Small chipper/shredder

[puglogic]

I recently caught a case of tool envy when I visited a gardening neighbor who has a small home-sized chipper/shredder. She's able to chip up the prunings from her trees and shrubs, and even uses it to pulverize pine needles and larger pieces of her raw compost into sizes that will decompose better. More than once I've been about to bundle a bunch of branches for pickup (they compost it at the landfill) but thought to myself, "Hey, I could use this organic matter here if it were chopped up."

Has anyone had experience with one of these little units? Worth it for a (very) small landholder who has a Home Depot gift card still burning a hole in her pocket?

[bae]

My community has a jointly-owned larger unit that is made available to folks who want to chip stuff, and we also have scheduled chipping/burning days where you can drag stuff down to a communal pile if you are so inclined.

I'm much happier with this arrangement than having Yet Another Tool around the garage/shed.

[Gregg]

We've had one for many years. It is an old Craftsman with a Briggs & Stratton engine. The hopper was rolled steel and very solidly built. I hate to run it (loud and dusty), but love the results. A neighbor of ours felt guilty about always borrowing it so bought his own. It was (I think) a Yard Machines brand from Home Depot. Not sure about the engine, but the hopper was plastic. The very first time he used it a roughly 2" diameter limb got twisted around somehow in the hopper and came right through the side. Other than that it seemed to work fine. He just put duct tape over the hole to keep the chips headed the right direction.

[CathyA]

We'd like to have a smaller one......I think the Troybilt ones used to be nice. Many years ago we bought a Kemp one with hammers, and I swear, it was so loud I think the whole county could hear it. And it was pretty scary to use. It lives in the barn now and is probably a mouse condo.
I think you're probably going to have to pay a good bit to get a decent one.
I wonder if you could rent one?