Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 – Electric Shredder

Bosch AXT Rapid 2200

Judging by the Amazon reviews the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 is just about the most popular Electric Garden Shredder in the UK.  It has received over 120 customer reviews with 90% plus being positive – that’s more reviews than all the other shredders sold on Amazon put together.  As one of the reviews puts it – “This Machine is the best one I have had”.

A Which review in November 2007 claimed it was, “the most efficient garden shredder we have ever tested”.  For me the fact that this shredder has been on sale since 2007 is also a testament to its popularity and reliability.  If it wasn’t any good Bosch would have pulled it off sale long ago.

Click Here to Buy the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200

So that’s it then?  With reviews like that there is no choice to make – the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 – Electric Shredder is the only one worth buying.

Not quite.

Let’s consider the good and the bad but first – some technical details.

Technical Details

• Fitted with 2200 Watt Bosch ‘PowerDrive’ motor
• Patented large capacity hopper for quick and easy feed
• Practical plunger for increased material throughput
• 40mm high precision laser-cut, twin edged blade, reversible for extended life
• Exceptionally fast blade speed – 3650 rpm
• Fitted with motor overload/restart protection
• Lightweight with wheels for easy transportation
• 2 years parts & labour guarantee
• 90kg/h material throughout
• 4 meters of cable
• Weight 12kg

The Good

The AXT copes with a very wide range of garden waste.  Even pretty big branches, right up to the claimed 40mm upper limit, are efficiently chopped into 1mm chips ideal for composting.  We’ve fed it a mixed diet of laurel, leylandii, apple, bramble, elm, plum, beech, rose, holly and pyracantha.  Everything gets chopped up neatly and efficiently.  Even the thorny stuff like brambles, holly and the particularly vicious pyracantha are reduced to such small pieces that the thorns are no longer an issue and the shredded waste is safe to handle.

The blades spin so fast that blockages are few and far between.  It will happily run for a couple of hours pretty much continuously and the only time blockages came was when we fed it clusters of very leafy branches.  Luckily the blockages are easily cleared so you can continue your shredding pretty quickly.

Other users comment that the Bosch AXT Rapid will block more quickly as the blades become blunt.  Keeping the blades sharp is an obvious requirement for maintaining optimum shredding efficiency.  The reversible blades mean that you can be back up and running quickly even once the blade becomes blunt.  However, the blades are not meant to be re-sharpened and once you have reversed the blade it will need replacing at a cost of £15 to £20.

While ear defenders are recommended the machine is not overly noisy in operation.  You are not likely to be damaging your hearing even with reasonably long exposure.  Obviously it gets noisier while it is chopping wood.  You might like to consider a quieter model if you have particularly sensitive neighbours.

There’s practically no assembly to do so you will be up and running in next to no time.  Most users claim they have the shredder out of the box and in use within about 5 minutes.

One of the most common questions we are asked about garden shredders is “what power rating should I go for?”  As we mention on our home page – Garden Shredder Review – there are more factors at play than simply the power of the motor.  However, there is no doubt that this shredder is more than powerful enough, perhaps due to the 2200 Watt Bosch ‘PowerDrive’ motor, to cope with anything that you are likely to throw at it.  Even with pretty large branches being fed the shredder doesn’t slow down that noticeably.

While no lightweight the Bosch AXT Rapid is certainly lighter than many of its competitors (and almost 20kg lighter than it’s younger stable mate – the AXT 25D) so you can get it in and out of your car pretty easily if needed.

We’ve already mentioned that the Bosch AXT Rapid has been around for a while.  It was designed and constructed to last – a particular Bosch trait.  Where problems do occur Bosch’s customer service is second to none.  You really can’t go wrong.

Click Here to Buy the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200

The not so good

About the only thing regularly criticised about this machine is some people complain about short blade life.  There are a minority of users that claim it is only fit for light duties and the blade will still go blunt far too quickly.

Looking after the blades is the key to getting good performance from any impact shredder.  You need to take care to avoid any abrasive material getting into the shredder (soil or small stones etc) as these will blunt the blades very quickly

The Bosch comes with “double sided, laser-cut precision blade delivers approximately 7 times more cutting power than conventional blade shredders”.  No idea what this means other than the double sided bit.  That means that you can turn the blades over and get twice the cutting life out of them.

When customers have complained to Bosch about any problems they all seem to have had their shredders replaced quickly and without question.  Bosch is renowned for their customer care.

Cable length is an umimpressive 4m.  For most practical purposes you are likely to need to use an extension lead.  Remember, that 2200W motor uses a fair bit of current.  You will need a heavy duty, 13amp fused, outdoor extension lead.  It’s a minor inconvenience but an inconvenience nevertheless.

Unlike the crusher style shredder the AXT 2200 doesn’t suck branches in – you need to feed them in by hand.  While this is not a major problem it can be a little slow and frustrating to use.  Conversely, impact shredders tend to be faster than crushers so what you lose on the time to feed you may well gain on the speed of shredding.

Bosch provides excellent customer service.  Complaints are dealt with quickly and several users comment on getting replacement models very quickly when they reported problems.

Should you buy it?

With the overwhelmingly positive reviews it would be difficult to advice anyone not to buy the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200.  The few quibbles are all around blades becoming blunt too quickly but there is some suggestion that Bosch had had a bad batch of blades which is now fully resolved.

Possibly the only questions are “Is your garden waste predominantly woody” and, “Do I want a quieter self feeding model?”  If so, take a look at our Bosch AXT 25 TC quiet shredder review.

Click Here to Buy the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200