The Royal Orca 3500x a real paper predator.
Written: Apr 02 '01
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Pros: Larger capacity than most homeowner's will need.
Cons: Costs more than most personal devices
The Bottom Line: Great personal machine with capacity to handle almost any situation.
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| TSomes's Full Review: Royal JS500C Shredder |
This review is of the Royal Orca 3500x cross-cut personal shredder.
Unfortunately there is an element of society that thrives on stealing peoples identities for their personal financial gain. What I mean is that the criminal element in today’s society will use bank accounts to support their unsavory life styles. Think this can’t happen to you; well think again.
Last week I was in a meeting and one of the participants told us a story where she got a letter from one of her financial institutions. The letter had contained some blank checks that they hoped she would use. I’m sure you have received your fair share of the same type of checks. Her problem started when the letter arrived open an the checks missing. Someone had stolen the checks and cashed them for several thousand dollars. This time she was lucky and was not held liable for the money that had been drawn out but you may not be so lucky.
After hearing her tale I decided it was time to purchase a new paper shredder; one that cut up my trash mail into small pieces that would be virtually unreadable. Heading out to my local office supply store I went on a mission to find a machine that would make me better prepared to fight any threat from people looking to steal my identity.
What did I find for solutions?
I found many different paper shredders ranging in a wide variety of sizes and prices. In this particular store the upper end machine was around $200.00 and for use by a small business. There were a couple other units between $100 and $200 dollars that were also aimed at the business market.
The units aimed at personal use ranged in price from $20 to $50 dollars. Other than price I had to decide if I wanted a unit that shredded into strips or one that shredded and cross-cut. The cross-cut feature cuts paper into pieces 1/8 by 1 ¼ inches.
Shredders are also rated by how many sheets the can handle at a time. I did not look into the capacity of the business models but the personal models could handle five pages tops.
What did I decide was the solution for me?
I decide upon the Royal Orca 3500x paper shredder. So, now you want to know why.
The Orca 3500x was priced at $49.99 making it one of the upper end personal units. I had not set out to spend that much money but when I compared my options the Orca 3500x was the hands down winner.
The 3500x provides the cross-cutting feature claims it can handle up to five sheets of 20 lb. paper at a time. There were other, cheaper units that offered the cross-cut feature but the waste containers were small and one required that you fold the sheet in half to feed it through.
The Orca comes with its own basket and a document guide. The unit required assembly that took all of thirty seconds. The shredder head is a hefty 13 pounds and measures 2 ¾ X 12 X 5 ¼ inches. The head fits snug on the large hard plastic waste container. The container is approximately 18 inches tall and will hold many, many shredded pages.
One feature I was looking for was a unit that is capable of cutting through staples. The Orca claims it is able to handle staples although it is not recommended.
Under normal operating conditions the Royal 3500x seems to handle sheets of paper with ease. It is suggested that if you run the unit for two minutes continuously you should follow up with a four minute off period. For personal usage this should not be an issue; this unit can eat quite a few sheets of paper in two minutes.
The Orca is equipped with an On/Off switch and an Auto-On option. If the unit becomes heated due to more than two minutes of use or it becomes jammed the power will automatically be shut off.
Overall assessment of the Royal Orca 3500x.
The Orca 3500x may higher cost than some of the other personal shredding devices but it has suited my needs and has given me no problems. In this high tech world where the act of throwing out your trash can cost you money it was worth every penny.
If you are looking for a upper-end personal device give the Royal Orca 3500x a try.
Recommended:
Yes
Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 49.99
Machine age (Months in use): one
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Epinions.com ID:
TSomes
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Member: Tedd Somes
Location: Bolton, CT.
Reviews written: 160
Trusted by: 411 members
About Me:
Just an ordinary guy with opinions on life and the world around us.
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