The Quartet gbc 1130S Shredder: Four Sheets Is the Limit

I've never been one to do much shredding, but recently I've had more cause and opportunity to shred. I previously discovered that not all shredders are equal, having had major problems with the Fellowes PS80C-2. I fared only slightly better with the Quartet gbc 1130S.


I have successfully shredded a small pile of paper - 5 or 6 sheets at a time - perhaps half of the time I've attempted the task. Although the shredder is supposed to handle 12 sheets of paper at a time, it always jams when I try more than eight pages and can have significant problems with less.

This would be merely irritating if it were possible to extract the partially shredded pages from the shredder, but unfortunately doing so is a major production. There's a rocker switch to control direction at the top of the shredder, but the reverse mode rarely works. Most of the time your jammed paper reverses about an inch and then gets stuck. Unjamming it is difficult at best. On more than one occasion I've ended up with strips of paper flying all over, half pages with streamers flying off the bottom, and paper still stuck within the cutting blades.

Part of the problem is that the paper receptacle inside the shredder isn't a proper bucket, but merely a trash bag hooked onto a basic wire frame at the top. This leads to bags that don't fully open and the need to open up the cabinet, take the paper sitting near the top of the bag, and forcibly shove it down into the bag. I discovered late in the game (after many jams) that doing this will often allow the shredder to continue happily along once you reclose the door. When it works, this is by far the easiest way to clear a jam.

Having the bag on the wire frame can cause another problem too - leakage. If the bag doesn't open properly, it's very easy for the shredded paper to pile on top of the bag then slide off to the sides causing a mess. I've seen it get so bad that the paper strips actually leak out of the cabinet not just the bag.

You'll notice I've said paper strips several times. That's because this shredded merely turns your paper into approximately 3/16" wide strips. There are no secondary crosscuts to make confetti-size pieces. It is possible to reconstruct paper from these strips. If you have legal requirements for shredding this machine probably won't meet them.

Like many shredders, the Quartet automatically senses when paper is fed in, grabs it, pulls it through the blades, and shreds it. Unfortunately it has a lot of trouble sensing paper that isn't 8.5 inches wide. It can take three or four tries before it grabs these papers. If you place smaller papers between sheets of 8.5x11 paper then it shreds the smaller pieces without any problem after grabbing the larger outside sheets. The paper tracks slightly to the left, causing some bunching. Although not nearly as bad as the bunching on the Fellowes shredder, I'm sure the bunching is still responsible for some of the jams.

Two things that aren't responsible for jamming are paperclips and staples. The Quartet has absolutely no problems shredding either. Be aware that if you allow metal bits in your shredder, you won't be able to recycle the paper so you may choose not to shred staples and paperclips anyway.

It can get a little loud when crunching on metal, but most of the time the Quartet shredder is surprisingly quiet. When I walk by the open hallway 20 feet away I can't always tell that it's in use. There's a relatively quiet motor noise while the paper is actually being shredded, but that's it. Even when grinding to a halt because of a jam, the machine is barely audible outside its room.

Unlike most other shredders I've used, the Quartet feeds in parallel to the top instead of perpendicular. This takes some getting used to, but it means you don't have to hold the paper once it catches. It will slide along the top of the shredder as it feeds into the blades. That means less leaning down and less strain on your back and arms.

The Quartet gbc 1130S is black and fairly elegant as these things go. I think it would just barely fit under a standard sized table (I'm not 100% sure; it's taller than the nearby cabinets but they're a little shorter than most tables). If it does fit, the flat loading would allow it to be used underneath without pulling it out but you won't really be able to see what you're doing. That said, the unit doesn't take up that much space so you may be better off just giving it some wall space in a copy room and not have to worry about visibility.

The Quartet gbc 1130S is badly designed and not terribly effective as a shredder. The resulting paper pieces are too large for comfort and certainly too large for legal requirements, it jams a lot, its bagging system is ineffective and causes jams, it doesn't handle non-standard paper sizes well, and just generally has a lot of problems. That said, if you're careful to keep the shredded paper out of the way of the blades and only feed it a few sheets of paper at a time, it does generally do a competent job. Its parallel loading design reduces back strain and it's a very quiet unit. It also handles staples and paperclips, something few shredders do despite their claims. If you're only looking to shred a few sheets of paper at a time, know most of them are stapled together, and have back problems, this shredder may work for you. Most of us should look elsewhere.