Review:
I’ve used this chipper a few times now in tropical east/central Florida to keep organic matter on my lot where I grow trees and bushes “food forest” style.
The engine has a very heavy pull to start (and it doesn’t like starting, especially when hot). I’m in my 30s and fairly fit but I’ve tweaked my back trying to get this thing started. My best luck is when I use full choke and 3/4 throttle with both hands
pulling the cord. The chipper isn’t all that heavy which means it wants to tip over when pulling the starter cord. I’ve resorted to positioning the chipper on a little slope so the cord gets pulled uphill where it’s less likely to tip over.
Once started, it’s very loud when running at full throttle so ear protection is definitely required. It does auto-feed pretty well and chips 2” oak or other hard woods just fine. Bigger pieces need to be fed in a more controlled manner. It gets worse when
chipping soft and watery material. I have some Areca palms that chip fine but the chips start plugging the holes in the exit screen. Running one palm followed by a piece of dry hardwood works to clear the holes. I’ve even modified the screen to turn each pair
of holes into a slot to allow larger material to pass. This helped a little but it still much prefers harder material. Ironically, I could go all day with an electric harbor freight chipper on Areca palm fronds.
The shredder hopper is a decent size at ~6”x4.75” at the bottom. The guards make the shredder pretty useless though. I ended up removing the rubber flap and leaving the plastic piece. This allows decent access straight down the chute to throw material
in while it prevents some of the ‘regurgitation’ of material out the chute. Either way, eye protection is necessary. I’ve stalled the engine several times with material in the hopper. It grabs it and pulls it in very quickly and even soft material bogs the
engine for a second. When you combine the ease of stalling when using the hopper the difficulty of a hot restart, it makes this product pretty useless at shredding the material that came off my hedges following a hedge trimmer.
Overall, it’s a decent chipper for the homeowner and a below average shredder. I feel it’s more oriented towards cooler climates where you are chipping long pieces of hardwood in the winter that don’t have leaves.