Forest Master FM4DDE Compact Self-Feeding Wood Chipper - 4HP Direct Drive, 2800W Electric Motor - Chips Branches Up to 50mm (2 inches) in Diameter

I cut a tree down in the back garden due to branches from the tree coming over my washing line and yes, birds perching on said branches they did their business on my washing too many times! Then like most after filling 2 green waste bins realised the task ahead of me in my haste to sort the pesky birds and their droppings.Cue the internet searching, budget restraints and YouTube video watching.......I narrowed the search down to 3 wood chippers:Bosch AXT 25 TCRyobi 3000WThis Forest Master FM4DDENow, there's good reviews and bad reviews out there for each one. But, in fairness the Forest Master had minimal negative reviews and mostly positive.So, checking out the videos, the Bosch and the Ryobi crush sizeable chunks (with a sharp blade) out of the wood where as the Forest Master cuts a lot smaller mulch type pieces. So, armed with a £200 gift card and the cheapest I could find it was here on Amazon (Prime Day) at £360 which is also a smidgen cheaper than the Bosch.The delivery was here prompt (Sat morning) at 07:20 which was great so I could get in the garden.Easy enough to put together but I'd also watched the YouTube videos on that too.Tools you'll need are:11mm spanner, 13mm spanner, medium Phillips screwdriver, ratchet set with 11mm/13mm socket.So I cut my pile of branches ready and got out the wood chipper with a bold stance of a new toy to play with.1.5 hours in of which consisted of 10 mins chipping and the rest of the time trying to clear out blockages. It was baking hot, I was sweating for 10 people and my patience was gone and this thing was verging on being returned. I was not happy.I'd cleared the inlet chute.I'd cleared the exit chute.I'd realigned the motor as per instructions to more horizontal to help alleviate blockages all to no success.3 pints of water and a good vape pondering in thought later.....The simplest of things and a slight adjustment turned this pain in the rectum into an absolute beast!To set it up correctly:Put it in the original motor position as per instructions (V shape with the exit chute angled upwards).Take the size guard off in the inlet chute. This will allow you to put the branches and offshoots in easier. KEEP the rubber protector in place as this'll stop pieces of wood being thrown back out at you. 'Do this at your own risk' as the size guard is there for safety.*Most important* Do not put in the 2 long pins that pass through the exit chute (3/4 the way up the exit chute).These pin critters are the Bain of all your problems.I'm sure they were designed to be there, but, what for I don't know apart from frustrate the user. These pins are what cause all the blockages!!Use your thumb as a guide for the thickness of branches. Yes it'll do thicker but I use the thumb as a guide.When I got it set up right this thing went through about 6 green bins worth of waste in about 10 mins. I couldn't get the branches in as quick as it was chipping them. I aimed the chute towards one of my borders and I now have a great spread of well broken down mulch across the border.The build quality is good and it is very powerful.Would I recommend this - DefinitelyIs it value for money? - You'll wish you payed that bit extra and got this instead of struggling with that cheaper wood chipper.The package is HEAVY, the instructions say 35KG but I think put together its probably a bit more than that so if you've a weak back, get someone to help you lift the motor when you're putting it together.One thing that's missing that I think should be in the frame design is a handle for manoeuvring it about. It's clear to see that the inlet chute is what you use but it would be a lot easier to move about with a dedicated handle/bar.Also to note, as expected it is quite noisy (but all of the chippers are even if they're labelled as 'silent') but I'd say no noisier than other wood chippers.

This shredder has proven very useful after a couple of uses, in a small suburban garden for shredding foliage. Plus points: it can cope with branches up to 2cm, it is easy to move around, it saves numerous trips to a recycling centre. It is well built and will last longer than cheaper products made in Asia. Negative points: it needs care to avoid overloading and jamming the cutter, so is most useful for small amounts of foliage.

This shredder worked perfectly from purchase until winter time when there was no more shredding to do. I moved it into my heated greenhouse. In the spring I tried to use it again and it kept tripping. I returned it to the manufacturer and they said that it was unusable due to having been stored incorrectly and my warranty was invalid.I am a member of a garden club. Three members have purchased this product and have had the same experience. We are all experienced gardeners who open our gardens under the National garden scheme and who own a variety of garden machinery. This is the only machine we have had problems with.Of course the manual has a get out clause - it states that the machine has to be stored in a room! For goodness sake. A heated greenhouse should be a suitable place to store a piece of garden equipment.My Bosch chipper has been stored in a car port where I use it for more than 15 years and works perfectly well. I only purchased the shredder to be able to shred the soft stuff which a chipper can’t handle. My Forest Master hydraulic log splitter is stored in the same place and also works perfectly. There is clearly a design fault with the shredder.

Delivered next day,2x boxes.Motor in one box,very heavy.All other bits in box 2.Assembled and running in less than 30 minutes,very easy.Can be done with one person but two would be recommended.Product is excellent,went through a 12x 8x 6 foot high stack of branches in 1 hour 20 minutes.Goes through 25mm branches like nothing.Didn’t stall or block once.Motor pretty quiet,shouldn’t upset close neighbours when running.A big investment but after owning a cheaper electric one there is no comparison.Highly recommend.

works really well on small branches2 complaints around design: not so easy to move around. I made and bolted a 't' bar to the outside of the feed shute which when the machine is tilted works much better.although it is a chipper, the instructions say that the blade clearance can be narrowed to make a more effect machine for leaves etc. I chipped bamboo as the first job, the exhaust shute kept on blocking, bridged by the fine nature of early season bamboo leaves - modified the machine by removing the existing shute and made a shorter one - much less chance to bridge. swap the two nuts on the shute for knobs to simplify swapping them over

The wood chipper is very well built and was easy to assemble once we had received the missing axle. We phoned their helpline when we opened the packaging to find it was missing. They were very helpful and the missing piece was delivered the next day. The reason for dropping one star is that the motor tends to overheat and cut out when dealing with laurel branches and leaves. It could also do with a handle to make wheeling it around easier.

I've owned and used a number of chippers and this is without a doubt the best. Really fast and produces fine chips. It does have to be treated with some respect and not loaded with too much green matter, otherwise you will get blockages. This is the case with most chippers so I am not bothered and you soon get used to what can/cannot be achieved. It MUST be the only thing plugged into a socket (no 4 ways) otherwise fuses will blow. No surprise as the inrush current is going to be high on this motor.It will chop 50mm but you do have to perform a bit of an in-out feed action (which is very difficult if the safety guard is still in place).