The Handy Impact Shredder Review

The Handy Impact Shredder is a mid range rotary impact shredder from The Handy. The Handy sell 2 impact shredders, this one, The Handy THISWB, looks very much like a more expensive Quiet Shredder.

I think that the Handy Impact Shredder is the only Electric Garden Shredder that I have ever seen advertised as suitable for shredding grass, leaves and hedge trimmings. If you have read any of our other reviews, you will know that this is an area in which almost all impact shredders are poor.

The Handy Impact Shredder shreds reliably and is a worthy alternative to the Bosch AXT 2200 Rapid

We are going to take a look at:

• Features
• What’s good
• What’s bad
• About “The Handy”
• Conclusions

We know that there are many people who really don’t like to read the whole review. For you, The Handy Impact Shredder is a robust, if noisy, shredder that does most things well.  Go take a look now on….Had enough review?  Take a look on Amazon now

Technical Details

	Feature	Value	Comment
1	Throughput	Not Stated
2	Motor	2500
3	Shredding Mechanism	Rotary - impact cut	Steel blades. Reversible for longer life
4	Max diameter that can be cut	45mm
5	Collection box capacity	40L	This is fairly low for this class of garden shredder
6	Cable length	3m	3m of cable is pretty mean. In some ways it makes little difference - you need a good, outdoor extension lead
	Rotation Speed	4500	Very fast rotational speed allows for strong impact and shredding. It is going to be noisy though. Expect 112dB and up.
7	Other features	Plunger for safely pushing waste through the shredder
8	Weight	13.8kg	Fairly normal weight for a good impact shredder
9	Guarantee/Warranty	2 Years	0 day returns policy. Needs items to be returned in original packaging and as bought condition. We are not sure this will ever be achievable

What’s Good, What’s not

The Good

The Handy is unusual in that it provides a removable hopper. That’s ideal when you are shredding softer, green waste like grass or leaves. You can place an armful of material in the hopper and use the provided plunger to help it all pass through the shredder.

The shredder will handle branches up to about 30mm with ease. If you want to shred anything much bigger than this you will have to be very patient.

It is light weight. With the provided wheels, you can easily move it to where you need it around your garden.

The Handy Impact shredder has really taken safety into account. You can’t use the machine unless the collection box is securely locked in place. The feed holes are pretty small too so there is no danger of little fingers getting into the machine.

The not so good

As with so many impact shredders, the performance on branches is less than stellar. We don’t know what sort of wood it is tested at shredding up to 45mm in diameter, but we wouldn’t use it for anything larger than 30mm or so.

The shredder does chop very small – that’s great for composting and making the most of the size of the collection box. However, a collection box with a 40l capacity is small and means you will need to empty the box often

The detachable hopper is a good idea but do you really need to shred grass and leaves? For leaves I’d recommend something more like the von haus 3 in1 leaf blower, vacuum and mulcher. For grass, why would you go to the trouble of shredding?

As we mentioned earlier, the Handy is a noisy machine. We haven’t seen any official noise figures but we think this one is up around 115dB. Again, this is common amongst impact shredders. You just need to make sure you use ear defenders.

We can’t say that we are impressed by the limited cable length supplied with this machine. 3m seems very short.

About the Company

Handy was founded in 1938 in Swindon. It’s mission is to supply affordable garden machinery to both domestic and professional customers.

Conclusion

The Handy Impact Shredder is a competent machine. Targeting it as being suitable to shred grass and leaves is a touch of genius. We know that this ability comes up often in our Frequently Asked Questions. For our money, there are better, faster and cheaper ways of reducing and disposing of grass and leaves.

Most customers are happy with the performance of the Handy. If you are going to primarily be shredding smaller, softer garden cuttings, the Handy could be just the machine for you.

If you have ambitions to shred bigger, woody waste you may be better off with the Bosch AXT 2200 Rapid. For larger volumes (bigger gardens) you will be better looking at a quiet shredder.

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Last update on 2024-10-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API