Bought this to clear up branches being trim around my property and it worked great. There were a couple of issues: 1) The bracket the wheels attached to, one "wing" was bent, but was able to straighten it out. 2) Took a few tries to start due to not properly setting the choke/gas/throttle sliders (my error), don't forget to adjust the choke and move the throttle wide open before cutting! 3) after use I attempted to start the next day and pull chord would not move, ended up cleaning the input and exit chute as the cutting wheel was blocked and there was lots of chips on both ends. The third issue is one to be aware of as if the exit chute get blocked or the material is small, it can backfill chipped material on both sides of the cutter. Turn the unit off and clean, could be lots of loose chips or could be a major chip (3 to 6") stuck in the cutting wheel that need to be cleared. Based on reviews of 3" units, the feedback was they cut 2" and on a rare occasion 3". So got this since it stated it cuts 4", so assumed 3" should be good. This is mostly true but hard wood might knock you down to 2-2.5" while soft wood (dried) can probably go more than 3". For me, 3" is great, if it's bigger than that I can burn it. Start with your smallest stuff first to learn how it behaves. Things like branches with "Y"s can cause problems if too big (won't squeeze into chute), non straight branches might need to be cut into two for less curvature, and the bigger branches may "bounce" as chips are taken until it gets to a size it can fully handle. Also suppose to shred things like leaves but be careful as that is not it's purpose but a side effect. This feature can be severely limited if the leaves are wet or there are too many of them. Use a big stick to help guide/push them in and always toss in a few branches every few minutes to help "clear" the cutter. But don't expect a miracle for leaves as if shredding is your goal and not chipping, there are probably better options. This is a great chipper based on my current usage with some shredding ability. Again, satisfied as it converted all my branches from 4 dogwoods (mostly dead) and 4 giant sugar maples, and a few other misc trees/bushes (most with some leaves still attached) and turned them into chips in three 1-2hr sessions.

I took 1 star away from this review because mine didn't work out of the box. An adjustable blade was not aligned properly causing the rotating drum to bang against it. Support was quick and helpful with instructions on how to fix this myself. Fortunately, it was an easy fix. I've only used it once on small branches, but it did a good job so far.

My new chipper does everything. It says it will do easy to assemble and runs like a champ.

I have only used it with freshly cut cedar and it would only cut 2” branches without bogging down and stopping. I’ll have to try it with seasoned wood to see if that helps.