The Bosch AXT Rapid is the best selling blade shredder over at Amazon UK. It has sat at the top of the chippers, shredders and mulchers category for a couple of years now. For quite a long time, Bosch was the only go to brand in this category. Below we have done a very short summary review of this shredder for those of you who are in a hurry, and simply want the basics.
In addition, underneath that brief summary, is a much more detailed review of this best selling blade garden shredder.
Summary Review
- Best Seller on Amazon UK for blade shredders
- Powerful 2,200 watt motor
- 40 mm diameter feed capacity
- The electric lead is 4 metres long, so will probably need an extension lead for medium to larger gardens
- Weighs 12 Kilograms, but as you can see has wheels for easy movement around gardens and paths
- Comes with the Bosch 2 year parts and labour warranty from date of purchase.
- It is well designed and constructed and also very powerful thanks to the motor and twin blades
- It is not prone to blocking up, unlike many others on the market
Check Amazon UK for Availability - Price when reviewed £220.99 - 84% customer satisfaction based on 2,100+ buyers
Main Review
From the summary review above, you can see that this model will be suitable for most gardens up and down the UK. You don't become a best selling product at Amazon easily.
You certainly will not stay there if people are buying a better product. With all of that said this Rapid 2000 gets a buyer satisfaction rating of 78%. So clearly it is not perfect but generally speaking most buyers think it is good enough.
Let's see what the real life buyers had to say about this shredder. Before we do that have a quick look at the video below.
The Bosch Brand (Gardening)
Bosch are of course a very well known tool brand. Aside from their high quality tools, they also make a wide range of gardening tools. These range from lawnmowers, lawn rakers, verticutters, trimmers, hedge cutters, chainsaws, leaf blowers shredders and multi-tool systems.
They are a German brand and their garden products are very popular with many UK gardeners. They have 40 locations spread across the UK with over 5,000 employees. In the UK they generate annual revenues of around £3.5 Billion, with the UK being their second largest market.
Short 2-Minute Video Review
This video gives you a nice overview of their product and is especially relevant to this product.
First of all, you will notice from the video, that this garden shredder is light and easy to carry around. Even when filled up with chippings or garden waste, it is still easy enough to move.
In addition, the bag attaches easily and quickly. The blades certainly make short work of any branches or twigs. The plastic blade is great for pushing the waste down into the shredder. (Never be tempted to do that with your hands)
In the video you can also see this Bosch shredder deal with a branch around 4 cm thick. That is impressive for a small machine like this one.
BUYER REVIEWS
There are many hundreds of reviews available for this product. Rather than you have to read through all of those, we have summarised the key findings for the buyer's reviews. These are shown below with both the pros and the cons.
What the Buyers Liked
- This shredder did not block up during the feeding process, and that is VERY important
- The blade wears well and is one of the cheapest to replace
- Buyers said that this chopped almost anything and could cut 4 cm thick branches into tiny pieces
- Full assembly takes 5-10 minutes. You have to attach the wheels and the frame, and you are good to go
- 2 -Year warranty on parts and labour
- Lightweight and portable - makes it useful for lifting in and out of the car, or to transport
- You get great customer service from Bosch
- Deals with brambles and bushes really well
What the Buyers Were Not so Fond of
- It is noisy when chopping larger branches so be careful what times of the day you make use of it
- Will snatch if you try and put too much in at any one time.
- A few buyers said that it did not work well with really fresh green material
- A small percentage said the motor burned out when used a lot
- Some buyers said that the process was too slow and wanted something faster.
BREAKDOWN OF BUYER REVIEWS
- The average buyer satisfaction score from online buyers is 84%.
- 59% of buyers give this a 5 star review
- 6% of buyers give this a 1 star review
- Based on 2,100 buyer reviews
Top Tips For Using this Shredder
- Avoid getting soil into the actual blades of this machine as they can cause a lot of damage
- Try and keep the blades sharp - it makes a huge difference
- Clean and dry the blades after use making certain that the machine is not plugged in
- You get a bag that attaches to the base of the shredder. However you can also use a crate if you prefer with handles. Some people used the larger blue bags you get at Ikea. Some people use a recycle bin.
- Clean the interior of the shredder with a hand brush. This is more important if you plan on shredding a lot of green material like leaves and shrubs
- Watch out for "snatching" - this is where the blades grab a branch and tug it into the shredder, use the prodder and wear gardening gloves to avoid any damage to the hands
Bosch Replacement Blade
An important element of buying any product is to know that you can easily get replacement parts for your machine. The one thing that will need replaced at some stage are the blades.
These blade shredders are only effective when you have really sharp blades. Over time, and depending on what types of garden material you are shredding, they will go blunt.
A replacement blade costs around £14, and they are pretty easy to replace. On average, this is not a bad price for these types of blades, and certainly a much cheaper option that replacing the garden shredder.
My Summary & Verdict
Hopefully we have provided you with more than enough information, to be able to make your own mind up. We will also offer our own opinion here, based on what we know.
As blade shredders go the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 Blade Shredder does a really good job. It is light and portable and that makes carrying it or transporting it very easy. If kept clean, and if the blades are kept sharp, then it will last for a long time
The better condition you can keep the blades in, the longer life you will get out of this machine. It can deal with most garden waste but soil and stones should be completely avoided.
It can shred branches up to 4 cm thick if done slowly and one at a time. Over filling can cause jamming. It also does not handle fresh green leaves that well. For most general gardening clean up projects, this shredder is a good tool to have. If you plan on doing larger projects, then we would recommend something tougher.
Likewise if you just want the job done quickly, we would recommend something tougher and more powerful. As a general purpose garden shredder, this will be able to handle small to medium clean ups.
Check Amazon UK - Price when reviewed £220.00 - 84% buyer satisfaction based on 2,100+ buyer reviews
Safety Advice
I would strongly suggest that you always wear heavy duty gardening gloves, ear protectors, and safety glasses or goggles. Those two inexpensive pieces will simply keep your hands and eyes safe and sound.
With any power tool I always recommend an RCD. If you are using an extension lead to plug your shredder into, then I also recommend using the RCD with that as well.That gives you the best protection should anything electrical go wrong.
We hope you found this review useful. If this is not the shredder for you, then click here to see the full list of garden shredders. There are many to choose from, and hopefully one to suit your needs.
