Pros & Cons
-
- Inexpensive.
- Stylish.
- Compact.
- Wicked-fast shredding, at nearly double its rated speed.
- Small shred size means greater security.
-
- Strictly for light-duty use.
- Noisy.
- No jam protection.
If ever a document shredder could be called stylish, the Swingline Style+ Super Cross-Cut Shredder ($159) is it. Small, with gentle curves and a two-tone, glossy color scheme, it is one model you won't be tempted to stash out of sight when guests are over. Intended as a personal shredder, the Style+ ($100.83 at Amazon) is best for light-duty use. It lacks the capacity to shred large volumes of paper at once, unlike the Fellowes AutoMax 130C Auto Feed Shredder ($301.78 at Amazon) , our Editors' Choice small-office/home-office shredder. But it is inexpensive, lightning fast, and holds more shredded paper than you might expect in its tiny basket. The Style+ certainly has pizzazz, and earns our first Editors' Choice for personal shredders.
Design and Features
The Style+ is small, measuring 14 by 8 by 15 inches (HWD). It can be placed either on the floor or on a table. Its sides are glossy black, while its front, top, and back are glossy white. It is gently curved on all sides. In front, just below the top, is a switch that you can toggle between the different shredding modes: reverse, forward, and on/automatic. Below the switch is the handle for the 3.3-gallon basket. On top is the shredder's 9-inch feed slot.
In addition to paper, the Style+ can shred credit and ID cards. It is also capable of shredding staples and paper clips, but Swingline recommends against it because it increases wear and tear on the cutters, potentially reducing the shredder's lifetime.
The 3.3-gallon basket for catching the shredded paper is the smallest among the shredders we have tested. Most personal and small-office shredders have paper bins with capacities that tend to cluster either around 6 gallons or 9 gallons. But the Style+ can hold more paper than you might think, considering the size of its basket.
There are two reasons for this. One is that the individual paper shreds are small for a cross-cut shredder. (Because of this, Swingline deems this model a "super cross-cut shredder.") The shreds I measured averaged 0.9 by 0.16 inches. The shreds from other cross-cut models we have reviewed have all been longer, measuring 1.2 inches or more in length. The longest I've seen is with the Swingline EX14-06 Super Cross-Cut Jam Free Shredder ($232.99 at Staples) , whose shreds I measured at 1.7 inches. Micro-cut shredders, such as the Fellowes Powershred 99Ms Micro-Cut Shredder ($417.68 at Amazon) , dice paper into even smaller confetti than the Style+. In addition to providing good security for destroyed documents, the Style+'s tiny shreds fit more compactly in the basket, letting you shred more sheets before you need to empty the basket than you would otherwise be able to.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Shredders
Shredders tend to stop shredding and throw up a red warning light as soon as the heap of paper shreds in the basket is tall enough to touch the shredding mechanism. The shreds tend to form a mound that is highest just below the feed slot. Shaking or rocking the basket, or leveling the shredded paper by hand, lets you shred a bit longer, but you will still need to empty the basket before it is filled because of the warning mechanism. Not so the Style+, which lacks jam protection and its inherent warnings. In my testing, it kept on shredding until the basket was packed (about 120 sheets), to the point where it wasn't easy to pull the basket out because it was so filled with paper. Still, you should empty the basket regularly so that it doesn't overfill and potentially jam the shredder, although with the feed slot's low paper capacity and based on my experience, jams should be easy enough to clear.
The Style+ has a modest duty cycle, designed for just 6 minutes of continuous shredding, followed by a 30-minute cool-down period. The Swingline EX14-06 can shred for up to 8 minutes before needing to cool down for 40 minutes, and the Staples 16-Sheet Shredder can shred for 10 minutes before needing 40 minutes of downtime. The Swingline SX19-09 Super Cross-Cut Jam Free Shredder ($320.99 at Amazon) can shred for 16 minutes before needing a 40-minute break.
The Swingline Style+ is louder than you would expect for its small frame. When tested side by side with the Fellowes 99Ms, the Swingline EX14-06, and the Swingline SX19-09, the Style+ was the loudest of the four.
Performance
The Style+ is easily the fastest shredder we have tested, averaging 17.4 feet per minute (fpm), which is nearly double its rated speed of 9fpm. It leaves our next-fastest shredder, the Staples 16-Sheet High-Speed Cross-Cut Shredder ($199.99 at Quill) (14.7fpm), behind in a cloud of confetti. It is more than twice as fast as the Swingline EX14-06, which in our testing matched its rated speed of 8.2fpm.
A downside of the Style+ is that, true to its rating, it can only shred seven sheets at a time. I was able to shred eight sheets with the Style+ in my testing, but it was very labored toward the end. The EX14-06 shredded up to 16 sheets at once in our testing, and the Staples 16-Sheet Shredder chewed through 20 sheets at once. The Style+ lacks the jam protection found in many of today's shredders, but when I induced a jam (by trying to shred 11 sheets at once), it was easy enough to clear by putting the shredder in reverse and pulling up on the paper.
Conclusion
The Swingline Style+ Super Cross-Cut Shredder is the Chihuahua of the document-shredder world: tiny, cute, loud, and fast (at least for short runs). It lacks the auto-feed capability of the Fellowes AutoMax 130C Auto Feed Shredder, our Editors' Choice for small-office shredders, or the paper capacity of the Staples 16-Sheet Shredder, but it's easily the fastest shredder we have tested. The Style+ is built for light-duty use, and is an excellent fit for a home or for personal use in an office. It earns our Editors' Choice for personal shredders.
Best Shredder Picks
Final Thoughts
Swingline Style+ Super Cross-Cut Shredder Review
The Swingline Style+ Super Cross-Cut Shredder is small, stylish, and lightning fast, and it holds more shredded paper than you might expect in its tiny basket.