GBC ShredMaster CC195 Proves That Good Looks Don't Make A Great Product

When I remodeled my home office, over a year ago, I found myself lacking enough space to fit a wide-bodied paper shredder. Therefore I set out to find something narrow yet still high quality. GBC has been a leader in paper shredders for quite some time, so when I found the SBC ShredMaser CC195 I didn't think twice about buying it. It is a very nice looking shredder, and its narrow design made for a perfect fit in my office. Now that I have been using it for several months I find myself wishing I had done more research.

First I'll speak about the technical specs of this device. The ShredMaster CC195 is specified as a medium duty shredder (although many sites call it heavy duty), which GBC claims as 50 uses per day or less. The manufacturer's website states that this unit measures 25.5"H x 13.9"W x 9.5"D, but I don't see how they get these measurements. My unit has dimensions of 9" wide, 24" deep, and 25" tall. The device is rather deep and tall but very narrow. It is also important to note that this paper shredder feeds from the top, so you will not want to plan on placing it under a desk or counter of any sort. It is a cross-cut type shredder, which claims to be able to handle up to 15 sheets at a time. I find that the unit easily shreds 10 to 12 sheets at a time, but sometimes jams when I try to load in more than that. The unit can also shred CD/DVD disks, credit cards, staples and paper clips. The shredder cuts your documents into 5/32" x 1 3/8" chips, which are not as small as I had thought they would be. The device has a 9 1/4" paper entry port, and the shredded material is captured in a pull-out, 8 gallon basket/bin. The device has a handy auto On/Off switch (so the unit turns on as soon as paper is inserted), as well as manual forward and reverse feed push buttons on the front. There are a series of LED lights on the front as well, to indicate power, bin open/removed, bin full, overload/jam, and over temp warning. The GBC website states that the unit has casters, for mobility, but mine came with none. The ShredMaster CC195 comes with a 2 year limited parts and labor warranty on the entire machine, and a 5 year warranty on the cutter assembly.

This device is far from quiet, producing a rather loud growling sound when operating. Shredding CDs or DVDs is extremely noisy, adding a seemingly deafening series of cracking and popping noises to the already loud growling sound of the shredder. To shred CDs and DVDs you are supposed to flip a little slotted cover over the large paper feed opening, which prevents large chunks of plastic from flying out of the unit. Flipping the cover is not necessary, but I highly recommend it. I have jammed disks and credit cards into the shredder without flipping that little cover, and I almost always end up with pieces popping up and out of the paper feed opening.

One of the biggest problems with this shredder is how it fills the waste bin/basket. I find that it fills the back portion of the bin very quickly, which causes shredded paper to backup and become packed into the cutting blades. I have to constantly pull the bin out about half way and pull the shredded paper toward the front of the bin. If you don’t do this quick enough you will end up having to reach up into the cutting area, where the blades are, and pull the clippings out of the blades with your hands. I feel this is extremely dangerous and is a very big design flaw by this manufacturer. Using the recommended lubrication sheets does not do anything to prevent this problem.

Emptying the waste bin is also a chore that I never look forward to. I use (and recommend) clear plastic shredder bags, which are designed to fit the CC195. Due to the poor design of the bin itself, as well as a long plastic piece that sticks down on the inside of the shredder, the plastic bad catches of things as you are pushing the bin back into the shredder body. I find that I must use my hand to push the bag down in the back of the bin, to allow proper clearance and to prevent it from catching, bunching, or even tearing while inserting the bin. When removing the bin I often end up with many paper clippings littered on the bottom of the shredder, due to shredded paper falling from the blades as I remove it. To reduce the intensity of this problem I pull out the bin about 1/3 of the way and then reach up and try to pull as much of the paper clippings from the blade assembly as I can before removing the bin the rest of the way. As you can imagine this is a big inconvenience and frustrates me more and more every time I have to empty this shredder. Because of the mess that is created when emptying this unit, I have mounted a DustBuster type hand vacuum near the shredder for cleanup.

Overall I am rather disappointed with the ShredMaster CC195. The noise level is high, and there is just too much user interaction and maintenance needed to keep the shredder working well, not to mention the cleanup hassles that I have to deal with every time I empty the device. However, the device does do a pretty good job shredding paper, optical disks and credit cards, and at the time this model was the only shredder I could find that was narrow enough to fit into the space that I had available in my office. So my rating score can be broken down as follows:

Shredding Performance & Capacity = 4 stars
Maintenance = 1 star
Noise Level = 1 star
Ease of Use = 2 stars
Durability = 3 stars

Due to all of the shortcomings this shredder is plagued with, I cannot recommend it to anyone. It is a very stylish and good looking device, but using it is a rather ugly experience.