The Handy THISWB Electric Garden Shredder with 40L Collection Box for Woody Prunings and Soft Cuttings 2500W – 2 Year Warranty
ABOUT THE HANDY
Handy was founded in 1938 by Geoffrey Handy in Old Town Swindon, in the heart of England. Originally a specialist Garden Machinery dealer the company has grown to become one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of reliable, affordable non-powered garden equipment that really does the job at hand.
Robust, well-engineered and effective, Handy tools are powerful but uncomplicated and very easy to use. Whatever the task is in the garden, Handy makes gardening a pleasure and a relaxing pastime.
| Dimensions: | 46 x 36 x 123 cm; 13.8 Kilograms |
| Manufacture: | The Handy |
Ideal product I have used it on a number of occasions now and it does the job well as described. It does occasionally require cleaning to prevent blockage especially if shredding branches with leaves on.
Works fine as long as you don’t over load or overwork it (bit like me!). Only done about 12-15 box loads so far so will see!
It said up to 40 mm and it just ate it up like butter and performed impeccably over a 5 hour period reducing mountains of here and bushes cuttings and branches , some over 6foot in length
I was considering buying the Bosch AXT Rapid or the Handy THISWB and eventually decided on the later. I was put off buying the Bosch by the high number of one star reviews which seemed to highlight problems of a recurring nature. So, did I make the right decision? Yes, I think so.
My first impression of the Handy was very positive due to the build quality; it just seems really solid. It’s slightly heavier than the Bosch but not that much so it’s still really easy to manoeuvre around in spite of the collection box that fits underneath. The collection box is a real asset actually. Being completely enclosed when the machine is in use the shredded material does not spill out onto the ground as it did with my previous Mountfield shredder. This makes it practical to use in the garage rather than taking it outside, which is very convenient. Assembly was a bit fiddley but not a great problem.
Having used the machine on several occasions to shred trimmings from a beech hedge I can honestly say that it works well. So far no jams, which was a constant irritation with the Mountfield. The entrance to the hopper where you feed in material is ‘binocular’ shaped i.e. two circular holes on either side with a mid-section connecting them and the supplied paddle is tubular in shape. This means that you can feed in a branch on one side and after the machine has pulled it in you can push the remains of it down with the paddle, then do the same on the other side and keep alternating. Obviously, you don’t have to work this way but I find it a good methodology. I haven’t tried to shred anything that large in diameter as yet, but as with all impact shredders you just have to be sensible. Don’t feed logs in, just create a log pile in your garden instead. Wood lice and other insects will appreciate this ‘luxurious’ accommodation.
Another plus with this machine is the price. On Amazon it’s currently about thirty pounds cheaper than the AXT Rapid and IMO good value for money. It should also be easy to get replacement blades and any spare parts you may require as the Handy is a UK company based in Swindon. The manual has phone and email contact information for customer service and a comprehensive parts listing.
Are there any downsides to the Handy THISWB? Well, yes to some degree. The machine is really quite noisy in operation but it does have a powerful 2,500 Watt motor and this can be remedied by wearing ear defenders. I bought 3M Peltor Optime I Earmuffs, 27 db which reduces the noise to an acceptable level. Another slight issue concerns the paddle. As explained earlier, it works great when feeding in branches. However, when feeding in other garden material that has been cut up into smaller pieces e.g. ivy or shrub trimming it’s not that practical. What’s needed is a wider ‘binocular’ shaped paddle that can be used to push this kind of garden wasted into the hopper effectively.
The shredder comes with a hopper ‘extension’ that fits on top of the machine and this is a great idea for containing ‘smaller’ garden waste. However, without a wider paddle to push the garden material into the machine with ease I don’t see how it can be that useful, especially as the aperture for the hopper is on the small side. Incidentally, if you do use the hopper ‘extension’ make sure that you remove it before emptying the collection box. It’s easy to forget that it’s there and you might bang your head on it as I did. Is this how Jimmy Page came to write ‘Dazed and Confused’?
Overall a good value, well built (and hopefully reliable) shredding machine which just needs a second paddle to make it a pretty good buy, if not quite perfect. I hope the manufacturer will take account of my observations because I think they have the potential to sell a lot of these units.
Good ,strong machine .Easy to use and move around .Used to make chippings from a huge apple tree.Read lots of reviews on more expensive machines which were not good ! We already have the Handy trolley so thought worth a try .Love it .
It worked really well for our purposes and dealt with hedge trimmings and larger pieces of wood effectively. The waste produced makes an excellent mulch.
Easy to assemble, didn’t find it too noisy, probably had worse. The thing is not to overload it, which I don’t. If you want a heavy duty shredder then you have to pay more! Good to have and saves going to the tip!
Whips through larger woody branches, struggles a bit with leafy softer cuttings, but overall quite good.
Shredded bulk is ideal for composting.
Easy enough to clean, which you need to do, especially if you’re shredding soft or leafy waste.
Feeding it requires patience and there’s a knack to using it.
But it’s very satisfying; kind of therapeutic as all the rubbish is reduced to useful mulch.
This shredder is awesome value for money I’m taking my hedge out it doesn’t jam it’s even on shredding using what shredded for mulch all round awesome bit of kit for the money very handy
Great wood chipper done lots of our garden (jungle) shredding. Struggles a bit on bigger branches 40mm + and the box is difficult to get out so have to kick it a few times to get it out but w great shredder!
I bought this shredder to replace a Titan shredder because I couldn’t remove the blades to replace them!
Using the new shredder for the first time I was very impressed. It immediately dealt with 2 cm sticks, slightly wet vegetation and tangled creeper cuttings (took time to feed through!) but reduced everything to fine shreds. The large collection box is a great advantage. I very nearly spent 200 on a Bosch but glad I didn’t. This is an excellent value for money piece of kit.
The motor is fairly noisy so I have bought some ear defenders – but that’s in no way a criticism.
Compared to the last shredder I owned this one is pretty good.
Works well do anything under 4 cm in diameter.
Very efficient and big box to collect the wood chips.
When it gets blocked up.(my fault) for being hasty, it is easy to unblock and is so safe to use.
You simple cant do anything to harm yourself, the machine is so well made.
Read the instruction manual. The machine wont work without the collection box in place and locked. Simple.
I am a tiny 73 year old widow, if I can do it so can anyone.
How easy it is to get rid of branches and shreds them into the box
We used shredder to pulp apples for pressing to make cider.
It worked perfectly.
Container below kept the wasps out.
Best ever yield of juice from our apples.
will not shred 35mm hard wood like oak or old wood.
Does what it claims to do, not too keen on “floppy” items, but lethal on solids
Well worth the money I paid very easy to assemble all done in about 10 minutes, and very nice to use and to noisey which was important as I live in a ground floor flat, it cut everything I put in it leaves and branches with ease. Would I recommend it default for ease of use and it looks good as well as being a practical tool for the garden.
Really easy to put together and works great well impressed with the power and size of the branches it shreds down to sawdust very happy with my purchase great value for money
Very well built, robust and safe piece of machinery capable of shredding branches up to about 1.5 inches in diameter. Easy to use and reasonably priced.
It’s good for the use in garden . Very pleased with it .. easy to use .with safely gloves abs glasses .
Bought this back in September as a solution to the problem of getting branches from upper garden down several sets of steps and would have been many many trips to the tip. I am absolutely delighted with the outcome especially now self isolating. I can feed twigs/ branches into shredder and then put the chippings as mulch on my beds. I did think I had broken it but realised the bin was full and will not run whilst full or until the box is fully engaged. I found the Handy manual online. Back on shredding for an hour earlier with same impressive results. I’m sure that the Handy would go for much longer but an hour is my limit.
Looks good , I will know better in Spring when I use it more. After a long winter, I used it emptied the box and forgot to click the handle up, Which is part of isolator switch , after a it’s no working panic , I finally Sussed it out , Working perfect.
Small aperture but gets through most green garden waste, a few times it was frustrating getting things to mulch properly but in general a really nice machine which does get the job done. It is pretty loud so I would suggest some form of ear defender.
Easy to use and not as noisy as expected. Used on a variety of pine tree branches and took care not to exceed maximum diameter.
Excellent – used all weekend, no issues and one jam (my fault), cleared easily..
This is an excellent piece of equipment. Easily macerated the branches from my willow tree. The maximum width was maybe only a half inch. The collector box is a little fiddly to fit but soon mastered.
Extremely pleased with this purchase and would highly recommend to buyers.
Solidly made, good for the price. I would recommend it for normal garden clippings. Copes well with long woody sticks, softer items need to be shoved in. Very noisy though, wear ear defenders!
Was very impressed the first time I used this shredder, it really did the business.
Very good machine no problem setting up and too use
Good for dry sticks and branches , thought it could mulch dry leaves but not a chance, just clogs
Bought this to shred bamboo and hedges. I am very satisfied with this shredder it is easy to operate and makes short work of hedge branches and bamboo. The collection box has to be fastened correctly or the shredder won’t work. Would I buy this again yes.
Easy to put together, easy to use, with the guide holes easy to judge size to shred
If you have large volume then I would suggest that you need to go up market.
his product is well worth the money if you absolutely need it now if not i’d watch out for it in lidls as they are more powerful and cheaper! also you really have to have a lot of trees or shrubs in your garden to make use of this product otherwise for those absolute small jobs to do its just gonna sit in your shed after its done!
Chops up leaves, branches with little effort and found it hard to find fault its operation.
took me about 10 minutes to assemble with the tools provided.
I did expect spare blades but not sure if I read that or not but they are double sided so
no problem.
The chippings are quite fine and I think will make a perfect addition to the compost heap when mixed with the grass clippings. Was forcing leafy branches though the size restricting holes with no jams whatsoever.
I am finding it hard to pull the box out after disengaging the safety catch so just have to give it a push
from the other end.
A few things that I feel should have been written are some warnings maybe the seller can sort this.
1, A better warning to use ear defenders and safety glasses. I did not feel it was too loud but it does get used
for a long time so better safe than sorry.
2, This will pull items to be cut into the machine so you should consider long blanches are going to be
pulled in at quite a speed as they are snatched out of you hand. Beware the long prickly brambles.
To sum it up a very good machine for the money and would recommend it.
Straight out of the box and out to work, had no problem with my garden waste, Managing to chew through some good size branches.
Works well but you will need to exercise patience to not overload it.
This does exactly what it should. It is quite robust and doesn’t cut out every five minutes like others do. It is great value for money.