YARDMAX YW7565 Chipper Shredder, 3" Diameter, Briggs & Stratton, CR950, 6.5HP, 208cc

Great chipper for the price, very heavy-built, and a simple design. Much easier to access the blades and grease points than others I've seen. Belt-driven, so easier to start, too. Briggs engine has plenty of power. I've had no issues with it (yet), but haven't used it that many hours to date. The only negative with my purchase was the shipping; I ordered it the 29th of January, with an expected delivery date of February 21st, which turned out ridiculous in itself, as the chipper sat on the freight terminal dock (less than 60 miles from my home) from February 2nd to March 14th,when I finally tracked it down and discovered they couldn't deliver it at all, as none of their trucks had lift gates. I just went and picked it up on that date; good thing I wasn't in any hurry! To be fair about it, though, I had several conversations with Amazon customer service personnel about finding it and getting it delivered, and they were very helpful and made it right with me for the bad experience with the shipping. I've always had great customer service help with any issues I've had with other orders over the years. Think mine this time was just a fluke, and I'll continue to be an Amazon customer. Update-June 2020 I've used this for going on 3 years now, with no real issues. I did do away with the OSHA flap because it just caused clogs, as others have mentioned. It works best with green wood for me, not dried-out; regardless of what others have said. Most problems of clogging can be avoided with not over-feeding the machine. It's not a huge, commercial one, like you see being crammed with branches as fast as they can. I've only had one clogging issue, due to the flap causing too much restriction in the output chute. None of these homeowner chippers can be overfed, regardless of their product videos. Just take your time feeding debris, and there should be no issues. The only real problem I've had is with the original tires-can't keep air in them, having to always air them up before use. I'm replacing them with flat-free, so that really has nothing to do with the machine itself. I would more than likely buy one again, considering the cost savings over other brands.

This is the first major item as far as expense that I have purchased online at Amazon. I did several hours of online research and this little jewel as stated by reviews from numerous websites is a good bang for the buck. I'm a bit older so it took me a little while between reading the directions to ensure I didn't miss anything; actual assembly in total about 3 hours. I plan to use it today to chip up fruit tree branches; depending on how it operates and if the seller provides me replacement items mentioned in "CONS" will likely bump it up to a "5". PROS: Definitely beefy! I read some reviews talking about big, bulky, hard to move... In my opinion its built right, and relatively easy to move and looks to be very mobile; maybe others did not tilt it far enough down ensuring based cleared the ground. It is built very solid, great heavy duty commercial level paint one would see on farm equipment. I am excitedly looking forward to using it today. CONS: Two of the bolts stripped, one was part of the 9 nut/bolt assemblies for connecting the larger housing to the smaller. The 2nd and more important one was the was the larger nut/bolt assembly that is critical to holding the large funnel to the chipper. The 1st of two large bolt/nut assembly no problems, but the second one started and got as far as the bolt coming even with the outside of the nut then just spun and it should have tightened to the point there was 3/8 inch or so of the bolt sticking beyond the nut. Additionally, several of the bolt/nut assemblies did not have a lock washer despite the directions stating otherwise (had 2 washers, just no lock washers)...this is a concern since this thing likely will be vibrating a lot, hence the need for lock washers. I have spent my life working on machines and definitely did not over torque. My opinion is the bolts are not made of very strong metal hence why two of the stripped. Despite these couple of negatives I think this thing will be considered an excellent purchase and last a very long time. FOLLOW UP TO ORIGINAL: Ok, so I fired this up it took a few minutes to engage the clutch without stalling the engine...likely my fault. After using I would agree with the reviewer that stated use it on seasoned wood clippings as the fruit tree trimming I put in the chute frequently clogged it and stopped the engine. I had to loosen the large nut w/phillips head screw retainer to allow me to flip the exit funnel so I could get to the material that clogged the machine about 10 times. A bit frustrating, but LIKELY due to the fact that the trimmings were green and small resulting in spitting out 8-12 pieces of the smaller branch ends. My intent was to just let it spit the chips on our garden, and till them into the soil to decompose. However, looks like it may be somewhat problematic for the tiller...we'll see. I still give it a 4+ because anything from 3" down in diameter except for the 1/4" clippings did fine. I have rented a commercial chipper before and it did much worse than this little guy. I again reiterate this thing is very easy to move around and I did so parallel to my garden area to ensure chips were evenly spread...simple to do and feel this machine is a keeper....starts very easy as well.

I've had this chipper for several years and it works ok when used correctly. HOWEVER... Customer service is terrible. I broke a part on the chipper when I was working it to hard and need to replace the part. I contacted customer service and they refused to sell me a part because I didn't register the chipper when I bought it, and because I couldn't provide the serial number on the machine. It's tough to provide a serial number when the mfgr puts the number on a paper sticker that faded after several years of use (see picture). Funny thing though, I can easily buy an engine part from Briggs without having to show my papers. Yardmax customer service is terrible, the chipper is ok, buyer beware.