S3 Wood Chipper Shredder, 7HP 212cc Gas Powered Heavy Duty, 3" Max Wood Diameter Capacity, 15: 1 Reduction Ratio, Easy Assembly, 1-Year Warranty After Product Registration

I’ve never owned a wood chipper and did a lot of research before selecting the S1. I was impressed with the ratings and unlike many other chippers there were no horror stories about engines that wouldn’t run, broken parts, etc. Other features like 20:1 reduction (almost all other 3” chippers are 15:1 or 18:1), light weight (119 lbs), a handle instead of a slot cut in the top of the hopper, windows to see what is going on inside and large opening to load branches. The weight was of concern because I have 2.6 acres with hills. Once assembled most of the weight is on the wheels and it is easy to pull by hand. Many people criticize manufacturers saying only 1.5-2” branches can be handled and machines will bog down or stall with 3” if longer than 3-4’. The S1 clearly states that for 3” only a 10” length can be fed so there seems to be truth in advertising here. For me I won’t use it for 3” and burn those in my fireplace.The chipper was very well packed with parts separated by Styrofoam so nothing could move around. It would help if you had a second person to unpack and assemble but I managed this alone. Assembly instructions are a series of pictures and the assorted hardware (nuts, bolts, cotter pins) is separated into zip lock bags which correspond to each assembly step. One criticism is there is no clear indication which side of the pieces to be joined to insert the bolts in but this can be figured out by looking at the preassembled parts or seeing where you can get sockets or wrenches in place to tighten them. All nuts and bolts are 13mm or 10mm. The nuts have to be driven onto the bolt so they lock in place. Just to be sure I added some thread locking liquid. Another criticism is how the wheels are joined to the main unit. The latter consists of the engine and the flywheel and is very heavy. The instructions (step 3) show the wheels being placed by lifting the unit up while sliding wheels under and inserting bolts and nuts. Impossible for one person to do and awkward for two. What I did was turn the unit 180⁰ so it is resting on the engine and then the wheels can easily be attached (see picture). Finally, the handle is difficult to attach to the hopper since the heads of the nuts or bolts disappear into a recessed slot as they are tightened leaving nothing to grab onto on one side. Still this doesn’t have to be very tight. I used a skinny bicycle open end wrench allow me to get these tight enough.Once assembled, oil (15W-40, an odd choice and difficult to find) has to be added. This can be done on either side of the engine. One side has an oil fill fitting and the other a port for the dip stick. It is actually easier to add to the dip stick port since it is more accessible. The manufacturer provides a nice funnel with an angled tube which is very convenient. There are also two oil drain holes one on each side. My guess is that this engine is used in many applications so whichever is easier to get at can be used. The air filter is the foam type which has to be soaked in oil and then wrung out. This has to be done before using. Starting the engine is relatively easy if somewhat awkward. One has to put a foot on the front support bar and pull up. There is more force required than I anticipated but it started right up.For its first use I had a mix of apple, cherry and white pine branches. It handled all of these fine up to about 11/2” diameter an up to 6 or 7’ long. For 2” diameter the engine would bog down but still do the job. I would not use this for anything larger. There were no problem with jamming. Very small side branches may not be grabbed if very short but just using another longer piece or a stick to push down does the trick. You don’t have to remove every side branch just those that don’t bend easily. I was impressed with how quickly it devoured my wood piles.In summary this is a great machine for up to 2” diameter branches, makes a fine mulch, is well made and does everything you can reasonably expect from 7 HP.

After assembly, the unit was much smaller than I was expecting but was not returnable (known) so I gave it a try. Good that I did. The unit does a surprisingly good job when sending single branches in. When you get to the bottom of the branch pile, do not bother trying to shred/chip the small branches (often mixed with leaves) You will spend more time trying to get those through the chipper than complete branches. With the relative ease of getting at the blades and the reasonable price, this would be an easy 4 star. (not 5 because of how small branches/brush can not be easily chipped but product description says they can)But, the unit I got has what I am guessing is just a fluke bad flywheel (If this happened often, it would be quickly reported and ratings would reflect the problem) Initial contact to support-warranty resulted in a very quick reply that did not make excuses, was very professional and said the issue would be remedied. Support did ask for more pictures, which is good as I think support realized repair would be more than just the flywheel with damage to the housing caused by the break. Any failure is not expected but I understand mfg defects do occur and the importance is how the brand handles issues. If Amazon allows, I will update this review (and I hope rating) with the results of my interaction with support/warranty. Since I currently have a non-working chipper, with unexpected time invested working on it (including "how to" searches for flywheel removal/bolt threading direction) the rating currently has to be a 1.Parts (flywheel plus the housing support determined was damaged) arrived. I installed them and the chipper is working like it should. Because of how support handled things--no excuses, correctly sent more than the 1 part I reported as failed, provided updates and installation instructions, I am restoring my original rating of 4 (not 5, just does not do small branches/brush/leaves like advertised) Even with the issue I had and now knowing how the product works, with how support responded, I would purchase this again.

2025-03-17Overall: Wow what a beast of a machine... I spent like 3-4hrs going between this and a few others in the $500-700 price range and I'm glad I picked this one. I got it specifically because I wanted a machine that could eat gumballs. This machine disintegrated them and made a nice brown dusty-ish pile. I ran this machine for about 2 hours clearing my backyard of gumballs from the winter and some tree branches that I cut from a week prior. Handled everything no problem. When feeding it larger branches definitely a good idea to increase the power to full (rabbit), normally I was running about 1/2 power, and feed them in slowly. Only "jammed" once and that was because I put too many gumballs in the shoot without pushing toward blades and it clogged and I couldn't push it through, my fault not the machines.Setup: It only took me like 45mins to assemble and it probably could've been a little faster but the pictures on the instructions were so small I could barely see what I was supposed to be doing... I believe there's only 8 steps and they put them all on 1 page (1/2 of a 8.5x11) for an idea of how small the pictures were. That's my only gripe with this purchase and it could be easily remedied.Life: No idea how long this thing will last hopefully I can get several years out of it but I'll try to come back and update this if I remember.