Bosch Garden Shredders -tested, explained by
Fred-in-The Shed
buying advice and
maintenance tips
Updated 30th
October 2008
LATEST
NEWS
NEW BOSCH RAPID SHREDDERS WIN
GOLDEN SHED AWARD
Then ( later) gets the Which Magazine
best buy award!
BUY A SPARE
BLADE TOO!
The latest versions of the rapid shredder have more power
and a laser cut blade that lasts up to 70% longer. These improvements make the
new rapid shredders the best available and won Bosch my 2007 Golden Shed Award
Many retailers still have stock of the old models so take care
when purchasing or use my links anywhere on this page.
GARDEN SHREDDERS TESTED
I have tested dozens of
shredders over the last 10 years, for domestic use I like Bosch shredders and am
happy to share my findings with my readers.
reader comments
Hi Fred
I purchased the Bosch 2200 Shredder which you recommended and after
giving it a weeks work I can only say that I am very impressed with its
performance. Once again many thanks for your advice and any person
acquiring one of these machines I'm sure will be more than satisfied
Regards
Mike Ford March 08
Hello Fred
I just wondered how you are
keeping and thought you would like to know that I am still chuffed to
bits with the Bosch shredder and the diamond sharpener. I have managed
to just about clear the garden ready for winter without having to get
anyone to take stuff away for me. I have bought a compost bin, and
frankly, because the shredder does such a good job, I am finding that
green stuff is breaking down very quickly and I am managing to cope with
things nicely. The shredder has exceeded my expectations and is an
absolute God-send.
Very many thanks
Best wishes
Julia October
2007
Fred, Just to let you know that
my Bosch shredder arrived today. It is fantastic - it ate up all my
zebra grass in about 20 minutes - chomping its way effortlessly. You
were right about the bag - its a real necessity! Thanks so much for your
advice. I wish I had bought the Bosch ages ago!! I'm looking forward to
taking my old ********** to the tip!
Thanks again for your help
Penny - April 07
Fred
I wrote a few weeks ago,
just to let you know I did buy the Bosch AXT Rapid shredder 2200.
Excellent tool I found that never mind the max size spec if you can get
a bit of newly pruned hedge into it seconds later its chopped and gone.
The output is quite fine 'shredding' for me much better than the chunks
you describe from the silent type.
cheers
Paul
"Hi Fred
I just wanted you to know that we are so pleased with
the shredder that you suggested. (AXT2200HP) We have spent the weekend
shredding and mulching and are so relieved not to have to keep loading
up the car with volumes of waste to take to the tip. Your site is
fantastic and I will definitely recommend to anyone else in my
situation.
Thanks again
Jacki "
Bosch make 3 types of garden shredder, ( 1 Rapid and
2 Quiet)
The Rapid type is simple but noisy and better for
softer material
The quiet types (not silent) self feed and
crushes woody material
Unfortunately the model numbers are similar and very confusing
(many retailers dont have a clue )
Also the rapid shredders have been improved but old
versions are still for sale
These use the spinning blade -(like a heavy duty food processor)
Not so long ago shredders were very expensive and the
cheapest ones were appalling to use due to noise and jamming up or
breaking. As shredders have become more popular the economies of
scale of mass production has reduced the prices further.
Some of the cheap shredders are still total rubbish and should be
avoided. There are a few cheap, but good ones available around the
£150 mark.
The Bosch AXT RAPID impact shredders were introduced in 2004 and
were designed to take soft foliage as well as woody branches up to 38mm. These machines have double (reversible)
blades unlike the single "razor blade type" of many cheap shredders.
One unique and innovative feature of the AXT rapid shredders is
the wide paddle that is used to push material into the top of the
machine. Other shredders give you a metal rod or stick which is not
as good.
A replacement blade that fits all the Bosch rapid shredders costs
about £15 and
takes me 5 minutes to change.
Some of my readers reported rapid blade wear ins some machines
bought form Argos and in response
Bosch have developed a new improved blade made in Switzerland. (SEPT
06).
I strongly recommend that if you are buying a Bosch rapid
shredder or replacement blade that it is the new Swiss made one.
Bosch AXT 1600 HP , AXT 2000 HP and AXT 2200HP Quiet
Shredders
This is the older range of Bosch shredders that are also
branded ATCO since Bosch owns the ATCO brand.
Like most equipment you get what you pay for and these Quiet shredders are more
expensive as they are well engineered and contain more components than
simple spinning blade shredders.
These are German made
machines and in normal use will last years. However eventually if you do a
lot of shredding even this machine will need new parts, (most probably the cog, or
screw, bearings or plastic roller)
Unlike spinning blade type shredders the Bosch AXT1600HP and AXT2000 HP are unique as they use a spiral screw to crush
the branches and pull them in. A replacement spiral screw costs about £80
and is quite a job to replace. Although these machines are good quality
they are most prone to problems so I prefer to recommend other machines and
would advise Bosch to discontinue them.( which they are!)
The Bosch AXT2200HP uses cogs to crush the branches which although more
robust than a spiral screw are still expensive to replace compared to
spinning blade. The crushing cog shredders are the toughest and I have had
the least complaints about them.
Many complaints about shredder failure are due to misuse, I would say
about 50%. The rest are mostly about worn spirals and this is why I no
longer recommend the Bosch AXT2000HP (also I know it will soon be
discontinued)
Garden Shredders
Explained
Different blade types - pros and cons
Reversible double edged blade to fit all Bosch Rapid Shredders
One size fits all!
Buy my diamond sharpener to use without removing the blade!
This is a simple blade as found on Bosch
Rapid or
cutting type shredders. . This Bosch one is reversible and has
2
cutting edges on each blade. Many cheap shredders
have only 1
blade with two cutting edges- that's one reason they are cr#p.
Spare blades are £11.99 plus postage from Amazon and the retailer on
the link below. If you buy something else from Amazon to make the
total over £15 you get free delivery!
The
AXT2200HP crushing cog type blade and bar
as found on some Bosch Quiet shredders
This is the more complicated cog and drum mechanism of the crushing
type shredders. These are reliable and well tested, they cannot be
sharpened and are relatively expensive to replace if you wear one
out.
However the cog can be accessed by removing 4 hex bolts on the front
of the shredder and the cog can be removed and cleaned or replaced
in minutes.
mail me for a video of it in use!
Simple razor blade type shredder blade as found on cheap
"impact shredders"
As you can imagine these blades literally "take a lot of
stick"
and go blunt very quickly. Also some manufacturers have increased motor
power without upgrading the blades, so they fail even quicker!
The helix or spiral cutter from the AXT1600HP and
AXT2000HP machines.
These spiral cutters make the machine extremely quiet and
self feeding. However the edges can be damaged by stones and wire so take
care what you put into this type of shredder. As a result I recommend buying
a rapid shredder or the Bosch AXT2200HP quiet shredder.
Which Shredder for Your needs?
(you can mail me for a free, personal recommendation)
The paddle will help you push in stringy material but the shredder
is better at long thin branches.
The spinning blade shredders work like a food processor and can handle
soft stems and green foliage as well as long thin woody stems.
This is fine until your blades become blunt, then the cutting
efficiency is reduced and blockages occur and the "shreddings" become
long thin and stringy..
The blades can be sharpened but only a couple of times. Typically
replacement blades cost between £10 and £15 a set.
Wet green material often blunts blades very quickly, also dead hard
wood. Try to shred material whilst still soft and shortly after
pruning.
The crushing cog type shredders are fantastic at
pulling in big woody stems up to 38mm wide as long as you trim the
bottom side shoots off first.
However , crushing cog type shredders are not so
good at handling soft stems and green foliage, as some may pass
through uncut. Which is not really a problem as it will rot down
quickly anyway.
The shredder shown above is the AL-KO SP5000 which
is similar to the Bosch AXT2200HP but more expensive.
If you would rather buy an
AL-KO shredder mail me for a competitive price - please include model
number and your location.
I tested the Flymo and although it worked ok it was not as good as
the Bosch AXT2200HP , but it is cheaper and the feature of folding into the inbuilt
collection box is a clever space saving idea.
AVAILABLE NOW - FOR BOSCH
RAPID SHREDDERS
IMPROVED SWISS MADE
LASER CUT BLADE
Upgrade your Bosch Rapid Shredder with the new
laser cut blade made in Switzerland
lasts up to 70% longer
£12 approx plus delivery
(MY RECOMMENDED Budget shredder)
or same shredder with 200w less power
I also seriously recommend the special collection bag as these new
rapid shredders really spit out the waste and make a mess of
your garden- £7
approx
Fredshed was also affiliated to Argos but has
suspended trading since Argos advertised the cheapest prices on the new
Bosch shredder.
However after a reader alerted me I discovered they
were actually supplying the old AXT 200 model.
I contacted trading standards who made a test purchase
in a different branch and discovered the same thing.
Contact me if you have bought a Bosch shredder from
Argos and are not happy with it- you may have been ripped off with an
inferior machine.
There are still some retailers clearing the
old AXT 180 and 200 models and you can spot these as they don't have a
Swiss flag on the box.
Also if you see a Bosch shredder for sale at prices
significantly lower than you see on fredshed it is highly likely that they
will be graded (second hand) machines. There may be some good ones about
and if you find one good luck to you.
Whilst some products are ok when graded I don't think
shredders are one of them due to the high stresses placed on the
components.
Shredder repair tips
I have taken apart and repaired a number of shredders.
If you buy a shredder with my links I am happy to share my repair
tips with you. Let me know the model and date of purchase.
I may also have some used - recycled Bosch shredder spares.
.
Fred
I wrote a few weeks
ago, just to let you know I did buy the Bosch AXT Rapid shredder
2200. Excellent tool I found that never mind the max size spec if
you can get a bit of newly pruned hedge into it seconds later its
chopped and gone. The output is quite fine 'shredding' for me much
better than the chunks you describe from the silent type.
cheers
Paul
Reader feedback
Hello Fred
Thank you again for your advice on the Bosch
"silent" shredder 2000. Basically, it is a good shredder. It is not
really silent but it is reasonably and tolerably quiet. The
neighbours haven't complained although I was shredding rhododendron
branches for two 2-hour stretches last Sunday - unavoidably near their
windows!
One of its selling points for me is that it pulls
the branches in once the end engages which saves me a lot of energy.
I wish that it would take larger branches as I had to cut off some of
the large ends of the branches and knots which would go in the slot
but could not be cut [I had to reverse them out] but I imagine that
would require a much larger and more expensive machine. As you may
know, rhododendron branches, if they are not regularly cut which mine
were not, become quite curved and twisted when they seek the light and
I was glad to find that the machine can handle twisted branches - they
just turn back and forth in the slot as they are pulled down.
One warning for other buyers is to watch the
collection bag to make sure that there is still space for the cut up
branches to exit the machine. I didn't watch and at one point the
machine stopped and when I investigated I found that the cut up
materials had packed up and jammed inside the machine because they
couldn't exit. Easily solved, however, I just tilted the machine up
and pulled out the jammed materials and subsequently paid attention.
The machine does work very fast and the collection bag fills up
quickly.
I was a bit disappointed at the size of the cut-up
pieces which I had expected to be smaller. I had intended to use the
cut branches as a mulch but the rather large chucks of wood don't look
like a very good weed-preventing mulch. Could you tell me whether or
not I have to compost the wood for a year or so before I can use it
for an effective mulch?
Sylvia Mann - Tonbridge Wells, March 05
Answer to question, I don't but I think some wood
like conifers does leach acidic residue.
Reader feedback
Hi Fred,
I was interested to read your
shredder review. I have owned a Bosch AXT2000 cog-type crushing
shredder for around eight years now, and I'm very impressed with it.
It has done a lot of shredding and
still works as well as it did when new. Obvious good points are that
it self-feeds and is pretty quiet. Less obviously, it is fairly tall,
so there's room for a very large bucket under the chute, which is
handy when you shred as much as I do.
It is not too good at dealing with
soft growth - as it can get choked up with mush - but to be fair,
that's not what it is designed for.
The build quality is amazing; it
really is made to last, and that goes a long way to justify its fairly
steep initial price. Although spare parts must be rather expensive,
the AXT2000 has never required any repairs at all. Over eight or ten
years the TCO is very reasonable.
Regards,
Mike. (Micheal Bishop -May 2005)
Hi Fred, thanks for all your
help. Amazon were great. Received the AXT2000HP from them
yesterday. Only took a few minutes to assemble and get it working.
So far I am really impressed. Its easy to use and not as noisy as I
was expecting. Brilliant. Thanks for everything.
Take care,
best regards,
Gill
Gill Gardner Eire Aug 05
Hi Fred
Just to let you know I used my new Bosch AXT2200
quite a bit over the
weekend and am very pleased with it. The only
drawback - which is obvious
really - is that with evergreen shreddings, Eleagnus
in this case, the
output isn't really suitable for mulch right away.
This is because it
contains a lot of more or less intact leaves which
would blow around the
garden. Best to let it rot for a while first I
think.
Thanks again for the very helpful advice.
Regards Hugh
Hugh Ruddle April 06
The Honest Truth -
Do I know of any problems with Bosch Shredder?
Yes - but mostly small ones -
The silent shredders have been in production for
many years and remain unchanged. The problems that have occurred are
largely down to users trying to put oversize branches, wire, soil or
stones in the machines. Most problems occur with the AXT2000HP. The
AXT2200HP is virtually "bullet proof".
The cheaper AXT rapid shredders were introduced in
2004 and are solid and robust. I have abused one constantly in my
testing and as long as the blades are kept sharp it performs very
well. Initially some were shipped with factory induced faults, and
became blunt very quickly. A new Swiss made blade is now available
that Bosch claim lasts up to 70% longer.
Getting the blade off an Bosch rapid shredder is
easy if you make sure the spinning part is locked in place with a
thick screwdriver or bar before you try to undo the hex bolt. The
Allen key supplied is a bit small and will probably need a bit of
encouragement with a hammer.
The Bosch websites do contain a lot of
information but are hard to navigate. I have pointed this out to them
and some improvement resulted.
You can also ring the Bosch Garden customer care line on
0844 736 0108
Bosch Service Centre Robert Bosch Ltd.
P.O. Box 98
Broadwater Park
Denham, Middlesex
UB9 5HJ
Any machine in mass production will occasionally
suffer from manufacturing errors. In my experience these are very few
in the case of Bosch shredders and more importantly I don't know of
any design errors.
My research has discovered the following problems..
AXT200 rapid - a batch sold in Argos had blades that
were not tempered properly and were too soft - Bosch replaced them for
my readers and gave advice on forum webpage. Some readers have
complained of blades losing sharpness after very short periods of use.
NEW SWISS LASER CUT BLADES NOW
AVAILABLE
AXT200 rapid - faulty switch from new-manufacturing
error
batch of blades not hardened properly - now obsolete
AXT 180 - reader broke the plastic top cover- this
was caused by trying to pull through too large a branch with a hard
knot - solution - cut of knots and tough protrusions before feeding
onto shredder.
Both the above machines now replaced by new
models made in Swizterland
AXT 1600 HP Quiet Shredder- reader damaged blade
with wire that was attached to branch - my advice - take care when
feeding branches - also do not eat glass, nails carpets and
other items that may damage your stomach.
AXT2000HP Quiet shredder - clogging caused by
bucket under shredder filling up and not allowing "shreddings" through.
solution - empty bucket.
damage to spiral blade -probably wire or stones.(most
common problem)
damage to plastic cover - caused by thick knotted
branch
faulty switch mechanism
AXT2200HP - breakage of £16 plate that presses on cog - unknown
cause, most likely oversize and knotty wood. No other faults reported,
one delivered minus axle but replaced by supplier.
What comes out of your Bosch Shredder?
These are the "chunkings" from a Buddliea that went
through my test model AXT2200HP shredder. The spiral cutting AXT1600HP
and AXT2000HP produce similar large size chunkings.
You will notice that the
pieces are quite large and some soft green leaves got through
relatively unscathed.
If you shred woody material these large "chunkings" make excellent
weed suppressing mulch that will take ages to rot down. If you want
small chippings to compost quickly then best get another type of
shredder.
My personal opinion is that it is more environmentally
friendly to let soft material rot naturally in a well made compost
heap- if you have the space. Just shred the woody stuff and keep
anything over 40cm thick for firewood.
Chunkings from Quiet Shredders
If you want smaller chippings or you want to shred
softer green material the RAPID shredders are for you.
My top tip is
to shred material shortly after pruning and try not to stuff too much
in at once.
Impact shredders will give stringy "shreddings" if you put too many
twigs down together, or the blades get blunt. If you want fine,
even shreddings, then single long stems are the best provider of this.
The image below shows the 9 blades found on Makita
Garden shredders. There are 2 models, one electric and one petrol - both
cut up to 50mm and are built to last.
A bit of preparation is essential for easy, fast
shredding. Firstly have loppers and secateurs at hand to trim off side branches
and knotty wood. This will not only make shredding faster and easier
but will help to prevent unnecessary strain on your shredder.
SUPERB LOPPERS TO PREPARE BRANCHES
FOR SHREDDING
These Wilkinson sword Powegear bypass loppers. geared loppers are the most
robust and reliable loppers I have used in the last 10 years.
Made by Fiskars in Finland the simple gear mechanism gives them extra power and makes cutting
easier. If there were trees on the moon these would be the loppers used
by NASA!
They are made of a
new lightweight but super strong material called "fibrecomp"
and give a clean cut up to 45mm.
If you want telescopic loppers my recommendation is these Wolf ones. (I
have owned and tested dozens of loppers in the last 15 years)
The Wolf Telescopic loppers are made in Germany and like all the best
loppers have oval section handles for ultimate strength.
What sets them apart from cheaper telescopic loppers is the durable and
rapid sliding handle adjusters. I have owned this pair for 10 years and
given them a lots of use - and only lightly sharpened the blade once.