Started right up and works fine, integrated handle is low making it awkward to move. Assembly was ok - various size wrenches needed.

My wife and I own some land and a cabin in the mountains of Virginia. In 2009 I bought a brand name chipper - shredder that has a bag and tow bar, and is rated to accept pieces up to 2" in width. I paid about $900 for this machine. It does not easily chip any limbs and never has. I've used it to mulch leaves in the fall, which it does very well, and I've enjoyed using the mulch. This summer I decided that there are places on our property that have limbs down that need to be cleaned up. The chipper I had would not grind them and I didn't want to have to burn them. I was tempted to order and try a chipper - shredder that is advertised in one of my magazines, but I decided to do a Google search for the best rated chipper - shredders. This one came up with every search, so I decided to try it. Here's my evaluation so far. It was easy to assemble, but I will mention that some of the nuts and bolts that were supposed to be loosely attached were loose in he box. Fortunately, they were all there. You need to know that you will need to add oil, and I used ethanol free gas because I had seen that recommendation and I've been doing that with most of my power equipment. The engine started on the first pull. So far I've chipped enough branches, some of which were at least 2" in diameter, to fill a good size garden wagon. This little machine pulls the limbs in and "spits them out" with ease. It is such a change from what I have been using it's just amazing. This machine is much smaller and lighter than my old one (which is for sale if anyone is interested), and much easier to move from location to location. The tow bar is extra and I have not decided to make that purchase yet. The only trouble that I have moving it from place to place is that the handle bar is low and I have to bend over to be able to pull it. I'd like to figure out a way to make something that I could attach to make pulling it easier. The good news is, however, that it is very light compared to what I had been pulling around, so I may just learn to live with that small inconvenience. Overall, with somewhat limited use, I give this item a 5-star rating. It had done everything it is rated to do. If that changes I'll post again.

I would have waited until I fired the thing up, but just to start, it arrived on time and the assembly was fairly straightforward. A few notes. Missing two small washers which could be critical, because they lock the final piece onto the exit chute. If the nut drops off during operation, it will drop into the blades. Also, the assembly instructions were written by a non-native speaker of English, so be careful. These are really sloppy and minimal. It provoked one error that made me backtrack. Put the largest washers onto the axle before you put the wheels on - that is what it is saying, or find out what those washers are for after you put the cotter pins in. A simple fix, but annoying. And the generic nature of the instructions was, I suppose, to be expected. Written by lawyers to keep people from suing after a lost eye or finger, but, hey. Don't tell me not to use the machine without putting the bag on the exit chute when I bought the one without the bag. Hope it works. If not, I'll be back. Pretty easy assembly, considering the overall complexity of the machine - it is almost entirely preassembled. Just put on the wheels and chutes.

OK, I'm back. I'm upgrading to 5 stars. Put oil and gas in it, turned it on with full choke, half throttle and it started on the first pull. Ran it for about 2 hours today and worked through a fair pile of small to med-sized branches without a hiccup. I have noticed that the blades are nor pulling stuff through like it did to begin with, but no big deal. I also put a > 2 1/2 ,
Six months later I tried to run some alder roots through it and the blades will not pull anything through the machine. I can force them through with a push stick, but obviously something needs to be renewed. Maybe sharpen the blades? Still fires up on the first pull. Still happy with it, but seeking a solution. Lowering to 4 star. Bought new blades, since some here say the replacement blades are harder. Why sell with soft blades? The replacement blades are from Landworks. Clever businessmen.

I bought this to use to dispose of various brush that intrudes into my yard from the woods next door, mostly Brazilian pepper. I got it an assembled it last night there are some ups and downs to the product here they are:

1. You will need a 13 and 10 mm wrenches or an adjustable wrench to assemble the product. yes you can use sockets on most of the fasteners but three of them, 2 on the top of the input chute flange and one on the out put chute flange due to clearance issues will need a wrench and not a socket to tighten. i would rate assembly as very easy. basically 4 bolts to attach the stand to the motor, 3 bolts for the axle, 2 cotter pins to hold the wheels on, 4 nuts to attach the input chute 3 more for the out put, 2 bolts and thrumb screw in the output shaft. took me going slow about 30 min to put it together.

2. the writing on the engine controls is VERY small. if you are having difficulty with that here is what you need to know. the black lever is the fuel on/off swtich. all the way to the left is off, all the way to the right is on. the grey lever is the choke. all the way to the left is on, all the way to the right is off. the metal lever is throttle. mine came all the way at full throttle, all the way to the left is full throttle all the way to the right is minimum throttle.

3. the 2 manuals differ on the oil recommendation. the chipper manual says 30w and the engine manual says 10w30 i went with some 10w30 synthetic from rural king. the capacity says .5 l which is 1/2 liter or just over 1/2 a quart. i measured out 500 ml and poured it into the engine through a funnel. this was too much. if you are assembling this go with 16 ounce or about 450 ml.

4. gassing it up actually a bit tricky. they put a filter insert inside the tank opening but there is a red insert inside that. you can't stick a gas can nozzle into the opening without having to remove the filter insert you can't even stick a funnel into it with the insert in place. my other chinese small engines the insert has a red ring inside its filter not a t shaped piece and filling them is no issue. they need to change the filter design.

5. the motor seems to be the excellent quality i've come to expect from Chinese manufacturers. it started up on the 1st pull!!! turned the gas to on, then choke to full, made sure throttle was set to full, and gave it a rip, engine coughed to life instantly. i turned the choke to 1/2 for a few seconds then to off and the engine settled right down. i did inspect the dip stick when i filled it with oil and gave the tank a sniff before i gassed it up and the engine was test run at the factory.

6. i chipped some small branches with it, running it for about 20 minutes total. couple of times i had to shut it off to pull an odd shaped branch from the chute for safety reasons and the unit restarted in 1 or 2 pulls. note the paint on the exhaust smoked a bit when running the unit as it wasn't fully cured. it is now.

7 its really compact and easy to move around. the tires in the picture look pneumatic but they aren't they are solid plastic with ball bearings. the unit also has a clean out and service port on the back of it although this didn't seem mentioned in the listing. the input chute is held on by 4 nuts and is easily removed for more compact long term storage.

over all I am pleased with this purchase. i also bought a 2nd set of knives for it and they arrived the same day.

Oct 16th 2022:

I've been storing this outside under a canopy. the rubber boot on spark plug is cracked. this has not altered how it runs at all. still starts 1st or 2nd pull.

I didn't run it all this past winter. I never really got into my brush trimming project and now thanks to Hurricane Ian....i don't have to. 140mph winds beat the Brazilian pepper like it owed money. However a wild magnolia from the woods next door got blown down.

I was starting to think I shouldn't have spent the money on this...now I'm glad I did. I've mulched up almost 3/4 the tree thanks to this chipper and my dereal pro chainsaws (another amazon purchase). only maintanince I've done was change the oil at 5 hours and again at 20 hours. Landworks says sharpen the blades at 10 hours but an inspection of this week showed they were still sharp.

Finally, something that works better than expected. It's great. It starts in the 1st or 2nd pull every time.