REASONS TO BUY
Speedy
Compact
User-friendly interface
Budget-friendly
REASONS TO AVOID
Difficult to empty
Heavy lid
Medium security
Aurora AU1230XA Anti-Jam 12-Sheet Crosscut Review
A speedy, compact, and intuitive paper shredder, perfect for household use at a price you just can't beat
The Aurora AU1230XA is a speed demon at a price you can't beat.
Credit: Laura Casner
By Hayley Thomas ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ November 18, 2022
RELATED: The Best Paper Shredder of 2025
Our Verdict
With its compact body and budget-friendly price, the Aurora AU1230XA Anti-Jam 12-Sheet Crosscut Paper Shredder is a great option for most households. While it struggles with credit cards, it has no problem with junk mail, and this speedy paper shredder tackles 12-sheet stacks with ease. Its interface is intuitive, and jams are easy to reverse, keeping frustration at bay. The emptying process can be a bit of a hassle, but its compact size, medium-security cross-cut, and low price point make this machine the perfect choice for any home office. Get the skinny on how it stacks up against other top products in our review of paper shredders.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Aurora 12-Sheet Crosscut Paper Shredder is a great budget-friendly shredder for most home offices. It provides average-quality shredding capabilities and medium-security cross-cutting for the casual user.
The Aurora AU1230XA does okay with thick junk mail.
Credit: Laura Casner
Shredding Quality
This budget-friendly option does pretty well, but it cannot measure up to some of the pricier options in our test suite. The Aurora 12-Sheet Crosscut offers a medium security level as the pieces post-shred could be put together more easily than a micro-cut document.
The Aurora 12-Sheet easily shreds 12-sheet stacks and has no problem tacking on a lucky number 13. At 14-sheet loads, the shredder begins to jam. After struggling to unjam and clean out the system, the shredder goes back to functioning without a hitch, as long as you don't exceed 13 pages.
As for junk mail, the Aurora 12-Sheet cuts through envelopes of all sizes with a slight decrease in speed. The size of shredded paper also has a mild variation dependent on envelope thickness. The larger the shredded pieces, the less secure they are.
The general robustness and level of reliability that the Aurora 12-Sheet offers are expectedly average. It clearly struggles with shredding credit cards, made painfully obvious by the noise it makes while attempting to shred them. The output is somewhat varied from mangled but not shredded to cleanly shredded cards, so it is best to check to make sure your card has been efficiently shredded before emptying your basket.
Speed
The Aurora 12-Sheet falls slightly behind our top performers, but we are super impressed with its ability to keep up.
It happily chews through one sheet in just four seconds. It smoothly sails through 20 sheets in 19 seconds with a stack of 12, followed by a stack of eight. Finally, the Aurora comes in hot with a whopping 171 sheets per minute. This outperforms other shredders in the same price range and will definitely make tax season a little less painful.
This shredder is one of the fastest we've have the pleasure of testing.
Credit: Laura Casner
Ease of Use
The Aurora 12-Sheet performs very well here, with the exception of emptying the paper bin. The user interface is intuitive and uncomplicated. Using the clearly labeled slider to turn the shredder on, reverse jams, and turn off is straightforward.
The small window allows the user to see how full the bin is, and the 5.2-gallon wastebasket is compact and easy to store. The biggest drawback here is taking off the heavy lid to dump the bin. Many other models have their bins on drawer slides so the hefty shredder portion of the device does not need to be removed.
Noise
While paper shredders are not known for their soft, soothing sounds, there are some that offer a less jarring and interruptive noise.
Generally speaking, the lower the hum, the less intrusive. Overall the Aurora 12-Sheet is about average when shredding paper and junk mail but sounds quite strained with credit cards.
Should You Buy the Aurora AU1230XA Anti-Jam 12-Sheet Crosscut?
This compact and budget-friendly paper shredder is a great option for the average home user, whether it be for personal finances or your home office. Without costing a lot, it operates reliably to protect your sensitive information.
What Other Paper Shredder Should You Consider?
If your wallet is willing, you can get impressive security from the Amazon Basics 8-Sheet High-Security Micro-Cut for a small price jump. It is a slower machine and cannot handle as many sheets of paper at a time, but the tradeoff for greater protection from fraud is significant for some users.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Compare Aurora AU1230XA Anti-Jam 12-Sheet Crosscut versus top competing products:
—Hayley Thomas
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