Makita UD2500/2 240V Electric Shredder

Good quality shredder which works well although it blew a fuse the first time I tried it - presumably a bit stiff and new. Good price and quick delivery, even to the Isle of Wight. Like all so-called 'silent shredders' it does not like lots of green leaves and can clog but it chomps its way though quite thick branches with no problem. These are cut into small chunks rather than chipped or shredded but the overall result still make a reasonable mulch and it avoids having frequent bonfires. Addendum: some adjusters are apparently set too tight. Slacken off before using and then re-adjust when running. Further addendum: Shredder packed up third time I used it. Howe tools kindly sent a replacement before I returned the old one (at their expense) - very good service although there was quite a lot of work disassembling the old one and packing it up, then assembling the new one. The new one worked really well twice but has now stopped working so I must conclude, very sadly, that these shredders are not up to usual Makita quality.

Worked really well on a very mixed lot of tree branches, mainly pine some laurel, a lot of it green, some of it very wet. We just had one problem with it - the safety catch on the bin that prevents the thing running without the bin in place. This was fine for the first couple of bin-fulls but then wouldn't latch. We pratted around for ages trying to get it to work again, occasionally succeeding but then failing again with each bin-full. However, the trick is, per the instructions, that it really does need to be on flat ground. When we put it on the flat it worked perfectly each time. Doh.

This was a nightmare from the start. It took two people to fight with it to get all the parts out that were jammed solid in the collection box. Very poor packing method for sure. I wish that I had just given up at that stage and put it back in the cardboard box and returned it. However, we persevered and, once we had finally freed all the parts, then faced the unintelligible pictorial “instructions” which are useless. Once again we persevered and after well over 3 hours of struggle, including the unpacking, we had a fully assembled and working shredder - but it was all a complete waste of time!!! It was very awkward to manoeuvre so we mostly carried it and it’s mega heavy and unwieldy.The motor ran so we started shredding branches of overgrown privet hedges, plum and pear trees, or so we thought. On checking the collection box, the smallest “bit” was roughly 8” long, but mostly longer, with just little nicks along the length. Hardly suitable for mulching purposes and definitely not shredded. We checked the adjuster and it was on the smallest cut size. Nothing that was put through was too big or too twiggy. I would also mention that the safety catch on the collection box is extremely awkward to use and feels very breakable. When I rang to arrange the return I was asked if I had tried shredding in reverse- seriously?? I now have a Bosch shredder with turbine cutter and am delighted with it, well worth the extra money, no contest, (although I will mention that the first one I received didn’t work at all) it was assembled and running in a couple of minutes and reduced 3 massive piles of branches to nice little mulchable bits in about 3.5hrs with no problem whatsoever. Definitely would not recommend this Makita - it took that time just to assemble it and it then produced the equivalent of firewood!!!

I am unable to review this shredder as it proved impossible to unpack. The parts which require assembly come packed in the shredder box but this was jammed partly shut so I could not remove them. Eventually the seller arranged a return and refund but I was a bit disappointed to have to file a claim with Amazon in order to do this. My impression was that the build quality was OK for the price but not as good as the old Bosch shredder it was to replace so I did not reorder it . I bought the more expensive Bosch which I am very pleased with.

Bought this to replace an old B&D impact shredder which I seldom used because it was so noisy and constantly blocked. The Makita shredder was easy to assemble. Despite its weight and bulk the two handles on the top make it quite easy to manouvre. When running it is quiet, with the noise levels still reasonable when shredding. I used it to dispose of the prunings from an overgrown hazel which it did in a couple of hours. Cutting and bagging that amount for the tip would have taken all day, plus the shreddings were used to surface a path, so double win. Did block a couple of times when I let the collection basket get too full, but the reverse facility soon cleared it. Delighted with it.

Great bit of kit

Tried to find video reviews of this and struggled so took a chance and bought it. I was not let down, this will chew through any thing that will fit through the hole (45mm). It says to trim the off shoots of the branches first and remove leaves but i just shoved it in not once did it jam up. I hacked about 10 trees over a weekend and really put this through its paces. The only complaint i would have is the locking slide bar for the safety cut out on the collection box can be a bit fiddly.

does not shread, it chops, like cotton reels