Aurora AU1230XA Anti-Jam 12-Sheet Crosscut Review

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.

Performance Comparison

Shredding Quality

During our shred testing, we pay special attention to the security of the shred size and shape, the load or paper stack capacity, and junk mail shredding capabilities. We also note the general reliability and robustness of each shredder. This budget-friendly option does pretty well, but it cannot measure up to some of the pricier options in our test suite.

The level of security a shredder needs to provide ranges depending on what you're shredding. If you're looking for an at-home shredder for your annual taxes, you probably don't need to turn every document into confetti, rendering the cross-cut perfectly suitable. 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.

This device claims to shred stacks up to 12 pages thick. We are sure to push the limits during our testing to find each shredder's true limits. The Aurora 12-Sheet easily shreds 12-sheet stacks and has no problem tacking on a lucky number 13 but struggles. 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

We attack our speed metric from a few different angles. First, we test to see how quickly each model can shred through one sheet, followed by a timed 20-sheet shred. Lastly, we shred for a continuous 60 seconds to see how many pages each model can chew through.

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.

Ease of Use

Ease of use can play a huge role in how often you utilize your shredder. The user interface is the biggest factor here. Intuitive error codes, easy-to-load shredders, and readable buttons are examples of a few attributes we keep an eye out for. Emptying the trash basket and the size of the trash basket also contribute to the overall user-friendliness.

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

The noise these shredders emit may or may not affect your purchasing decision, but it is an important factor for most. You don't want to be on the receiving end of dirty looks in the office for having the squealing shredder. If you're the work-from-home type, you may have roommates or sleeping children that would appreciate a less intrusive-sounding device.

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?