Eliet shredders

[dogman]

Got my major 4s on Tuesday, used it yesterday, for me its a joy to use, it reduced a major garden reduction down to nothing, it did about 2hrs work, over 2 jobs, chipping stuff up to about 1.5", with no issues at all, but the ability to eat the small stuff is amazing, & chops it up in to a fine mulch, for me as a gardener its superb & earned me £350 in to the bargain

The only draw back with it I can see is that it chops stuff up so fine that I could easily overload my trailer. I will be using it again this after noon to deal with a big hedge reduction.

 

Rob

[BlakeWaters]

ELIET SHREDDERS see this

[dogman]

ELIET SHREDDERS see this

 

That's more than I paid for mine.

 

Rob

[ccharlie]

I know that I'm dragging up an old thread; however, having had an Eliet Major 4S on hire this week I thought I'd post a review.

 

The shredder is compact enough to fit through a doorway but at 90kg it's a heavy and top heavy machine that makes it unwieldy to move about. With only two wheels there's a knack to tilting the machine up so that the weight is on the wheels, before moving it where you need it to be. But (and this is a massive but) if that place is up a steep hill then it is very awkward and sometimes impossible to get it there, at least without using a vehicle. The weight being spread across only two wheels means that you are prone to getting stuck if you have to move it through soft/boggy ground or through the shredded pieces you've just produced. Towing it without a trailer requires some novel strapping techniques.

 

Our shredder came with the top spout so that you can direct where the shreds are being sent. In three full days of use this spout has got blocked once and it is quite a pain to unblock. The main cutting section has got stuck six times, mainly on our first day when we'd let a 2" branch go straight in and it would jam. Now, on anything over 1.5" I hold onto the branch and slowly feed the fat end in bit by bit. The reverberation whilst doing this can be horrible.

 

There's no automatic feeding mechanism on the 4S so most of the time you've got to push stuff in (the feeder section is pretty much horizontal) although the machine normally pulls the last two foot of material in.

 

We've been shredding small trees, branches and leaves. The shreddings produced range from 0.5"-4" in length and are all thin pieces. The resulting compost piles are now super hot inside so the machine is doing something right from a compost point of view.

 

Our local vendor in Torquay rents the 4S out for £120 for 5 days.

 

Pro's:

- Small

- Tackles all small pieces of wood or plant matter.

- Petrol consumption is ok.

- produces great material for composting.

- The construction feels solid.

 

Con's:

- Stalls quite frequently.

- Unblocking it can be time-consuming and very frustrating (but you get quicker each time you do it).

- Noisy

- Difficult to manoeuvre on slopes or soft ground.

- Small side branches have a knack of getting stuck in a small corner at the top of both sides of the feeder shoot which stops the whole branch from going in.

- Very top heavy (I wouldn't want to load one into the back of a van).

 

Would I buy one? I'm really not sure. The faults are enough to make me question the price tag. Maybe it's worth spending a grand or two more for a Prof so that you have four wheels and an automatic feeder...

Edited June 26, 2016 by ccharlie