Buying Guide
Buying Guide
Use this handy guide to help you make the right choice of shredder, paper shredder or shredding machine for your specific needs. Asking yourself these questions will help to ensure that the machine you purchase best suits your requirements. Make sure you take into consideration all the aspects shown. Alternatively of course, you can call one of our team at standard rates on 01225 690700 for assistance.
How would you best describe your daily usage?
Light Duty: Up to 50 sheets per day, a Home Office or Small Office shredder should be adequate for your needs.
Light - Medium Duty: Up to 150 sheets per day, a Small Office shredder should be adequate for your needs.
Medium Duty: Up to 400 sheets per day, a Departmental shredder would be best suited to your needs.
Heavy Duty: 400 sheets or more per day, a Heavy Duty shredder is strongly recommended for this level.
How sensitive or confidential is your waste?
There are two types of cut available from our range of shredders: strip cut or cross cut (also known as confetti cut). The more confidential your waste the smaller the pieces/particles it should be shred in to. If security is important to you, opt for a cross cut machine. If your material is of a highly sensitive or top-secret nature then go for one of our High Security shredders. More guidance on this topic can be found on our page: Which Security Level?
Will you need to destroy CD's, DVD's or Floppy Disks?
If so, you should consider one of the machines in our Multimedia section.
How much waste capacity do you need?
If you are a medium or heavy-duty user you should especially bear in mind the bin capacity of your shredder. The bigger the capacity, the less often it will need emptying. Remember in particular that strip cut waste takes up typically three times more space than cross cut, so if you don't want to have to empty your machine frequently go for the biggest bin possible and opt for cross cut if you can.
What width of paper do you need to shred?
All the shredders in our site will cope with A4 paper as a minimum, but if you need to shred A3 paper on a frequent basis or perhaps you produce print outs on wide format computer paper that need shredding, then you should look for a machine with a minimum feed width of 300mm. A shred width of 300mm or more can also increase productivity when shredding A4 paper as this size can then be shredded in landscape (across its long edge), which reduces the time taken for a sheet to pass through the machine.
Handy Video Guide Courtesy of HSM
This informative video from HSM will also assist in making a decision about what shredder to buy.
The full range of HSM shredders can be found by clicking here.
