Amazon Basics Cross-cut shredder can shred up to 8 sheets of paper at a time, including small paper clips and staples. It has a handle for easily lifting up the shredder head when it's time to empty the 4.1-gallon bin.

The Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut fits that perfect niche where it is small enough to not dominate a small office, yet powerful enough for the occasional big shredding session. It is also inexpensive enough that it won't eat up too much of your home office budget. Because it balances all of those qualities so well, this is likely the shredder we would suggest to most people. There are only two reasons we would advise going with a different model: if you regularly shred stacks of 50+ pages at a time, or if you personally want the added security of a micro-cut model. Otherwise, we think the Amazon Basics 8-Sheet is both a great option and a great value.

The Amazon Basics 8-Sheet offers all of the performance the majority of home offices will need without costing too much.

Performance Comparison

Shredding Quality

The Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut passed all of our shredding tests, earning an above-average score.

Features & Benefits

Can shred up to 8 sheets of paper at a time

Equipped with a handle for easy emptying of the bin

Can shred small paper clips and staples

Has a 3-minute runtime and 30-minute cooldown

Features a 4-mode control switch

Meets security level P-3 standards

First off, the Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut easily handled a stack of its advertised capacity of eight sheets of paper during our hands-on testing. In fact, we were able to push it to a stack of 11 sheets before it started to struggle. It also handled a stuffed junk mail envelope with relative ease, making disposing of those piles of meaningless envelopes quick and easy.

The Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut handled pretty much everything we threw at it with aplomb.

Credit: Laura Casner

Obviously, this model offers a cross-cut level of security. We feel this is plenty of security for most people, as it will take a potential thief a lot of effort and probably a healthy amount of luck to reconstruct any meaningful pieces of your documents. However, if you want over-the-top security, you may want to consider a micro-cut model.

Speed

The Amazon Basics 8-Sheet also performed quite well in our speed testing. It wasn't one of the fastest models but offers more than enough expediency for most home use.

During our hands-on testing, the 8-Sheet Cross-Cut shredder logged a maximum speed of 96 sheets per minute. This makes it faster than most consumer models, with only models meant for small offices offering faster rates. If you generally shred hundreds of pages at a time, you may want to upgrade to one of those more pro-level models. Otherwise, the Amazon Basics 8-Sheet will likely be more than fast enough.

The AmazonBasics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut is impressively fast.

Ease of Use

This is one area where the Amazon Basics earns an average score. It certainly isn't difficult to use but largely lacks any extra user-friendly touches.

First, the good. The 8-Sheet Cross-Cut shredder has a nice handle in the middle that makes moving it around quite easy. Its shredding slot is also designed to make loading paper at an angle easy, which is useful if you want to keep the shredder underneath a desk.

You must lift the shredding unit off the bin in order to empty it.

On the slightly annoying side, you have to remove the entire shredding unit to empty the bin. While this isn't particularly difficult, a drawer-style bin would be much more convenient. The window in the bin is also small, so it can be hard to tell if it's full or not.

Noise

This is the one thing we really don't like about the Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut. During our testing period, we couldn't get over the wretched noise it makes. If you often shred giant stacks of paper in a single go, the noise is likely going to wear on you or those around you.

About this item

• Cross cut shredder turns paper into small pieces (0.2 x 1.9 inches; 5 x 47 mm); meets security level P-3 standards
• Shreds up to 8 sheets of 20-pound bond paper at a time, including staples and small paper clips; 8.7-inch-wide entry
• Destroys credit cards one at a time, through the dedicated slot
• 4 mode control switch (auto/on, off, reverse, forward) and LED status indicators for power on and overheat
• 3 minute runtime; 30 minute cool down; if runs beyond max run time, it automatically shuts off to prevent overheating
• Handle for easily lifting up the shredder head when it's time to empty the 4.1 gallon bin
• Quality tested: as part of Amazon Basics quality inspections, we test every shredder before shipping it, which means you may see some paper shreds from the testing
• Important Note: Do not spray or keep any aerosol products in or around the shredder and do not shred items like metallic credit cards
• Product dimensions: 16 x 1 x 27 inches (LxWxH)

Sha