GBC Momentum Paper Shredder, X18-12, Super Cross-Cut, P-4, Anti-Jam, 18 Sheets

The Momentum X18-12 is the volume version of ACCO's small Momentum cabinet: eighteen sheets a pass at DIN 66399 P-4, against twelve at P-5 on the otherwise identical M12-12.

ACCO calls the head a super cross-cut, and under DIN that is exactly what it is — a particle of roughly 4 x 35 mm, about 138 mm², sitting inside the 160 mm² the P-4 class permits. It is the standard commercial level for confidential business records, and for most offices that have not been handed a written security specification, it is the right level to buy.

Key Features

• P-4 super cross-cut at approximately 5/32 x 1 3/8 in (about 4 x 35 mm, roughly 138 mm² per particle).
• Eighteen sheets per pass on 20 lb paper — half again what the P-5 M12-12 manages from the same cabinet.
• Shreds CDs, credit cards, paper clips, staples and unopened junk mail, so nothing needs sorting before it goes in.
• Active Sensing Anti-Jam Technology, which reads the stack on entry and prevents an overload rather than recovering from one.
• Nine-inch throat for letter, legal and A4 unfolded.
• Twelve-gallon pull-out bin on castors.
• Auto sleep mode to cut standby draw.
• TAA compliant, two-year warranty, 63.7 lb.

Specifications

ACCO does not publish a decibel rating or a motor wattage for any Momentum model, describing the range only as ultra-quiet, so those rows are omitted. The store's supplier data listed this model's cut type as micro-cut; ACCO's own product page calls it a super cross-cut, and the particle geometry agrees with ACCO, so we have corrected it.

What's in the Box

Shredder on its 12-gallon castered bin, with power cord and operating instructions. Bags and oil are ordered separately. ACCO publishes no bag part number for the 12-gallon Momentum bin, so we have not invented one. Shredder oil is part 1760049.

Who Should Buy This — and Who Should Not

Buy the X18-12 as a general-purpose office shredder for a team of three to six people. Eighteen sheets a pass is enough that nobody feeds it a page at a time, the anti-jam sensing means it recovers gracefully from an over-optimistic handful, and the ability to take discs and cards as well as paper means it is the only destruction device the room needs.

Do not buy it if a policy names P-5 or micro-cut. The M12-12 is the identical cabinet with a finer head and is the direct substitute, at the cost of six sheets a pass. Do not buy it if the throat is too narrow for your paper — at 9 inches it will not take ledger or A3, and the X26-32 with its 12-inch throat and 32-gallon bin is the model for a department with mixed sizes. And if you want the same P-4 cut in a smaller, cheaper package for one desk, the X20-07 uses a 7-gallon bin on the same security level.