Pros & Cons
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- Shreds optical discs, paper clips, staples, and plastic cards, as well as paper.
- Solid speed, paper-feed capacity, and duty cycle.
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- Pricey for its capabilities.
With solid speed and a large basket for holding shredded paper, the Swingline SX19-09 Super Cross-Cut Jam Free Shredder ($559.99) is well-equipped to handle the shredding needs of a small or micro office. It can shred optical discs, as well as paper, and has an automatic jam-avoidance system. The SX19-09($320.99 at Amazon) is pricey for what it offers, however. For less money, you could get an auto-feed shredder like the Editors' Choice Fellowes AutoMax 130C Auto Feed Shredder ($301.78 at Amazon) , which can chew through a stack of up to 130 sheets unattended.
Design and Features
The SX19-09 is designed for small-office use by up to 10 people. Black, with rounded corners, it's a tall machine, measuring 24 by 14 by 12 inches (HWD). On top is a 9-inch-wide feed slot, which can handle optical discs, plastic cards, and staples, as well as paper. Also on top of the SX19-09, in front of the feed slot, are three buttons, labeled Rev, Auto, and Fwd. The only other control is the Power switch in back. The paper shreds fall into a 9-gallon basket that you can pull out easily when it needs to be emptied.
Rated to shred continuously for 16 minutes before needing a 40-minute cooling-off period, the SX19-09 can shred for a longer time than the Swingline EX14-06 Super Cross-Cut Shredder ($232.99 at Staples) , which is rated to shred for 8 minutes before having to cool down for 40 minutes. The SX19-09 comes with a two-year warranty.
Performance
The shredder is rated to fit up to 19 sheets at once in its paper slot, but in our testing, it could only handle 16 before the red warning light beside the slot came on. I timed the SX19-09 at 10.1 feet per minute (fpm), a bit faster than its rated speed of 8.2fpm, which is also both the rated and our tested speed for the Swingline EX14-06. The SX19-09 is well off the pace of the Staples 16-Sheet High-Speed Cross-Cut Shredder ($199.99 at Quill) , which we timed at a blistering 14.7fpm.
The SX19-09 is a cross-cut shredder, cutting documents into narrow strips much shorter than the length of a sheet of paper. I measured individual shreds at about 1.25 by 0.16 inches, small enough to provide adequate security for most businesses. Although the shred is small for a cross-cut shredder—Swingline deems it a "super cross-cut" model—it's still larger (and less secure) than micro-cut shredders, such as the Fellowes Powershred 99Ms Micro-Cut Shredder ($417.68 at Amazon) .
Conclusion
The Swingline SX19-09 Super Cross-Cut Jam Free Shredder is capable of handling medium-duty shredding for a small office or workgroup. It's easy to operate, and provided solid performance in our testing. For $230 less, however, you could get the Editors' Choice Fellowes AutoMax 130C, with which you can automatically shred a stack of up to 130 pages, though it can't shred optical discs.
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Final Thoughts
Swingline SX19-09 Super Cross-Cut Jam Free Shredder Review
The Swingline SX19-09 Super Cross-Cut Jam Free Shredder offers solid speed, the ability to shred a variety of material, and a large basket.