I shall be a happy customer, indeed.
I decided to buy this as a replacement for a Viking GE150, which kept playing up – it was 10 years old so no complaints really.
Plus points:
* it cuts chunky things easily – you can leave it to get another branch while it munches away and if cut fresh will easily do 45mm thick stems
* it doesn’t spin like a food chopper/dervish (like the Viking) so holding a branch is not something to be feared
* the supplied stuffer is a great tool to apply pressure on material into the cutting blades
* it has a “rewind” button so if at any point it does get stuck you can reverse the motor and pull out the offending item or use the ‘stuffer’ to redistribute and restart
* built in blade adjuster/sharpener is a great tool to ensure small (1-2mm) twigs get chopped up cleanly without having to take the thing to bits
* great for preparing a mulch for flower beds etc. or for large chunks for composting
* built in hopper is great and has reasonable/practical capacity – doubles as storage for upper body when disassembled.
Minus Points:
* leafy material can clog it up if you put too much in at any one time
* chunks of cut material are quite coarse, so can require more composting to break down – but are better for a mulch…
In summary glad I got it. It takes much less time than the Viking (constantly having to stop, remove the lid, untangle a load of mess, put it back together and restart) – very frustrating at times… Also the Viking is MUCH more noisy and cant cut such large material. If you are happy with a more coarse cut then this is the best.
Excellent!
This has been a fantastic purchase. The setup was easy. It’s very quiet and shreds a fantastic variety of thicknesses. I’m using the shreddings as a mulch. The pieces are a bit too large for compost (unless you’re prepared to wait ages); I tried putting the shreddings through again to cut them smaller but that didn’t work… I’m happy with the mulch I’m getting though. Well worth the cost, in my opinion, after having binned a previous cheaper shredder. You get what you pay for.
Excellent!
This has been a fantastic purchase. The setup was easy. It’s very quiet and shreds a fantastic variety of thicknesses. I’m using the shreddings as a mulch. The pieces are a bit too large for compost (unless you’re prepared to wait ages); I tried putting the shreddings through again to cut them smaller but that didn’t work… I’m happy with the mulch I’m getting though. Well worth the cost, in my opinion, after having binned a previous cheaper shredder. You get what you pay for.
This was a replacement for an ATX 25D quiet shredder which seized up. (Bosch decided it had been “opened”, so the guarantee was invalid.) In any case, I was a bit fed up with how easily the cog-type mechanism jammed, so went for the cheaper 2200 shredder. It’s very manoeuvrable, and extremely easy to free if it does jam. Just undo the chunky black knob by hand, and lift the superstructure off. My only reservation is that the blades became a bit blunter quite quickly, though I wasn’t feeding particularly thick stuff in, so now a medium branch will emerge as a combination of chips and a long thin whippy strip. Blades are available on the net, which I presume means that replacing them is a DIY job. Over all, I’d recommend this as a good buy.
Good mmachine.
Has proved to be an excellent help as I have a large garden that needed a lot of cutting back. I was putting it off because the only way the get rid of the cuttings was via a bonfire. Now this machine chomps up an unbelievable amount and converts it into mulch. I have not had the plastic tool contact the blades as some others have, so assume there has been a redesign. I have found it easier to push rather than pull around the garden as it is a bit top heavy and other than emptying the bin as soon as the chomping slows, cannot think of any negatives.
Good mmachine.
Has proved to be an excellent help as I have a large garden that needed a lot of cutting back. I was putting it off because the only way the get rid of the cuttings was via a bonfire. Now this machine chomps up an unbelievable amount and converts it into mulch. I have not had the plastic tool contact the blades as some others have, so assume there has been a redesign. I have found it easier to push rather than pull around the garden as it is a bit top heavy and other than emptying the bin as soon as the chomping slows, cannot think of any negatives.
Replacing a much cheaper shredder this is fantastic. The main difference was the cheap shredder would frequently jam and require frustrating disassembly. This has not jammed. It has reduced the time to shred by over two thirds (in my experience) because of that. It simply takes what you feed it and spits it out in little pieces.
Comparing size to my previous cheap shredder, the floor area is the same, yet its larger on top. Consequently so is the solid collection bin – less emptying trips. Incidentally much better than using bags, less waste spilled everywhere. But the magic trick of taking the top off and storing it in the underside collection box, means it does fit under units. Taking up far less space.
One notable difference between this and my previous cheap shredder, is that all the controls on this and knobs work well. There is no fiddling to insert bolts into rotating bars, bending into awkward positions. At times my old shredder could take 5-10 minutes to open up and close again (feeding the frustration), this one just seconds, allowing you to finish sooner and get on with shredding.
I still make sure branches are reasonably trimmed of side branches, but this is definitely a larger aperture and ingests material much more easily. I don’t find myself hammering stuff down as much with the prodder.
Engineering-wise this is really well built and controls are a pleasure to use. Well worth the money and on registration the warranty extends to 3 years. The better engineering makes it much heavier than my previous unit, but the wheels on it are good and its easy to move about.
However, be warned that the blades on this are quite sharp, so like most tools you do need to store this out of child access. If they open the top flap or remove the collection bin they could reach the blades. I solved this by putting a cover over it tightly, storing it in a locked shed.
Although not supplied with any safety equipment, be sure to wear gloves, eye protection and ideally some ear plugs / defenders. You do need to cut the branches, so also have suitable ratchet cutters or whatever you prefer at hand. You can’t feed the tree into it whole. 🙂
Brilliant for relatively quietly shredding hedge and tree prunings. (I Cut back about 5 feet of height of a 50 yard hawthorn hedge.) It’s easy and safe to use shredding quite thick branches. Without this it would have taken weeks to dispose of an enormous pile of wood. I would recommend it even though it does look expensive but you only get quality if you pay for it.
Brilliant for relatively quietly shredding hedge and tree prunings. (I Cut back about 5 feet of height of a 50 yard hawthorn hedge.) It’s easy and safe to use shredding quite thick branches. Without this it would have taken weeks to dispose of an enormous pile of wood. I would recommend it even though it does look expensive but you only get quality if you pay for it.
I read the other reviews on here before making up my mind to buy this. It is heavy, I’m a healthy, strong big man and even I used a wheelbarrow to move the delivered package from the front of the house to the rear to un-box it and put it together. It assembled within 20 minutes and it is awkward to manoeuvre but a firm grip solves any problems. It is very robust as a machine and well designed to pack away into a shed in its own profile. My top tip is make sure you are wearing safety glasses and always wear strong gloves as the thin branches can whip across your face when you are using the machine.
I cut down a huge volume of saplings from my fig tree, enough when passed through the machine to fill two tall wheelie bins of chippings and it took me several hours, but it was worth it as the chippings are taken away by the council as part of my garden waste contract and not stuffed into the boot of my car to take to the green waste bin at the council tip.
It deals with twigs and saplings up to 25 mm diameter perfectly, and like others have said, it isn’t necessarily good at leaves on their own unless they are attached to the twigs. It is relatively quiet, not as noisy as an electric lawn mower and much, much quieter than my previous blade based shredder. It works on a series of blades in a conical drum, much like a cylinder mower works.
I like it and enjoy using it as it is fast, quiet and efficient.
I rarely write reviews but this scredder requires one. This is a fantastic product that can be terribly disappointing; I returned the first unit not being able to make it work.
Make sure you use it correctly: keep checking intermittently that you can see the shredding drum from the top as it fills the bucket quite quickly and then it literally chokes on anything.
Also make sure that the pressure plate is properly adjusted and that you can hear the gentle grinding noise. It is very binary: if you follow these instructions it will grind effortlessly for hours, chomping on green, dry, and anything that fits through the 4cm wide plastic feeder. If not, you will spend hours untangling the drum terribly frustrated. I don’t give it five stars because the learning curve for a client to use a product should not be so steep..
Like most people i researched and looked around for a shredder without any bad reviews but found none, took the gamble relied on a make I knew and went for the machine that could take the large branchs and was so called quiet.
First use compared to my old shredder …WOW it was so much quieter so happy with that one ,got to say that one again so happy with the noise levels ..to be honest I even think it’s quieter when munching on garden stuff rather than running idle .
I’ve rammed this machine will all sorts of suff from my garden old branches new shrub willow birch sycamore …the way I use the machine if it fits down the shute it’s gets ground up … yes I’ve jammed the machine up but but a quick reverse then re start simple all gone and I’m more then sure it was way past the 45mm limit .now I have read reports about this machine getting jammed up and not shredding wet green stuff leaves… hense some of the negative feed bad ….now I think this happened to me, the Green stuff goes down shute hits the roller and just sits there as there is no bulk to pull it through…simple simple remade shove a branch in force it threw the the leaf level onto the cutter and the leafs just get pulled through auto clean blockage .
Nit picking flaws ….. the collection tub soon gets full , yes you could make it bigger but then it would get to heavy to lift .
When wheeling the machine around I find it safer pushing rather than pulling as it’s a bit top heavy and wobbles out of control when trundling down the garden
And the last none important flaw is the cable a bit to short if it came with say 100ft of cable that would of been great .
All in all the question is
Would I buy this machine again if I reversed back time ..Yes is the answer I was worried about the cost as it is one of if not the most expensive electric shredder out there but all in all I’m still buzzing about my new shredder .
Hope this review helps
This is a beast. Bought as a replacement for my old Bosch AXT 1600 which finally gave up the ghost. This will be the third Bosch shredder I have owned and the previous two each did sterling service. The previous machines worked on the principle of crushing branches rather than shredding. Having bought a blade shredder in the first instance many years ago I can vouch for the fact that they are a waste of money, always jamming with the blades losing their sharpness in no time. The AXT 25 D also crushes the but mechanism has change so that now instead of a long central spiral steel rod shaped like a screw which rotated vertically there is a cylinder with thick edges rotating horizontally, that is at 90 degrees to the angle of feeding in of the branches. The consequence is that this machine does not, as other reviewers have pointed out, cut material into such small pieces as the previous design. The change in design seems to be to accommodate the built in hopper to collect the cuttings. Personally I preferred the old design and would just sling a big garden waste bag underneath.
The fact that it does not cut up branches as small as previous models and that it is awkward to move around really limits this to four not five stars in my view. Still I have to have a good shredder. I have many shrubs and two large hedges in my garden and my nearest recycling centre come dump is a twenty mile round trip away and the Council charge a fortune to take garden waste away so it is a no brainer. No shredder based on this crushing deign deals well with green sappy material but most people already have a machine that will deal with such material. A good lawnmower will readily cut up green sappy branches as long as they are not woody and fresh leaves get suitably mashed for the compost heap.
Brilliant shredde
Really excellent tool. We are trying to clear a neglected garden and have been pulling out ivy down, up and sideways! This machine has coped really well with it. I have overloaded it and it was easy to clear, sometimes a small piece of wood will jam itself in the mechanism, but this doesn’t stop the machine from carrying on working and it does eventually clear itself. All in all for the price of the item this is a piece of equipment I would recommend – and it is quiet as advertised!
Brilliant shredde
Really excellent tool. We are trying to clear a neglected garden and have been pulling out ivy down, up and sideways! This machine has coped really well with it. I have overloaded it and it was easy to clear, sometimes a small piece of wood will jam itself in the mechanism, but this doesn’t stop the machine from carrying on working and it does eventually clear itself. All in all for the price of the item this is a piece of equipment I would recommend – and it is quiet as advertised!
We had lots of overgrown tree stuff to get rid of
This was quite expensive for our needs but I wanted something that would be up to the job without burning out. It is quiet by virtue of a slow chomping action via a gearbox and not a high speed flail.
I’m disappointed that an adjustment knob for the blade looks those something to turn when assembling it or collapsing it for storage and does not have a lock nut.
To keep you from putting your hands into it, the feed in throat is quite narrow so things can get stuck. I guess that’s difficult to get around. It sounds as though some lubrication might be a good idea but I think it’s all sealed and not designed to need maintenance.
The plastic prodder is fairly ineffective so I tend to use a stick that’s straight and about to be chomped anyway, to push things in. We have used it for hours and have procedsed loads of stuff. There should be better advice on what you can do with the resulting coarse granules that come out. We have used some for mulching but do you need to store if for a bit first? It might be good for making a path too. Different stuff is more or less suitable. Long slim staight branches are ideal as they pull themselves in. Leaves alone would not work well I think, as they would not self feed. Like a lawn mower, the bin needs emptying well before it is full for optimum chomping. If you have a massive pile of brush and branches wood to clear up then it’s good. Best to use it on fresh branches before they get brittle though. It looks as though it will last. Probably best not to lend it as it can be mistreated. Probably more expensive than we could justify, but it us quite satisfying to use. 4 stars.
I like the electronic governor. The motor speed just does not change whatever you ask it to do. Slow and steady it chomps away.
We had lots of overgrown tree stuff to get rid of
This was quite expensive for our needs but I wanted something that would be up to the job without burning out. It is quiet by virtue of a slow chomping action via a gearbox and not a high speed flail.
I’m disappointed that an adjustment knob for the blade looks those something to turn when assembling it or collapsing it for storage and does not have a lock nut.
To keep you from putting your hands into it, the feed in throat is quite narrow so things can get stuck. I guess that’s difficult to get around. It sounds as though some lubrication might be a good idea but I think it’s all sealed and not designed to need maintenance.
The plastic prodder is fairly ineffective so I tend to use a stick that’s straight and about to be chomped anyway, to push things in. We have used it for hours and have procedsed loads of stuff. There should be better advice on what you can do with the resulting coarse granules that come out. We have used some for mulching but do you need to store if for a bit first? It might be good for making a path too. Different stuff is more or less suitable. Long slim staight branches are ideal as they pull themselves in. Leaves alone would not work well I think, as they would not self feed. Like a lawn mower, the bin needs emptying well before it is full for optimum chomping. If you have a massive pile of brush and branches wood to clear up then it’s good. Best to use it on fresh branches before they get brittle though. It looks as though it will last. Probably best not to lend it as it can be mistreated. Probably more expensive than we could justify, but it us quite satisfying to use. 4 stars.
I like the electronic governor. The motor speed just does not change whatever you ask it to do. Slow and steady it chomps away.
My little-uns call it the mulch-muncher.
Sure, it doesn’t shred as finely as some of the ones with the spinning blades, but it nonchalantly chomps its way through every bit of garden waste I throw at it. In a couple of hours last month for example, it disposed of cuttings/branches/foliage from: one plum tree, two red robins, two bays, one crab-apple, 20 metres of mixed English native hedge, and 10 metres of box hedge. It hardly ever gets blocked up, and it’s not too noisy, either.
Sure, the box fills up more quickly than I had anticipated, but it’s a tiny price to pay for all the recycling that this thing does. Wouldn’t want to get too lazy, now…
All that useful stuff gets recycled as top-dressing and mulch. Very pleased
My little-uns call it the mulch-muncher.
Sure, it doesn’t shred as finely as some of the ones with the spinning blades, but it nonchalantly chomps its way through every bit of garden waste I throw at it. In a couple of hours last month for example, it disposed of cuttings/branches/foliage from: one plum tree, two red robins, two bays, one crab-apple, 20 metres of mixed English native hedge, and 10 metres of box hedge. It hardly ever gets blocked up, and it’s not too noisy, either.
Sure, the box fills up more quickly than I had anticipated, but it’s a tiny price to pay for all the recycling that this thing does. Wouldn’t want to get too lazy, now…
All that useful stuff gets recycled as top-dressing and mulch. Very pleased
Extremely Robust & Powerful BUT...
Although it is very good at chipping small sticks, twigs, and branches, I’ve found with experience it’s not that great with very leafy material especially if it’s a bit wet, it just sort of chews the leafs over and over, you have to put more plain sticks in with the leafs to help them pass through in to the bin.
Also, it is a little slow when have barrow loads of stuff to do, having said that though, it is what it is and I think this is the best, most powerful electric chipper you can buy at the moment. To get anything better than this, you would have buy a one with an engine, which is obviously a lot more money.
I also like the idea that you can partially disassemble it. It then fits nicely under a work bench.
Extremely Robust & Powerful BUT...
Although it is very good at chipping small sticks, twigs, and branches, I’ve found with experience it’s not that great with very leafy material especially if it’s a bit wet, it just sort of chews the leafs over and over, you have to put more plain sticks in with the leafs to help them pass through in to the bin.
Also, it is a little slow when have barrow loads of stuff to do, having said that though, it is what it is and I think this is the best, most powerful electric chipper you can buy at the moment. To get anything better than this, you would have buy a one with an engine, which is obviously a lot more money.
I also like the idea that you can partially disassemble it. It then fits nicely under a work bench.
Almost flawless
Really impressed with this shredder, looked at lots of reviews and this seemed to be the pick of the bunch for electric shredders so ordered and it arrived really quickly. Easy to assemble and operate and very impressed with the machines ability to handle whole range of tree and shrub branches and clippings. The cutting blade is conical and mashes the garden waste against a metal pad, the resulting pieces are small enough to go straight on compost heap and the design of the cutting mechanism feeds the branches almost automatically, there is supplied a plastic handle to push stuff down if its not feeding well, so all in all a very impressive machine that is also pretty quiet given what its doing. The design of the unit does allow for the top to be taken off and stowed in the collection bin thus making it much lower for storage….so given all this good stuff why only 4 star “Almost Flawless”? well the following are issues in my and clearly others experience.
1. The instructions are pretty poor, especially concerning adjustment of cut and no decent information on how to change blade once it needs it.
2. The unit is really heavy (it needs to be naturally) but the wheels are too small for trying to move unit over uneven surface or just a lawn.
3. If you are trying to wheel the unit anywhere using the already mentioned too small wheels, there is no handle, you have to bend over and try to move the unit whilst doubled over, not good for backs or anything else for that matter.
So does the job of shredding really well and would recommend it but be aware of the issues
Our previous, wonderful Bosch quiet shredder had given up the ghost after about 10 years. This new model is very good, and certainly very quiet. I find you have to be extremely careful about feeding soft material in in small quantities, otherwise it jams. (The red pusher isn’t very effective – you either put the mechanism into reverse, or waggle a bit of stick at the obstruction.) With the old model, chopped material simply fell to the ground. The new model will only work if the collecting tray is in place, so you need to empty it quite often or the build-up of shredded stuff will cause jamming. What was amazing was that I got it from Amazon Warehouse Deals at under 200, and as it arrived with a crack in a bit of the plastic casing that I was prepared to deal with myself, Amazon offered me another 20% off. I’d certainly recommend this model if low noise output is a priority (it was for us), if you’re prepared to be patient in feeding material onto the cutting cog, and if you can find it at less than the RRP.
better than having to pick the chipping off the ground
Bought as an upgrade to a more basic Bosch spinning blade shredder, much quieter and chomps away through larger branches. More compatible with the neighbours! As it tends to pull the branches through it can be left unattended while you cut the next piece, Storage box works well, better than having to pick the chipping off the ground. Still need to use the paddle to push softer green bits through, but so far no need to clear any blockages. Bit top heavy when wheeling it across the lawn but not a big problem.
better than having to pick the chipping off the ground
Bought as an upgrade to a more basic Bosch spinning blade shredder, much quieter and chomps away through larger branches. More compatible with the neighbours! As it tends to pull the branches through it can be left unattended while you cut the next piece, Storage box works well, better than having to pick the chipping off the ground. Still need to use the paddle to push softer green bits through, but so far no need to clear any blockages. Bit top heavy when wheeling it across the lawn but not a big problem.
Do not be put of by the low r.p.m in the power rating. It must have a high torque motor..
It munches very methodically and crushes as it goes,leaving uniform chunks that will easily break down.
Build quality and design seems well thought out.Compact storage is a bonus.
Over the few weeks since purchase, i’ve used it for about 3 hours with no jamming what so ever.This may be due to only passing branches and not green leaves.It does state about what it can do and can not,so stick with the advice offered by the manufacturer.Usual rules apply.Don’t put anything in bigger than 4.5cm and don’t get carried away and cram as much as you can in.. 🙂 .
Time will tell,but i’m Happy so far..
Do not be put of by the low r.p.m in the power rating. It must have a high torque motor..
It munches very methodically and crushes as it goes,leaving uniform chunks that will easily break down.
Build quality and design seems well thought out.Compact storage is a bonus.
Over the few weeks since purchase, i’ve used it for about 3 hours with no jamming what so ever.This may be due to only passing branches and not green leaves.It does state about what it can do and can not,so stick with the advice offered by the manufacturer.Usual rules apply.Don’t put anything in bigger than 4.5cm and don’t get carried away and cram as much as you can in.. 🙂 .
Time will tell,but i’m Happy so far..
Edit: Coming back to update this – bought in 2014 and have had more than four years trouble free and superb performance, with maybe three or four really heavy usages per year (this year, it is mincing the bulk of six mature conifers). Yes, it is top heavy to wheel around and yes, I did drop it on my own foot last year, but this really is at the top end for electric shredders in almost every respect. Still very, very satisfied.
I traded up from an old, cheap spinning wheel type which used to make my eardrums bleed it was so loud, and spent a long time deciding whether to risk the extra cash for this model. So far this has eaten everything I’ve thrown at it with ease justifying the extra cost, in my opinion, on time saving and the general bonus of spending time in the garden without needing to wear ear-defenders (I do but my ears are a bit older than they used to be so taking care). Yes, wheeling the beast around isn’t the easiest (it is a heavy duty motor sitting high on top of a light rolling base so unavoidable but just grab the side and take care). That is the only issue I have. It has consumed every branch up to the max thickness of a silver birch that was dying in our garden, half a laurel tree and assorted other substantial content. Branches, twigs, leaves, everything has gone through this almost without a hiccup. I wouldn’t use it for industrial-scale disposals but for our mid-size garden, it is easy to use, quiet, effective, and so far, trouble free (four years). I suspect some might want the output to be more finely ground but I’m not too picky about that.
It’s powerful, quiet and effective for woody material. The noise is a rough grumbling grind rather than a shriek and it certainly doesn’t reach ear defender levels. The motor deals with anything you can get down the hopper (which is deliberately made not too wide to stop you putting whole trees in. Takes a while to get used to patiently feeding stuff in but you can shred an awful lot in an hour and there’s no sign of overheating.
Downside is that it copes less well with sappy stringy material (my first go with it was old runner bean stems – bad idea!), but then shredders are best at one or the other type of material – horses for courses. Other problem is that it’s not all that easy to wheel across a bumpy garden – you need to go slow and guard against it tipping. Bigger wheels might help or a wider base, but then it would be less easy to store. Dealing with blockages is relatively easy: like any dangerous machine, it’s designed to stop you getting fingers in the cutter, so removing jammed stuff takes a minute or two of loosening off the hopper. A small price to pay for the safety!
I’ve not had it long enough to say how well it lasts, but so far the signs are good. Glad I bought it.
It’s powerful, quiet and effective for woody material. The noise is a rough grumbling grind rather than a shriek and it certainly doesn’t reach ear defender levels. The motor deals with anything you can get down the hopper (which is deliberately made not too wide to stop you putting whole trees in. Takes a while to get used to patiently feeding stuff in but you can shred an awful lot in an hour and there’s no sign of overheating.
Downside is that it copes less well with sappy stringy material (my first go with it was old runner bean stems – bad idea!), but then shredders are best at one or the other type of material – horses for courses. Other problem is that it’s not all that easy to wheel across a bumpy garden – you need to go slow and guard against it tipping. Bigger wheels might help or a wider base, but then it would be less easy to store. Dealing with blockages is relatively easy: like any dangerous machine, it’s designed to stop you getting fingers in the cutter, so removing jammed stuff takes a minute or two of loosening off the hopper. A small price to pay for the safety!
I’ve not had it long enough to say how well it lasts, but so far the signs are good. Glad I bought it.
We had heard so many people complain that their shredders were more trouble than they were worth that we resisted the temptation to buy one for a long time. But in fact, none of our fears has been realised. We have been using this Bosch for 2-3 months now and it is exactly what we needed. It is light enough to be able to lift it from the shed and wheel it around the garden with ease, yet powerful and very quickly deals with all our prunings and trimmings. We were amazed to see 40mm branches sucked down into the machine at great speed and come out as fine chippings. The red pushing tool makes small, softer stuff easy to load. Normally, each year we spend a small fortune on sacks of mulch but we are now using our shreddings directly from the bag and onto the soil. It maybe that the high woody content of this uncomposted stuff will require additional fertiliser to stop it drawing too much nitrogen from the soil as it rots, but it looks like it will be slow to breakdown and meanwhile, provides an excellent weed suppressant and moisture-loss barrier. Some people have complained that the extension lead is too short, but we need an extension cable anyway and we find it is fully adequate. Advice: do not include roots or anything with soil on it – I would expect that these would quickly blunt the blades – and do not try to challenge it with anything thicker than the recommended 40mm – although the opening would make this near impossible to do. If you have lots of small stuff and get tempted to push in too much at a time, it will jam – best to put everything from semi-soft perennial stalks to woody stuff in vertically, in modest quantities. If you do jam it, it has excellent safety cut outs and is quite simple to clear but you will quickly learn the most efficient ways to feed it. We have been giving it quite intensive use and the blade still seems sharp and it is good to know that when it does blunt, it can be turned over, to use the second edge. It saves having huge woody compost piles/bonfires/trips to the tip and produces useful mulch/material for composting.
I have come to the conclusion that the people who bought this shredder then complained that it didn’t work, or “constantly jammed” have got something wrong. Maybe they drive home and pass some council workmen shredding by the roadside with one of those machines bolted on the back of a tractor and think I could do with one of them for when I cut the privet. So they go out and buy a garden shredder, then wonder why it doesn’t perform like the ones they see by the road. It is simple really, the council use shredders powered by a three and half lt. turbo diesel engine you on the other hand use one powered off the mains electricity with a engine the size of a Dyson vacuum cleaner. If you read the instructions (I know, real men don’t read instructions but believe me this is not true) you will see that this shredder works perfectly as long as you follow some very simple steps. Don’t force in too much at once; don’t ram in bits too big for the aperture; don’t be a complete bampot and fill it with green soft bits. I have just spent four hours crushing and chopping my way through a pile of old woody clippings without a murmur. This shredder does exactly what it says it will do, quietly, efficiently and without a fuss and all because I read and followed the instructions. Simples.
We spent a lot of time looking for a shredder as none of them came with perfect reviews. I went round in circles as I wanted to make wood chippings but also wanted it to shred soft stuff, but all shredders seem to be flawed in one way or another!
I learnt that no shredder does everything (unless you have a huge budget), so you need to decide what is most important to you. I wanted one that shreds wood for hot composting & doesn’t block. I did want to shred soft stuff too but it can always be easily chopped by hand so not as important.
So how has it been? It’s brilliant! It was ready to go and it’s first use was a constant half day’s work. It chomped its way through endless wood. We had just felled a tree so fed through all it’s branches. It didn’t block once & just kept going! It isn’t super fast but it doesn’t really matter as you just put some branches/twigs in & leave it chomping through them whilst you get the next lot. You do have to chop any big side shoots off before loading but that’s inevitable and doesn’t take a minute. Everything keeps flowing so smoothly.
It’s now had a lot more use and has got through a few trees! It takes all branches & attached leaves up to about 45mm (I’ve not measured!) We’ve had it running for full days at a time & it’s never got tired. It’s never had a proper blockage and the blades still seem perfect.
We haven’t used it much for soft stuff but I did put some nettles through it & it was better than I thought it would be. I think it would clog if you only did soft stuff, but if you keep adding wood in between it clears it out. It hasn’t had much use yet with soft stuff but I’m sure it would be fine as long as you are careful and don’t push too much through at once without adding harder stuff. The couple of times it started to get a bit clogged because we pushed too many nettles through at once, we just used the reverse button, let it chomp through a couple of woody bits and off we went again.
The chippings themselves are not ultra fine but I think this is because we were shredding a lot of biggish branches. They have still been good to use for hot composting & would be great on pathways too. It is only the big branches that come out as bigger chippings and they have still been crushed so will break down well. I think it is best to leave them for a few days so they are not too green. The shredder didn’t have a problem with the green wood, but I think the chippings were better – crushed better so less solid if not as green. As with most shredders, leaves themselves do not really shred. We only added the ones attached to the branches – any loose leaves go into our leaf compost pile which will be left for a year or two.
We haven’t had a problem at all with the bottom drawer sliding out. It slides fairly firmly into place & never pops out. It is easy to empty. Occasionally you might have to pull it out & shuffle the chippings back a bit – but only once a load if that.
I agree with some other reviews that it could do with bigger wheels as it isn’t that stable to pull around, but it’s really not a big issue. We still pull ours around and it’s fine – not that heavy or anything anyway. I guess it depends where you’re going with it but we just take our time over uneven ground.
Overall I’d highly recommend it. It chomps through wood, copes with soft stuff if you’re a little careful, is quiet to use & is self-sharpening! Well worth the money!
Reading all the reviews, it was very confusing whether to go for it or not. Especially reading the one-star reviews made me quite worried. I thought I will be one of the unlucky ones getting a shredder which would give the ghost within 1 day. However, I have used it for nearly an hour each over three days and I have to say its been going great and I absolutely LOVE it. The quality is brilliant. The shredded material is perfect. I am putting in everything big and small from leaves, bramble, thick stems, green and brown material, big fat branches etc. The noise level is smooth and acceptable, the shredded material is acceptable. The ease of use was perfect. Only thing is I wish the the inlet (or whatever is called) was more funnel like, which would then slowly narrow down, rather than a small slit like entrance, but I can see every single shredder has got more or less a similar shape, so must be a design thing. Anyway, I am not going to give it 4 stars for this, it deserves a 5. I am also going to come back for updates.
Brilliant piece of kit - it has it limitations
Brilliant piece of kit – it has it limitations. Fresh smaller branches tend to get mangled rather than chopped but it all collects into the bin and is easily transfered to bag then skip. Once going its self feeding giving you time to grab the next branch. It has a rotating cutting cage moving past a fixed plate. The gap between plate and rotating balde is adjustable – be careful it cranked the pressure on the plate causing the blade to take shavings of the metal plate. The best method is to adjust whilst running with say a quarter of a turn see how that performs and then adjust further if required.
Now we’re tackling bigger jobs in the garden knowing that it willll be chopped and mulched itno a mangable size for our green bin.
Brilliant piece of kit - it has it limitations
Brilliant piece of kit – it has it limitations. Fresh smaller branches tend to get mangled rather than chopped but it all collects into the bin and is easily transfered to bag then skip. Once going its self feeding giving you time to grab the next branch. It has a rotating cutting cage moving past a fixed plate. The gap between plate and rotating balde is adjustable – be careful it cranked the pressure on the plate causing the blade to take shavings of the metal plate. The best method is to adjust whilst running with say a quarter of a turn see how that performs and then adjust further if required.
Now we’re tackling bigger jobs in the garden knowing that it willll be chopped and mulched itno a mangable size for our green bin.
Quiet shredde
I have found the shredder works well with both wet and dry timber. It works better with dry, but will cope with a mixture off branches and leaves. The mechanism is slightly tricky to set up so that it cuts the branches through. I got a lot of mostly severed branches when I first used it. It is quite easy to clear when it gets jammed, which is not very often. I think because of its mechanism it will last longer and be more robust than the previous shredder I has which constantly needed its blades sharpened. It draws the branches in very effectively and you need to make sure that you don’t have any loose clothing that can get snagged. As previous reviewers have reported, the bin needs frequent emptying and you have to be careful when moving it over rough ground as it is top heavy.
Chews everything it's fed
Never had a garden shredder before, and never thought I would have – until a BIG tree fell in the garden and I decided to cut it down to firewood myself. After two weekends of work I had a substantial pile of small branches which would fill the car ten times over to transport. Grudgingly I realised I needed a shredder. Having read the feedback on many shredders I decided on this one based on the feedback – and it’s a Bosch, a brand which hasn’t gone wrong in our house to date.
Now, after 4 weeks, I am very happy with it. It has reduced a the pile of branches in to a tenth of it’s forner volume – and most impressively it chews absolutely eberything I can manage to get through the inlet, eg up to around 3,5/4cm thick branches.
It has got stuck a few times because I haven’t cleared up the pile of chips under it, and it has been very easy to open, clear up and get going again.
In summary, it does a great job and I can’t really think of anything to complain about.
Great!
The Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 Blade Shredder arrived (much to my delight), from the UK to Bulgaria in double quick time . Well packaged and instructions for assembly easy to follow. I have started a compost bin so the shredder is perfect for chopping up material from the garden to add to it. A word of warning about cardboard, you will need to watch that it doesn’t become compacted inside which did happen to my shredder (was a bit to ambitious with the volume) but it was easily removed by unscrewing the top to clear the debris build up inside. I didn’t order a bag to collect the shredded material but instead, strung a bin bag with handles and a couple of lengths of string to slip over each bag holder fitted on the side of the shredder, which has worked reasonably well. All in all I’m very happy with the product and the delivery. My Bulgarian friends, who had never seen such a devise were fascinated to the point that one of them even wanted a photograph taken whilst using it to be posted on Facebook to show her friends! Although I haven’t had the shredder for long, sI have no qualms in recommending
Excellent as long as you are careful
I spent a long time choosing this shredder and found other reviews particularly helpful. This is the third shredder I have had and it is by a long way the best because it seems to cope with bundles of thin branches with lots of leaves as well as larger stems. Previous shredders – no longer manufactured – got clogged up very quickly if you used bunches of material. The Bosch blade got blunt in the first day, I think because I tried to shred some extremely hard branches. I was pleased to discover that it is very easy to turn the blade over and use the other side. Since then, side 2 has coped with everything I have put through, including some quite thick branches. Some very thin branches get through with the bark stripped off but without getting chopped up – but since I use the chippings as rough mulch for paths than is not a problem. Note to self – buy a spare blade!
Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 shredde
I really like this machine and it would have had a five star rating from me if it had come with a collection bag. It either doesn’t or mine was missing however the day was saved by the use of an Ikea blue bag which hooks on to it really well by the shorter of the straps.
It handles shredding very well indeed copes with upto 4omm dia small branches pushing the long ones down into the beast it just chops them up and sucks the branch down as it goes. Don’t be temped to push the start button in and twist it to the on position as tjis won’t work you have to just switch straigt across to on even the slightest pressure inwards on the switch will ensure that the shredder won’t go on.
Have fun.
Replacement for screw type.
My old Bosch screw type shredder was useless for softer material so I decided to try this one.
It works a treat and handles cabbage stalks, Leylandi prunings and fresh cut branches etc without a problem.
Obviously wear gloves & eye protection as it can snatch long fibrous material such as briars especially if the blade is losing its edge. UPDATE – November 2017 and I have had this unit a number of years now and it has done many hours of shredding. I find that after about 3 hours shredding branches etc the blade needs sharpening carefully with a fine/medium grinding wheel (don’t overheat it) and finish with a diamond hone. The difference is immediately apparent and it draws in the material and finely chops it without long fibrous stems blocking it up. Keep the black knob tight as it holds down the safety micro switch that allows the motor to run and keep the motor cooling holes free of dust.
Excellent shredde
This is the third shredder I’ve used, first was very noisy and power cut-off was defective, lasted about 6 months and got a refund B&Q, was careful to try and get a quieter one, B&D was quieter but still very noisy. But it worked for about 8 years, needing careful techniques to keep it going.This Bosch is a huge improvement.
It revs high, in tone and volume it is like a high revving lawn mower, . First time I didn’t use ear defenders, it is borderline and I decided it is worth them.
It slices small branches into chips, just right for composting, and it does green material well. Has trouble with very irregular material like hard budlea stems. I found feeding a mix with some straight material sorted this.
The Bosch shredder range is confusing – there is a previous model called the AXT 2200 Silent (or is it called Quiet)? The previous 2200 does not have the red prodder / Plunger. The current model is also classed by Bosch as a quiet/silent shredder, it could be a matter of Bosch being realistic that they don’t make this the main claim for the current model, its not quiet, but it is quiet for a shredder.
Amazon price is very competitive.
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.
could do bette
I have a lot of trees and bushes in my garden, mostly fir trees, that I wanted to either cut down or shorten. having read a few reviews on the Bosch AXT 25D I decided to purchase this model. This garden shredder certainly saved me a lot of time in having to cut up the branches and take to the local dump. The shredder coped well with quite thick branches, however, it chewed them out in 1 inch or sometimes slightly larger pieces that could not go in my compost bins. It also struggled with the thinner pine branches, often jamming on them. This was helped a lot by pushing larger branches through at the same time. the shredder was a bit disappointing with the thinner bush branches though because these came out in shreds. None of the shreddings were really suitable for adding to my compost heap, but they would be OK for mulching. fortunately I have a ‘rough’ area beneath a row of pine trees where I can dump most of these shreddings. my overall opinion is that this shredder does a very reasonable job of crushing through a wide variety of woody shrubs and trees but is not too happy if you have mostly fir trees.
Good for chunky, not so great on 'green'
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 🙁
Bosch shredde
I had high expectations of this machine. It does the job reasonably well, I have been using it to shred the remains of a large holly bush. One problem that seems to bedevil all domestic shredders is that it doesn’t like any quantity of green material ie leaves. It constantly clogs up meaning that you have to remove the feed hopper to clear the cutter which is a bit of a bind (it does state in the instruction booklet that it is intended for cutting woody and fibrous garden waste with no mention of greenery!).
It copes very well with branches up to the maximum size stipulated – just make sure that the pressure plate is adjusted corectly.
The noise level is quite low meaning that that you are not deafened when using it, also good news for your neighbours!
I suspect that if I wanted a machine which would cope with all my garden waste without clogging etc I would proberbly have to purchase an industrial unit which would no doubt be powered with a petrol engine.
This garden shredder worked really well for one day. There would seem to be a design flaw in the way the lower basket is held in place. The basket also seems to control the safety switch. So when it moves out of the slot, the machine stops. That is good and that works fine on grass. But when you put it on a hard level surface, the vibration causes the collecting bin to move and turn the machine off. After a few goes at this, the machine froze in reverse as the circuitry was probably fried. Useless.
So I phoned Bosch and they said to package it up in a box and they would collect it. Well the box was gone because it was too big to store. So I took the shredder to an authorised Bosch repair centre. It’s been there for well over a week and they are waiting for Bosch to reply so that I can get a new one. However if the new one has the same flaw, I’ll be replacing it soon, too.
It is my understanding that this is a new machine and I would guess hasn’t really been properly road tested.
All I can say is that this is very disappointing.
Bosch AXT Rapid 2000 Shredder
The shredder worked efficiently for four weeks, cutting up a fair amount of tree foliage and small branches reasonably quickly. We were impressed by its performance, and considered it good value for the money spent. Then suddenly it ‘died’ – for no obvious reason. The problem appeared to be with the motor. It had not been misued in any way, and had only been used on 5-6 days, albeit for around five or six hours on each occasion.
It may be we were just unlucky; we have not, as yet, had occasion to put its replacement to any lengthy test.
What was impressive was Amazon’s response to our telephone call advising them of the problem. They offered to send an immediate replacement, which arrived within a few days.
They advised we could wait until the new machine arrived before returning the original, so that we were able to re-use its cardboard box; they sent a pre-paid return label for the faulty product which was collected from us, and which meant that we incurred no further cost.
Assembly was relatively straightforward despite (quite poor) instructions, taking about 5 minutes.
I have used this shredder for about an hour at the time of writing this review, so it’s too early to say much about the lifespan of the blade however, based on other reviews, I purchased a spare blade at the same time to be prepared. Although Amazon are the cheapest for replacement blades they still seem expensive items. Hopefully with care they will last a season.
I was quite surprised to find there is NO auto on/off, which means the shredder whirrs away whether shredding or not. I would recommend the wearing of goggles and gloves… and possibly earplugs if you intended using this all day long. I didn’t find it as noisy as I’d expected, but my hearing wasn’t 100% to start with!
I’m not expecting to give this much hard use, but shall be interested to see how it lasts over time. We shall see.
I shall report back if anything additional warrants me doing so. I cannot see why the price tag is such a hefty 128 except for the Bosch label?
This is an excellent shredder. The machine is so much better than the others I have owned.
I claim to be an experienced shredder user – I have had several machines over a good number of years. For me the problems to overcome are blockages when feeding material through (my last shredder, an Alko New Tec 2500R, was dreadful for this), wear on the blades reducing performance, and noise.
In selecting this shredder I took in to account that it was given the thumbs up by Which? in November 2007, and had a very positive write-up on the “fredshed” website, a first-rate source of independent advice. I must endorse what Fred says about keeping the blade sharp:
“Take care with what you put in the shredder and especially do not get ANY soil in it. With the high speed even a small amount of soil acts like an abrasive and quickly blunts the blade.”
The machine is the best one I have had. It is well designed and constructed and also very powerful. The blade wears well (if you follow the advice above and also make sure no stones find their way in to the machine) and is a bit cheaper than most brands to replace. It is the quietest machine I have used…..but probably could still annoy the neighbours if run at unsociable hours. The best thing for me is that it is not prone to blocking. If used sensibly, with the help of the wide prodder, you can easily go whole sessions without a blockage.
The collection bag offered as an accessory is not really necessary. A large plastic crate/storage box does just as well in getting the shreddings to the compost heap.
To appreciate this machine you need to have tried some of the others. I recommend it to anyone considering buying a shredder to help control their garden waste.
Excellent tool, does the job well and well worth the money. Easy to use and efficient.
On the down side, after a few uses (say about an hour) the blade was blunt and unless changed the mulcher clogged up quickly. It was used for only light mulching (eg. sweet pea plants, runner bean plants, hedge trimmings), no wood branches above 1 cm. diameter. After I turned the blade over for replacement and it was great for another couple of weeks until that also got blunt causes constant blockages after an hour or two of use. Replacement blades are not cheap, almost 12 pounds each.
On the plus side although the manual states that the blades cannot be resharpened, I nevertheless resharpened mine and they were good for another hour or so.
The only other minor niggle is that blockages were fairly frequent, admittedly I was using a lot of “green” material but if the outlet throat width of the mulcher were a couple of centimeters deeper I think most of these blockages might have been avoided.
Despite these comments I’m delighted with the shredder/mulcher, it makes composting so much more effective.