Formax FD 8500SC Strip-Cut Paper Shredder

The FD 8500SC is a powerhouse of a shredder, featuring an AC-gear motor running at a speed of 33 feet per minute. It claims to have a sheet capacity of 22 pages a pass, and our testers found that it met that mark with relative ease (you may or may not quite get the same results, depending on your power supply, the thickness of the paper you are shredding, and the relative humidity in your geographical region). The cutting heads of the FD 8500SC are made of high quality solid steel, and are under manufacturer's warranty for the life of the machine, which is something anyone can appreciate. We also liked that the feed opening is extra wide at 16 inches, and will handle the most common paper sizes, along with larger custom sizes such as green-bar computer paper.

We enjoyed the FD 8500SC's user-friendly control panel which gave us the choice of manual operation or a very handy "walk away" mode that uses electronic sensors to start and stop the machine. That means you can simply place your documents in the feed opening and go on about your business. The panel is easy to read and understand so there is never any confusion as to what the operational mode of the machines is at any given time. Perhaps the best feature of all, however, is the load indicator that helps the user prevent overfeeding the machine.

It's always important for a machine that is going to see use from a lot of different people that there be some safety features. We were impressed by what the FD 8500SC has to offer in that regard. There is automatic shut off if the feed bag is full or the bin door is open, and if there is an accidental paper overfeed, the motor switches into reverse mode automatically in order to prevent a paper jam. There's also a self-contained circuit breaker to prevent electrical system overload.

All shredders cutting heads need periodic oiling and the FD 8500SC is smart enough to let you know when to do it. You can even purchase the optional oiling system, which makes the process as simple lowering a pump handle. The FD 8500SC also features a self-cleaning mode, which runs the machine in reverse for a short time to clear the heads of collected paper shavings. Also making maintenance easier is the FD 8500SC's computer that records your usage info and can display it to service technicians.

The FD 8500SC is a powerful shredder, but it is important to note that it is, after all merely a level 2 strip cut machine, and thus does not offer you a very high level of document security. If you need a machine to shred documents containing information you consider confidential (and that is FACTA-compliant) you might want to check out Formax's FD 8500CC which offers similarly high capacity along with cross-cut shredding security.