Forest Master FM4DDE 4HP Electric Wood Chipper

The best chipper/shredder I have ever purchased. It devoured everything with ease!

It's really great with straight branches, even leafy stuff that some chippers baulk at. Quiet, and fairly powerful. It's very low though —perhaps understandable given its weight— but that makes it very uncomfortable to move around for a tall person. The guard is insanely unhelpful with anything that isn't perfectly straight. Getting blackthorn through this was perhaps the least fun I've ever had in a garden. I doubt that changes until you get up to a very large, commercial feeder-driven unit. Either way, the safety feature makes this painful to use in a normal garden. But the worst thing was Amazon's support. One of the blade bolts sheared off. They're not *that* big for such a powerful motor in such a high-impact role. They could be bigger. It happens, I'm not angry about that. But I contacted Amazon as I'm within warranty and their answer was: ~"We'll collect it, refund you and you can buy another". Aside from being incredibly wasteful, the price is +£90 now. So I talked to Forest Master directly by email who replied within an hour or two and sent out a special tool to extract the central drum next-day. They're going to arrange its repair. That's top service. It's just a shame I wasted my time with Amazon first. So yeah, all in all, it's a good tool. Once I've got the drum back and have bolted a handle onto the side of it to help moving it around without turning into an old crone, it'll be a winner.

This shredder worked perfectly from purchase until winter time when there was no more shredding to do. I moved it into my heated greenhouse. In the spring I tried to use it again and it kept tripping. I returned it to the manufacturer and they said that it was unusable due to having been stored incorrectly and my warranty was invalid. I am a member of a garden club. Three members have purchased this product and have had the same experience. We are all experienced gardeners who open our gardens under the National garden scheme and who own a variety of garden machinery. This is the only machine we have had problems with. Of course the manual has a get out clause - it states that the machine has to be stored in a room! For goodness sake. A heated greenhouse should be a suitable place to store a piece of garden equipment. My Bosch chipper has been stored in a car port where I use it for more than 15 years and works perfectly well. I only purchased the shredder to be able to shred the soft stuff which a chipper can’t handle. My Forest Master hydraulic log splitter is stored in the same place and also works perfectly. There is clearly a design fault with the shredder.

I cut a tree down in the back garden due to branches from the tree coming over my washing line and yes, birds perching on said branches they did their business on my washing too many times! Then like most after filling 2 green waste bins realised the task ahead of me in my haste to sort the pesky birds and their droppings. Cue the internet searching, budget restraints and YouTube video watching....... I narrowed the search down to 3 wood chippers: Bosch AXT 25 TC Ryobi 3000W This Forest Master FM4DDE Now, there's good reviews and bad reviews out there for each one. But, in fairness the Forest Master had minimal negative reviews and mostly positive. So, checking out the videos, the Bosch and the Ryobi crush sizeable chunks (with a sharp blade) out of the wood where as the Forest Master cuts a lot smaller mulch type pieces. So, armed with a £200 gift card and the cheapest I could find it was here on Amazon (Prime Day) at £360 which is also a smidgen cheaper than the Bosch. The delivery was here prompt (Sat morning) at 07:20 which was great so I could get in the garden. Easy enough to put together but I'd also watched the YouTube videos on that too. Tools you'll need are: 11mm spanner, 13mm spanner, medium Phillips screwdriver, ratchet set with 11mm/13mm socket. So I cut my pile of branches ready and got out the wood chipper with a bold stance of a new toy to play with. 1.5 hours in of which consisted of 10 mins chipping and the rest of the time trying to clear out blockages. It was baking hot, I was sweating for 10 people and my patience was gone and this thing was verging on being returned. I was not happy. I'd cleared the inlet chute. I'd cleared the exit chute. I'd realigned the motor as per instructions to more horizontal to help alleviate blockages all to no success. 3 pints of water and a good vape pondering in thought later..... The simplest of things and a slight adjustment turned this pain in the rectum into an absolute beast! To set it up correctly: Put it in the original motor position as per instructions (V shape with the exit chute angled upwards). Take the size guard off in the inlet chute. This will allow you to put the branches and offshoots in easier. KEEP the rubber protector in place as this'll stop pieces of wood being thrown back out at you. 'Do this at your own risk' as the size guard is there for safety. *Most important* Do not put in the 2 long pins that pass through the exit chute (3/4 the way up the exit chute). These pin critters are the Bain of all your problems. I'm sure they were designed to be there, but, what for I don't know apart from frustrate the user. These pins are what cause all the blockages!! Use your thumb as a guide for the thickness of branches. Yes it'll do thicker but I use the thumb as a guide. When I got it set up right this thing went through about 6 green bins worth of waste in about 10 mins. I couldn't get the branches in as quick as it was chipping them. I aimed the chute towards one of my borders and I now have a great spread of well broken down mulch across the border. The build quality is good and it is very powerful. Would I recommend this - Definitely Is it value for money? - You'll wish you payed that bit extra and got this instead of struggling with that cheaper wood chipper. The package is HEAVY, the instructions say 35KG but I think put together its probably a bit more than that so if you've a weak back, get someone to help you lift the motor when you're putting it together. One thing that's missing that I think should be in the frame design is a handle for manoeuvring it about. It's clear to see that the inlet chute is what you use but it would be a lot easier to move about with a dedicated handle/bar. Also to note, as expected it is quite noisy (but all of the chippers are even if they're labelled as 'silent') but I'd say no noisier than other wood chippers.

Was the product well made, Yes - mostly. Sadly the thread was stripped on the key screw that governs the closure of the hopper and thus #fail from nearly the start. YMMV (Do NOT overtighten!) Did the components fit together, Yes - mostly. Sadly I had to file out the spot welding to fit the screws through the hinge tube on both hopper feed and output arm. YMMV - not a big deal as long as you have a round file of the right size. Was the unit powerful - yes. Was the unit quiet - yes. BUT - and this is a very BIG BUT! It cannot work at any distance from the ring main since the power loss from long cables is sufficient to trip the unit and cause it to fail. I spoke at length to support from the manufacturer. Buyer beware. 10 metres MAXIMUM from a proper ring main socket. My garden is 200 yds long, I have lots of trees. Their basic advice was to return it and get a petrol powered one - which I did. The electric one is a great idea, and the design is sort of ok, nice and solid, but the power demand of such a large motor meant it failed in exactly the sort of place where I wanted to succeed - far from the house, even with a 6mm SWA extension. The reason you can't work in a small garden is that the safety instructions recommend no-one else within 16metres - which you will note is longer than the 10 metres max recommended on power extension. SO anyway - the unit failed on manufacturer quality, and operability and ultimately it stopped working - no idea why. Sent it back - Amazon collected - full marks for service. And the manufacturer provided excellent support. I ordered the petrol version and despite my aversion to burning fossil fuels I never looked back. The petrol version is awesome - never jammed on me in a 3 hour session. I got the electric start version which was excellent. Just turn the key and away it goes. And yes the silly safety plate needs dispensing with as soon as you start serious use. It's fine provided all your timber is straight - try telling the tree to grow straight! (Caveat : The safety plate is there for a reason - mostly legislation I guess. Remove at your own risk). My guidance - if you're ANY distance above 5metres from the house get the petrol one - the product is excellent. The electric one might be for you - sure. But DO NOT TIGHTEN that hopper feed lock screw. (A poor aspect of the design I have to say).

The wood chipper is very well built and was easy to assemble once we had received the missing axle. We phoned their helpline when we opened the packaging to find it was missing. They were very helpful and the missing piece was delivered the next day. The reason for dropping one star is that the motor tends to overheat and cut out when dealing with laurel branches and leaves. It could also do with a handle to make wheeling it around easier.

Delivered next day,2x boxes.Motor in one box,very heavy.All other bits in box 2. Assembled and running in less than 30 minutes,very easy.Can be done with one person but two would be recommended. Product is excellent,went through a 12x 8x 6 foot high stack of branches in 1 hour 20 minutes.Goes through 25mm branches like nothing.Didn’t stall or block once. Motor pretty quiet,shouldn’t upset close neighbours when running. A big investment but after owning a cheaper electric one there is no comparison. Highly recommend.

Have used this heavily and it has been a dream to use, excellent equipment, easy to use, safe and manouverable. Preferred the electric to petrol because of noise and am not disappointed. Cuts very well, sensible small pieces and is fairly quick. It does struggle a little on the larger pieces and can jam but it does not take long to sort the jam and you get used to what sizes. Up to an inch - no problems, over an inch is dependant on the hardness of the wood.

deze hakselaar kost wat maar dan heb je ook wat , ik ben zeer te vrede met deze compacte grootheid , makkelijk in elkaar te zeten en hakselen maar , takken van 5 / 6 cm geen probleem , raakt ook niet verstopt als er nog blad aan zit hij is ook behoorlijk stil , echt een aanrader als je wat meer wilt uit geven voor een top machine

Seit vielen Jahren wieder einmal ein Gerät das mich überrascht hat. Unser altes 15 PS Benziner Gerät mit 100kg wurde in den Ruhestand geschickt und ein neues galt es zu finden. Strom war zum bevorzugen, wegen Lärm, Abgas und Wartung.... Ein wenig rumgeschaut und verglichen und dann einfach bestellt - mit der leichten Befürchtung doch eingeschränkter zu sein als bisher. Aber zum Glück wurde ich eines Besseren belehrt - das Ding ist sehr gut, sehr schnell, häckselt genau so klein wie ich will - Traum. Gut 10cm Äste gehen nicht mehr aber die gehen halt jetzt in die Kaminholzverwertung aber alles andere passt gut. Bin sehr zufrieden. Schade das ich die Aktion zu Prime Days versäumt hatte war doch um ca. 100 Euro günstiger, aber die Leistung entschädigt dafür...

Un acquisto ottimo! Dopo ore ed ore di lavoro, a distanza di quasi due anni, nessun problema! Potente, pratico da pulire, efficace! Molto soddisfatto!

Es lo que buscaba para mi campo que tiene mucha encina, coscoja y aliagas. Le quito el protector de la tolva para que las ramas entren con más facilidad ya que, la mayoría son ramas dobladas y resulta ser un incordio si permanece el protector de chapa. Después del protector de chapa, hay un faldón de goma que impide que reboten las astillas con lo que, no resulta ningún problema. Y, eso si, siempre con GUANTES y GAFAS PROTECTORAS cuando se realizan este tipo de trabajos. Hace ruido pero no tanto como la de gasolina.

super produit. franchement à vide très silencieux évidemment quand il coupe il fait forcément du bruit mais j'insiste sur le fait que le moteur à vide est très silencieux. J'ai eu un thermique de la marque staub payé à l' époque 1300 euros et bien pour moitié prix j' en suis tout autant satisfait sinon plus car la coupe ne se fait pas dans le même sens et cela et plus confortable à travailler. le staub c'est un disque avec deux couteau qui attaque de face, donc les copeaux repartent sur le côté et le bois avance moins bien tout seul alors qu'ici c'est le même principe qu' une raboteuse et je trouve que ça entraine mieux le bois et pas de vibration dans le bois. Tout ce est que mon avis mais je reste bleuffé par l' efficacité de ce petit broyeur électrique qui de plus j' ai oublié de dire à un bon rendement.