Comparison ShredMARK 1702X vs Fellowes P-48C

Shredder security level according to DIN 66399. For its designation, the letter P (from Paper) and a number from 1 to 7 are used.

This indicator determines how well the destruction is carried out, how difficult it will be to recover a document or media passed through the device. The DIN 66399 standard provides seven security levels with the simplest numbering from the lowest to the highest: P-1, P-2, P-3, P-4, P-5, P-6, P-7. These levels apply to both paper and other media, however, shredders are used primarily for paper documents, this option will be discussed here; see "Shred items" for similar information on other materials.

— P-1. The paper is cut into stripes with a width of less than 12 mm or into pieces with an area of up to 2000 mm². A basic level that allows you to easily restore a destroyed document; designed for the utilization of documents that do not contain classified information.

— P-2. The paper is cut into stripes less than 6 mm wide or into pieces up to 800 mm². From a practical point of view, it has no fundamental differences from level P1 — except that the shredder waste bin fills up not so quickly due to the smaller size of the fragments.

— P-3. The pape...r is cut into stripes with a width of less than 2 mm or into fragments with an area of up to 320 mm². It is impossible to restore a document destroyed in this way manually, although this can be done using special technical equipment.

— P-4. The paper is cut into pieces with a width of less than 6 mm and an area of less than 160 mm². This level is considered perhaps the most optimal for "considerate" materials, which do not require the maximum security levels — for example, everyday business documents like financial statements. Recovery from level P4 processing is extremely difficult even with special equipment (although possible), while the shredders themselves are relatively simple and inexpensive. In addition, they can easily provide destroying paper clips and staples.

— P-5. The paper is cut into pieces with a width of less than 2 mm and an area of less than 30 mm². This level is ready for business documents of strategic importance, such as long-term plans.

— P-6. The paper is cut into pieces with a width of less than 1 mm and an area of less than 10 mm². After such processing, the restoration of the document becomes almost impossible.

— P-7. The maximum level of security: the paper is cut into pieces with a width of less than 1 mm and an area of less than 5 mm². Such shredders are very expensive, and besides, they do not have much performant. Therefore, it makes sense to use them for documents of special national importance and other materials of similar importance.

It is also worth noting that the security level affects the speed of filling the shredder waste bin. The smaller the pieces of paper, the denser they fit into the basket and more time it takes to fill it with the same volume.

Types of media and materials that the shredder can utilize. Note that, by definition, all such devices are capable of working with paper documents, so paper is not mentioned in this paragraph (some models are generally only compatible with paper and do not allow using other materials). However, shredders with the ability to utilize various additional items are more common — mainly staplers, paper clips, credit cards and/or CDs/DVDs. Here are the features of each of these options:

— Staples. An auxiliary function designed to ensure that stapled materials do not have to be separated before being loaded into the shredder. Allows you to significantly save time when utilizing of such materials, especially in large volumes; also provides a correct operation guarantee in case of accidental contact with the staples.

— Paper clips. Paper clips are removed much easier than staplers and there is no problem with them even with a large amount of documents. Therefore, this function is rather an insurance against getting such a clip into the device along with the document.

— Credit cards. The ability to recycle various plastic cards with magnetic media — credit cards, passes, etc. This feature at least prevents the illegal use of such cards, and with a high security level i...t allows you to keep the fact of the existence of a card in secret. Actually, the security level for such utilization is indicated in the generally accepted standard DIN 66399, as like as for paper, and there are seven of them:

• 1 — the card remains intact, its surface is mechanically damaged;
• 2 — the card is cut into pieces with an area of less than 2000 mm²;
• 3 — size of pieces less than 320 mm²;
• 4 — less than 160 mm²;
• 5 — less than 30 mm²;
• 6 — less than 10 mm²;
• 7 — less than 2.5 mm².

— CDs/DVDs. Ability to utilize optical discs, which can also store confidential information. For such media, DIN 66399 also provides 7 security levels:

• 1 — the disk is cut into pieces with an area of less than 2000 mm²;
• 2 — less than 800 mm²;
• 3 — less than 160 mm²
• 4 — less than 30 mm²;
• 5 — less than 10 mm²;
• 6 — less than 5 mm²;
• 7 — less than 0.2 mm².

The largest possible size of the fragments that come out from the shredder after being processed. However, it's told about fragments only in the case of using cross-cutting; for stripe cut models (see “Cut Style”), this item indicates the largest width of the stripes. The size of the fragments is directly related to the security level provided by the shredder; see the relevant paragraph above for details.

The gap size of the shredder is the opening where the utilization materials are placed. This indicator determines the maximum size of the material that the device can handle at one time, without the need to fold or cut the sheet. The common gap size for most office models is 220 – 230 mm — this allows you to easily work with the popular A4 format(sheet width — 210 mm). But for sheet A3, with a width of 297 mm, you will need at least 310 mm gap size.

The speed that processed unit moves through the shredding mechanism during utilization. Accordingly, the higher this indicator, the higher the productivity of the shredder and the more units it is able to shred in a certain time. Knowing the volume of the documents to be shredded, you can easily determine the time required for batch utilization: for example, with a speed of 45 mm/s, one load of standard A4 sheets (length 297 mm) will require 297/45=6.6 s.

However, it should be taken into account that this parameter is usually indicated for paper of a certain density — 80 g/m² (standard office paper) or even 70 g/m², depending on the manufacturer. When working with thicker paper, as well as other materials (see "Shredding Items"), the shredding rate may be significantly lower than stated.

The number of sheets that the shredder is capable of processing at one time — in other words, the largest size of a stack of sheets that can be loaded into the device. Most modern shredders can handle multiple sheets; up to 5 pcs at a time is considered a very limited indicator, up to 10 pcs — a small one, 11 – 15 pcs can be called an average value, 16 – 20 pcs — quite good, and in the most powerful models this figure exceeds 20 pcs.

Note that this parameter is given for paper of a certain grammage (and, accordingly, thickness). At the same time, the East European standard for office paper is a grammage of 80 g/m², and in many European countries thinner paper is used with a grammage of 70 g/m², and it is for it that the capacity of many shredders is indicated. Therefore, if this moment is not specified in the specs, it is best to load the shredder not up to limit values, making a margin of 1 sheet per 8 sheets of capacity — 1 sheet with a stack thickness of up to 8 sheets, 2 sheets with a stack thickness of 8 to 16 sheets, etc. However, other conditions for density may be specified in the user manual.

Also note that the number of sheets per load is determined by manufacturers based on the results of tests under perfect conditions — in the absence of staples on paper, wit...h low humidity, optimal voltage in the mains, perfect sharpening of knives, etc. In fact, any deviation from these indicators affect some decrease in efficiency.

The duty cycle of the shredder is the maximum time that it can work without interruption.

Limit of operating time is due to the fact that the destruction of documents and other media is associated with quite significant loads on the electric motor and gear. This leads to strong heating, while the breaks allow the hardware of the shredder to cool down. Actually, there are models with the possibility of continuous operation, but they are expensive and not always really necessary; see "Features" for details.

In small shredders for domestic use, the work cycle is often only a few minutes, and among powerful professional devices there are values of half an hour or more. Also note that in some models, shutdown after a full cycle is provided automatically due to overheating protection (see "Features"), however, the presence of such a system does not mean the presence of an automatic shutdown on time — it can only work with a critical increase of temperature.

The minimum break time required by the shredder after a full cycle of work (see above).

A break is required so that the motor and mechanisms of the device can cool down after the intense loads that they are subjected to during operation. Moreover, if the operating time was less than a full cycle, then the break can also be made shorter; however, if the device has worked for more than half of the cycle, for a full assurance it is still worth to take a break for all the time intended for it. Some models may provide other recommendations in this regard — they should be specified in user's manual.

The largest amount of sheets of paper that the shredder can shred in a day without overloading or other problems. Standardly indicated for A4 paper with a certain grammage; moreover, if this grammage is not given in the specs, it should be assumed that we are talking about paper with a grammage of 70 g/m², which is considered as the standard in many European countries. And since East European paperwork uses thicker paper — 80 g/m² — when choose a shredder depending on its daily sheet limit, it is worth taking a certain margin (at least 10 – 15%).

Note that even the simplest modern shredder can handle with the occasional shredding of documents (up to a couple of dozen sheets per day). Therefore, it is worth paying attention to this indicator mainly in cases where it is planned to shred the paper often and in large volumes. Also note that increasing the security level (see the relevant paragraph) reduces the reliability — more thorough shredding is associated with a higher workload on the mechanisms of the unit.