Types of Electric Garden Shredder

If you are confused by all the names and types of electric garden shredder on the market – take heart – you are not alone.

We have done more detailed explanations of the different sorts of technology used in separate posts – please follow the links if this is what you need.  This post is meant to provide a quick overview.  Hopefully, the information on this page will be enough for most people.

Main types/categories

There are just 3 main types of electric shredder on the market:

The Turbine Cut is in a category of its own.  The technology deployed is proprietary to Bosch and is almost certainly covered by several patents.

The table below provides a quick overview of the types of shredder and their key characteristics.  If you would like more detailed information just click on the links in the list above.

Types of Shredder Compared

TypeCharacteristicsExamples
ImpactCuts with high speed rotating blade
Copes well with most sort of clippings but is best suited to smaller, green waste
Moderate throughput - typically less than 100kg/hr
Relatively light weigt - around 10-15kg
Very noisy - 105-110dB
Relatively cheap		Bosch AXT2200
The Handy
Einhell GH-KS
Draper 35900
Quiet Cuts with a slower speed cog wheel/striking plate mechanism
Cog teeth dig into the clippings and force them against the striking plate. The rotation of the teeth pulls the clippings through the machine creating a 'self-feeding' mechanism
High throughput - upto 200kg/hr
Heavy - 32kg
Quiet - 82-89dB - around one eighth the noise level from impact shredders		Gude 94375
Makita UD2500
Cobra QS2500
Turbine CutProprietary to Bosch. See our detailed guide for an explanation of the cutting mechanism.
Excellent for all sorts of clippings.
Very high throughput - 230kg/hr
Heavy - 30.5 kg
Quiet - around 89dB
Bosch AXT 25TC
It's the only one.

Impact shredders are the most commonly bought shredder. Why not take a look at our roundup review of the 5 Best Impact Garden Shredders for a little inspiration?