Aurora AS420C Desktop-Style Cross-Cut Paper Shredder, 4-Sheet Crosscut Desktop

This little shredder is exactly what I needed for my classroom. As a third-grade teacher, I often have small amounts of confidential student information – old permission slips, graded drafts of essays, or practice math sheets with names – that need to be disposed of securely, but I don't always have time to walk down the hall to the main office shredder. This Aurora AS420C is a desktop-style cross-cut shredder, meaning it cuts paper into small confetti-like pieces, which is much more secure than strip-cut.It truly fits right on my desk without taking up much valuable space, which is a huge plus in a busy classroom. It handles 4 sheets at a time, which is ample for my needs since I'm usually only shredding a few pages here and there. It's been a reliable little workhorse for daily use – not heavy-duty for stacks of paper, but excellent for those small, quick jobs. It feels well-made and sturdy enough to handle the regular, light use it gets from me. It's truly been a great addition to my classroom setup, helping me maintain student privacy efficiently.

I love how small and powerful this shredder is. Yes I have to feed things like a 8.5x11 inch page into thirds, a trade-off for the small amount of space it takes up. Doesn’t fit a lot in basket which is fine cause I don’t want paper sitting around. Fits my goal of being able to shred confidential material securely and take minimal space in my small apartment. Looks cute too!

Update 07/2022: this shredder is now 13 years old (purchased in 2009) and recently the auto feed switch stopped working. I took the cover off (note: there’s one screw under a QC sticker) and saw that the switch is just a flexible metal flat spring that gets pushed together when paper is pushed through. I squeezed the two “prongs” of the switch together slightly, reassembled, and we’re back in business! It’s definitely still only good for very light duty shredding, but I’m adding the star I previously withheld as a reward for longevity.Original 2014 review:I've had this shredder for over 5 years, and it has been just what I've needed. I only use it for light-duty shredding: basically just junk mail that has personal information on it and other sensitive documents, plus the occasional expired credit card. It's been great.I'll echo other reviewers' comments that you can't (or at least shouldn't) put more than two thicknesses of paper into the slot at once, and, because the slot is only 4.5" wide, most paper has to be folded. The best way, especially with those long credit card applications we all get for the sole purpose of making sure our shredders still work, is to fold the page down the vertical axis (e.g. an 8.5 x 11" sheet becomes 4.25 x 11" folded over). The basket fills up fairly quickly if you have a stack of papers to shred, but I don't really mind this, as I probably only do my shredding once or twice a month. It has "auto" (shredding gears are activated when you put paper in the slot) and "reverse" modes, and I find it works well to switch to reverse to clear out any rogue bits of paper periodically.Pros:- Small footprint- Reliable (it's lasted me 5 years and still going strong)- Not too expensive- Bin is easy to empty- "Auto" modeCons:- Most paper has to be folded to fit the slot- Limit of 2 thicknesses of paper (1 sheet, folded)- Bin fills quicklyAll-in-all, a fine little shredder. It's not fast, but it will get the job done. Four stars.

Works so good and a perfect size! This is a fairly quiet shredder. I so love that it is strong enough to shred my old credit cards. Does not heat up when using it. The paper is easily removed from the blades if necessary. I love being able to shred my personal documents. It is also small enough for my RV usage and a great price for this shredder!

Great quality, perfect size and color, depth of basket is perfect and holds alotHighly recommended

Works great for small post-it notes.

If your looking for a convenient shredder that isn't a piece of hand-cranked crap and small enough this is it. The downside to this shredder however is that it *is* so small, that the paper have to be folded letter-style to use. For light-use and small document shredder this is alright. Maybe even for some arts and crafts. For long-term use and durability, look elsewhere. This shredder will accumulate paper often which requires cleaning (even when the instructions say NOT too because of obvious hazard reasons, but if it's not cleaned then the papers will stick)Pros:Small enough to fit in tighter spaces.Comes with a paper-opener on the side and two pockets to slip something in.Easy Lift Handle on top.Auto detection, reverse and shut-off/over-heat feature.Cons:JamFest: This shredder can get jammed too easily if your not careful. Because of it's small size the papers will fill up faster. I have lifted the shredder up multiple times, just to find shredded pieces still sticking to the blades underneath. Although the instructions say NOT to clean it, in order to avoid jams I removed some of the papers then let the machine run in reverse mode afterwards to ditch the rest. But I make sure NOT to use my hands at all during the cleaning but use the blade of paper-opener. For safety reasons make sure the machine is turned off and unplugged. The metal teeth are sharp enough that it shouldn't be cleaned with bare hands.CreditJam: Although this shredder advertises to take credit-card, some of the thickness of the cards can get easily jammed in this machine. I've placed one card into the machine and watch it strain itself to chop the single plastic piece down. Not good compared to other shredders that had no problems chopping down cards. This one goes into a near semi-strain like an old man with a back ache.Bucket Overfloweth: Again due to it's small size this shredder will require constantly dumping and reversing(to loosen up paper) to keep it going. So if your someone who has a box-full of documents it will take time to shred it all.Small Opening and Thin Papers: The Aurora opener is designed in a way that forces the consumer to fold their documents in letter-style before inserting them into the machine. Not only do I consider this a tedious waste of time (depending on how many documents must be shred) but also the other fact of the machine's ability to only take thin, 3 piece papers at a time. If paper isn't continuously fed through the machine will automatically shut itself off in auto mode(the only "on" mode available except reverse which is reserved for jams).The Aurora isn't bad for the price, but there are other choppers out there that do the job more efficiently and better.=====Update 12/11/2013=====Be aware although Aurora comes with a warranty the shredder may have a higher potential of burning out. This is in due to the the motor straining to chop up envelopes and the jams that occur. Although my Aurora has not burned out this shredder has a harder time chopping up the average envelope and is noisy while doing so.

This is a great, small shredder for home use. It only shreds 4 pages at a time so I was considering buying one that could shred 8 or more pages but they are all too big. This one is just the right size so I don't mind only shredding 4 pages at a time bc it works great and doesn't take up much space at all. I've included a photo of it next to one of the medium sized, 32 ounce gatorade bottles so that you can see just how compact it is in comparison. Even though it isn't huge, it holds a lot. I don't have to empty it as often as I thought I would have just by looking at it. I was pleasantly surprised by how much the small basket actually holds.I just shredded a whole shopping bag of old bills and documents to test it out and it didn't overheat at all and got it done super fast! It looks great, I love the clear basket with the little pockets on the side for holding your pens, the tool to clear paper jams that it comes with or anything else that you want to store there. By the way, I haven't had to use the paper jam tool yet and I just shredded a pile of stuff. I'm so glad I went with the more compact, smaller model shredder bc it works just as well as any office shredder that I've used. The only negative is that you have to fold pages vertically before inserting them though bc the paper slot isn't as wide as a standard sheet of paper. That doesn't matter though bc it shreds so quick and efficiently that folding some pages doesn't add much time to the task. If you want a cute, compact, efficient shredder for your home office or for just normal, everyday use then get this one. It's perfect! I will update my review if I run into any issues.

This was exactly what I wanted perfect size. But when I opened it I couldn’t use it as it had a 2 pin plug. Who uses a 2 pin plug in uk. I might order another one in case they sent me the wrong lead and plug by mistake.

I have been wanting a home shredder for a while now, but I didn't want to spend on anything bulky or costly. This little friend is perfect. Compact and surprisingly stylish (for office equipment), it takes up about 1 foot of floor/desk space.It has a slider for 3 options: Auto, Off, Reverse, and a light to indicate that it is on/in use. Once you sit it onto the basket, it works right out of the box. It shredded old credit cards like a dream. It says it takes "4 folded sheets maximum", and according to the manual, this means 1 page folded in quarters, or 2 pages folded in half. I see other comments talking about their shredder struggling with 4 pages and that's probably why.It comes with a pick to help dig out any stubborn pieces stuck in the shredder teeth, but I haven't had to use mine yet, so it sits in the little side pocket of the shredder basket awaiting its time in the sun. The manual says to use shredder oil or vegetable oil every now and again to keep the teeth running smoothly, so maintenance sounds like it won't be an expensive hassle either. It also says that it can process staples, but I wouldn't risk it. Much easier/safer to tear the stapled corner off of the page before shredding.Overall, this is a great piece of home office equipment. Perfect for shipping labels (if it's on plastic, maybe sandwich between 2 pieces of regular paper so it doesn't melt in the shredder teeth), addressed envelopes, or whatever light bits you want to dispose of confidentially. Fingers crossed this sleek little shredder serves me for a long while!

La compramos porque había muchos documentos que romper, el espacio para los restos de papel es pequeño, pero realmente la calidad, funcionalidad y precio lo valen. Destruye una tarjeta de crédito en segundos.

Es muy útil esta pequeña trituradora. Su capacidad es poca, sin embargo cumple con el fin de destrozar tarjetas y por lo menos dos hojas dobladas, mi piel es sensible y me lastimo con facilidad las manos, asi es que para mi es muy practica y maravillosa.Cuando se calienta en automático deja de funcionar por lo que recomiendo no usarla en exceso sino en intervalos.

This is a good shredder and works well. I gave it only 4 stars because you can only do smaller amounts of shredding (about 4 to 5 standard letter size sheets of paper) before you have to empty the bucket and no matter how careful you are when you empty it little strip of paper go everywhere. It really is a good shredder, especially for the price, it's just a little messy.