Powershred LX200 Cross-Cut Shredder (Black)

The LX200 is the entry point to Fellowes' LX range and the smallest of the three LX models: twelve sheets a pass, a 9-inch paper entry, a 6-gallon bin and ten minutes of continuous running. This is the black finish; the same machine is also sold in white.

What the LX200 gives you over a cheap cross-cut shredder is particle size. The cut is 5/32 by 1/2 inch — about 4 by 12 mm, roughly 48 mm² — against the 150 mm² or so a typical P-4 cross-cut produces. Both sit in DIN class P-4, but one of them leaves fragments three times smaller, and on a desk shredder that is the difference worth paying for.

Key Features

• Twelve sheets per pass on 20 lb paper at DIN 66399 P-4.
• Fine 5/32 x 1/2 in cut (4 x 12 mm, about 48 mm² per particle) — roughly a third the fragment size of an ordinary P-4 cross-cut.
• Nine-inch (230 mm) paper entry. Legal and A4 feed unfolded.
• Shreds paper, credit cards, staples and paper clips.
• Ten minutes of continuous running, with a 15-minute cool-down if you exceed it.
• Six-gallon pull-out bin in a 20.69 x 14.50 x 10.25 in cabinet.
• 20.7 lb — light enough to move between rooms.
• 120 V, 60 Hz, 4.0 A.

A word on the term micro-cut. Fellowes markets the LX200, LX210 and LX220 as micro-cut shredders, and the cut is genuinely fine at 4 by 12 mm. Under DIN 66399, though, micro-cut begins at P-5 and a particle ceiling of 30 mm²; 4 by 12 mm is about 48 mm², which is P-4. Both statements are true in their own terms, but if a policy names micro-cut and means P-5, none of the LX models will satisfy it. We classify by the standard so the machine files correctly.

It will not shred CDs or DVDs. Fellowes' manual for the LX200, LX210 and LX220 excludes optical media explicitly, along with adhesive labels, continuous form paper, transparencies, newspaper, cardboard, laminates, file folders, X-rays and plastics other than credit cards. That is a real limitation of the LX range and it is worth checking against your waste stream before you buy: several cheaper cross-cut machines do take discs, and none of these three do.

Specifications

Sheet ratings are Fellowes' figures for 8.5 x 11 in, 20 lb paper at rated voltage. Fellowes describes the acoustic design as quiet operation but publishes no decibel value for the LX range, so no noise row is shown.

What's in the Box

Shredder with 6-gallon pull-out bin and power cord. Fellowes specifies its own non-aerosol vegetable-based shredder oil, part 35250, applied each time the waste bin is emptied. Aerosol lubricants must never be used in a shredder.

Who Should Buy This — and Who Should Not

Buy the LX200 for a home office or a single desk where the paper is genuinely confidential and the volume is modest. Twelve sheets a pass is enough that you are not feeding it a page at a time, the fine cut is a real security gain over a budget cross-cut machine, and at 20.7 lb it can be moved without help.

Do not buy it if you shred in sessions. Ten minutes of run time and a 6-gallon bin will both run out before a drawer is cleared; the LX210 doubles the run time and takes sixteen sheets on the same bin, and the LX220 manages thirty minutes and twenty sheets with an 8-gallon container. Do not buy it if you need to destroy CDs or DVDs — no LX model accepts them. And if a policy names P-5, none of the LX range reaches it; the Microshred 225Mi is Fellowes' genuine micro-cut machine.