Earthwise GS70015 15-Amp Garden Corded Electric Chipper, Collection Bin

I was weary of purchasing this because of the bad reviews but I saw a cheaper version of this had quite good reviews so I figured this could be a price point expectation? I've only spent 1 day with it, but chipped for about 4 hours straight and my initial impression is that this thing is pretty capable. I jammed it up so that I needed to actually unscrew the unit 3 times -- once within the first 5 minutes because I didn't know what I was doing, once because I was trying to be way too greedy with the branch I was putting through, and once unexpectedly. In all cases, I probably could have cleared the jam by using some channel locks or pliars and just pulling the branch out from the top feed / hopper and this is preferable as a first step if only because it takes like 40 turns to unscrew the bolt that allows you to access the blades. To me, three jams, 2 of them definitely my fault, over 4 hours is totally acceptable. Also to be clear, I mostly chipped dryer softwood, but did do a fair amount of hardwood and fresher, greener, wetter stuff. But here lies a few tips.1. Use safety protection!! Full eye protection is a must. Branches will whip side to side unexpectedly. Use ear protection! It's loud and you only have one set of ears. Even gloves are recommended because sometimes when the branch whips and it's big enough it can hit you pretty hard.2. Do not be afraid to use some violence! Many "jams" were avoided by just smashing the branch through the hopper using the provided hopper tool. Also whatever you can fit through the feeder will chip! I was worried in the beginning about not feeding anything too big, but it's really about how well you can guide it through the feeder, not so much the size of the branch (at least with softer woods). And this guiding process is a bit of an art (see more below)3. Use a 12AWG/20A extension cord. Otherwise the voltage drop when this thing pulls full amps chewing through a big stick will result in big power loss! At least I assume that's the case and is the recommendation in the manual!4. Hardwood is definitely.. harder. So use some restraint in combo with my violence recommendation depending on the wood. Violence on soft wood works pretty well. Violence with hardwood will likely jam the machine. Thus --5. Have patience and do some prep. The biggest problem is with wood that has sharp bends or big knots that you can't turn through the hopper feeding guide. If you or whoever you are working with prep the pieces for success, you will definitely have more fun feeding the beast.6. RTFM! "Read the ___ manual". It has advice on alternating easier feeding wood between harder feeds ones to help keep the chipper clear and recommends wet wood in between dry pieces. I personally didn't have any trouble with the limited wet / fresh wood but I chipped 95% older, dryer, soft wood (which it absolutely massacres).7. You will definitely improve with time! The amount of violence I used definitely decreased over the day as I learned how to find the best rotation technique to get the branches to feed more smoothly into the chipper.My only "critique" is that it does chip into fairly small mulch (which is called out in the item description). This is totally fine and expected but I am kind of curious what the larger mulcher is like as I think I would probably prefer that end product, but not sure.I had pretty low expectation but it met them, definitely. And by the end of day 1 with the thing, I feel it has already paid itself off for the price. In the beginning of the day I thought okay maybe this is about a 4 star, but once *I* learned how to use the thing more properly, I feel it is probably a 5 star product. I mean for the price this thing is a beast!! I'm sure there are use cases where this thing just doesn't keep up but for me, this thing cleans up! Too bad it will soon cost 2.5x as much with tariffs as it's made in China. Thank you to our wise King for lowering the prices of products for those of us that actually work for a living. I don't know about the cheaper chippers on Amazon but (electrical) safety wise this thing is also ETL listed and has overload protection. It claims it is "built to last". We will see! Recommended!

Pretty solid little unit, chips wood, branches, twigs very effectively. The biggest problem with it were leaves - leaves totally jammed up the exit port and I found myself taking it apart to clean it out every 20 minutes or so. It's not hard to do, but slowed down things.I've used tow behind gas chippers, and this isn't that. But it is good for a homeowner electric chipper. Does a good job, chips wood very effectively, but struggles a bit with leaves and requires frequent cleaning.Overall, I'm happy with the purchase. But don't get it if you're planning in chipping up a tree.

About 20 hours of use now over the last month. I did not know this kind of thing existed until recently. I wish I had bought something like this over a decade ago. There is a good review going over some use advice and I'll give some more. I chose this chipper over the competing chippers because the design seemed better although I frankly am not entirely clear what the operating mechanism is on some of the other competitors (most clearly are doing essentially the same thing). What seemed most different was the use of the integrated box to collect the mulched material. The other products did not have as good a way to collect the mulched material. After using it... I still think this was the better product although like other reviewers, I have not use a competing machine. Also some others reviewed had pictures of the mulched material which did not look chopped up like I wanted it and the picture on this one looked better processed. Although I really think this is a great machine.... it is not a magic machine and has to be fed properly to operate. The negative reviews seemed to just not want to understand that If you are doing leaves... that could be impossible with this device without clogging. The feed material can only have so much moisture laden leaves go through without them turning into a clog. Even heavily leafed branches can be a problem and the best solution is to alternate dead old branches with a leafier one as stated in the directions. The box for the mulch can be a problem in that it can back up and clog up the machine. You need to check the box frequently, initially pushing the mulch towards the back as the material enters the box at the front part. Don't try to get too much in the collection box or you will get the machine backed up. I have experienced what I will call clog up jams and a jam into the cutting blades. Both cleared easily enough once you unscrew the knob to open access to the cutting blade and the area which empties into the hopper.As noted so helpfully in another review.... you will quickly experience when clearing clogs that a sensor gets some junk in it which prevents the machine from operating... so take a look when you experience this problem and clear out the stuff that has gone into this small rectangular area.... unfortunately it is easy to get material in this area when clearing out a clog. With experience in operation you will learn to prepare feed material better to keep the device operating better without problems. So I would suspect any of these small chippers require quite a bit of care to operate successfully. What you gain is a huge reduction in volume and you are producing some nice mulch you can use.... Not big chips like purchased mulch or as produced by big chippers.... but material closer to wood shavings used for pet rodents.Safety... don't kid yourself.... what this is doing can cause injury. Although the design keeps your fingers from getting into the cutting parts effectively and keeps the cutting effectively shielded, you will want to wear gloves, ear protection and eye protection. Versus safety glasses... a full face shield might be nice. When stuff can fly about with things like this and wood cutting tools, I personally use a helmet type PAPR which provides excellent protection. There is much less material kicked into the air from this than from a chainsaw, jig saw or circular saw but some does pop out. Also in feeding branches in they can seriously jerk about at times which can sting a bit. Any chipper will do this I would think. The key to feeding is figuring about what can be fed and then learning to rotate the larger feed material about while pushing it in.With all the work clearing bushes, trimming trees over the years.... this would have been so great to have then ... but I am enjoying using it and highly recommend.