Just started using this shredder today to deal with small trees on my property. I replaced my McCulloch MC140 with the Westinghouse 1.7 because the MC140 destroyed itself as the branch feed chute cracked and finally came apart in pieces and could not be repaired. The shredding technology between the two is identical, thick steel plate with 2 sharp blades attached to an electric motor. The Westinghouse has a different feed chute that feed the stock in vertically against a diagonally mounted shredder plate. It has the effect of letting branches feed themselves into the blades, as long as the branch is straight and has no horizonal branches coming off. If there are side branches you need to guide them with pressure into the slot or cut them off and feed them separately. The blades are razor sharp and have no trouble going through dead or live branches, including oak, without stalling. If it fits, it chips. As for leaves there is basically no accommodation for leaves. The feed slot is just big enough for branches and there is no bowl or large feed opening for leaves.

My previous chipper/shredder was from Habor Freight. This Westinghouse model is noticeably higher quality both design & size. I’m looking forward to its troublefree operation.

Have a few trees on the property that drop branches or grow suckers off of. This tool is easy to move around and helps turn that waste into something I can use in the garden.

Just assembled it yesterday. Looks simple enough to use. Assembly instructions could have been better, but I suppose it wasn't too hard to figure out. Only 3 stars because I haven't use it yet (Registration of the product requires that I leave a review.)

Purchased to chip up a pile of yard debris (some old, some new), but haven't taken it outside to test it yet. Without testing: this product seems well built, easy for one person to assemble (installing legs/wheels), and feels solid when assembled while being lightweight and will be easy to wheel or carry around the yard.

It seems in poor taste to force people to review your item if they wish to receive safety glasses that are designed to protect them from the very product they just bought. I have yet to use the chipper shredder (waiting on the free protective glasses after this review lol). That being said, assembly was fairly easy but mounting the wheel base requires a Phillips screwdriver, which is not included. The company includes an Allen wrench in the box, so I don't understand why they couldn't just put a Phillips head on the opposite end of that tool to ensure a smooth, complete assembly out of the box.

Packs a punch, no trouble at all chewing up hard or soft wood. Mulch is pretty consistent. Assembly instructions had some errors in part numbering, etc., but it wasn't too hard to figure out. Runs louder than I expected, but it's very fast so I'm never running it for long.

The chipper works as long as you are not in a hurry and you don't have many branches to run through. However, although most of what I was chipping was in the quarter of an inch to an inch range, and I followed all instructions, the motor burned out the second day that I used the machine, after very few hours of operation. Considering that I would use it only occasionally and I wouldn't be overexerting it (or myself), I expected to get at least a couple of years out of it. I hope that my experience is not typical of this chipper's life expectancy.

We had this unit up and shredding within minutes. So far it is doing great. The one shortfall was in the assembly instructions. They could have been a little clearer with a better diagram for steps 6 and 7.

Works well, but is fairly time consuming to chip a large pile. Easy assembly though and easy to clear clogs when they do occur. I did receive a free set of eye protection for this review.