So, we finally broke down and bought a shredder. We don't have much by way of leaves to deal with - besides, the wind and some unknown soul a long way from us usually takes care of most of what we do have to. So, we are only left with a quick blower and lawnmower job. But we do have prunings from roses that grow like crazy, some shrubs, dinner plate hibiscus, and other miscellaneous stuff. Got tired of cutting and stuffing them into multiple bags, plus the rose thorns are a pain. So we got a Sun Joe CJ603E. It does a great job for what we need and chops stuff down to an inch so long - in fact very short pieces will fall right through sometimes - so we can fill a whole lot less bags with ease. It's not for leaves by any stretch of the imagination. It doesn't make mulch. It's just for volume reduction for disposing of prunings up to about 1 3/4 inches thick. It's not super fast but perfect for what it's designed for. Nothing like the monster we used to have (and needed) down in Oregon, but cost less than $200. It's well made, robust, easy to maneouver and takes up storage space. An excellent special single purpose tool.
