I had a lot of large and dry leaves falling from my sycamore tree. This thing chewed through the leaves like butter; however, I quickly discovered you MUST wear some sort of mask for breathing. The fine particles whirling around will have you coughing your lungs out if you don't wear like a painters mask.

This shredder does a good job for what I use it for. I do not use it over any sort of container. I like to make piles of mulched leaves then spread them out over time. Do not over feed the leaves into the hopper, in other words, don't over load! When feeding wet leaves, feed even a bit more slowly. You will get better results if you follow those two simply rules. The mulched leaves break down very fast which is a big help in the garden. No longer do I throw away leaves. Sticks yes! Leaves no. To be safe, I do use an 10 gauge wire extension cord.

I bought this so I could retire the dusty, heavy leaf vac bag that used to hang in my shoulder. in many ways this exceeded my expectations. This does not fit over any can (I tried 4 different sizes and styles) however, the elastic cord method of holding a leaf bag in place works great - very easy on and off. In total from my back yard I have filled 9 55 gallon leaf bags and this has held up well. Parts of my yard have a lot of twig to stick sized branches, I tried to pull those out as much as possible. On three occasions I had to shut the unit down to clear a thumb sized branch that slipped through, a tennis ball, and a piece of palm sizes fencing wire. Changing the trimmer string is easy, I've needed to so it several times. Towards the end of the day today the green section of the on-off switch got a bit sticky. It didn't want to stay on. The day was 32 degrees colder than yesterday, and there is a lot of dust and debris flying. I'll work with it - it should be fine.

Not super impressed. First the dumb hub flies off on first use, then the internal filter plugs two weeks later and darn near starts a fire. The product works great when it works, but going to probably go with another product next time. oh and don't bother trying to get parts. Rep on the phone had a horrible attitude and was less than helpful.

It shreds leaves, even little twigs, better than in my wildest dreams. I am using the shreddings for mulch and I can fill a trash can in just a few minutes. That having been said, the switch died after 3 uses. I would have sent it back for repair, but I'm right in the middle of leaf season and it looks like it would just keep happening anyway. The switch gets dust sucked into it due to the way air flows through the machine. I took it apart and bypassed the switch. I am using it over a trash can instead of attaching a bag to all the bungee cord things around the bottom, so it is probably kicking up more dust than the manufacturer recommends. Taking the time to securely attach a bag would make the whole process take twice as long, so I am taking my chances. Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes, but only a handy friend.

This mulcher really shreds up the leaves for my compost bins but be careful not to get a rock mixed in with the leaves because it will punch a hole right through the plastic. And be sure to keep the ventilation holes clear. The cutting line doesn't last as long as I would have hoped. Also my on/off switch stopped working long ago so I just plug it and unplug to start and stop.

I purchased this online from another retail store. WalMart asked for a review when I purchased replacement line. My principle criteria were power requirements, portability, and cost. My objective is to reduce leaf volume--the mulch is easier to manage. I am powering the 2 HP mulcher with a 3 HP inverter generator--most of my yard equipment is powered by this generator, including a leaf blower, (push) mower, and chain saw. The unit (and the powering generator) are light enough to move around the yard fairly easily. Before purchasing this unit, the problem was (most recently) addressed using a much larger (600 lb) chipper/mulcher attached to a (25 HP) tractor. This unit appears to be much safer and easier to manage. The life expectancy of a set of strings seems to be 40-60 gal of mulch. Based on 3 sets of strings. It took something in the neighborhood of 30 minutes to wear out a set of strings. Changing the strings is an interruption, but not particularly difficult. Dry leaves generate dust, which was controlled by putting a comfortably fitting trash can under the unit. The trash can blocks the dust from the bottom and the feed blocks the dust from the top. I don't like the telescoping legs, but it mates reasonably well with my 10 gal trash can (with the legs fully collapsed). SunJoe could provide a better interface with the trash can--they seem to be more focused on bagging the product. Bagging leaves and mulch do not suit my application. Wet leaves are an entirely different animal. I have not yet tried wet leaves. We are just finishing up leaf blowing season. There were issues with the power switch early on. I observed that the motor cooling air inlet near the switch was blocked by dust. I vacuumed the dust out (low end shop vac with some detail attachments) and haven't had further problems. Wait and see. I use a small (finger sized) stick to guide the leaves in, and settled on the fine setting without a lot of experimentation. I have no particular use for the mulch, so I have no standard to judge it by. The unit is small and simple. I see no grease fittings and it is easy to clean out--jamming does not appear to be the problem it can be with the larger unit. There is also less flying debris and less noise. I use a 25 foot extension cord. The dust is doubtless not good for generators either. To date, I have not noticed problems with the generator related to overload.

Shredder works really well on wet %26 dry leaves. Small dry twigs are not too much of a problem, but this shredder really isn't designed to handle that type of waste. Twigs that are wet or thicker than 1/8" will wear down the cutting cord requiring frequent replacing. Larger twigs will also cause the cutting string to break and could even cause the motor unit to seize up. I got 2 1/2 years of use out of mine before the motor overheated and burned out. Recommend not overloading the feed chute, using short operating times (under 3 mins), with a short cool down period for product longevity Although this shredder does a great job on leaves, it is not practical for twigs, branched and continuous operation. As I found out, doing so will shorten it's life considerably.

I really did not expect the completely shredded and almost powdered leaves. Outstanding product worth the little it costs!

This shredder is not perfect – it doesn't handle sticks, walnuts, or pine cones, etc., but it has the best rate of through-put and length of time of jam-free running for shredding leaves.