Faced with the daunting task of cutting up a pile of leaves and shrub material the size of a mountain, I rented an Eleit chipper from American Equipment Rentals(AER). I had never used a chipper and was impressed with the helpful personnel at AER.They walked me through the operation of the machine and even had me bring in some of the shrub that I would be chipping,which they ran through the machine, so I could see how well it would grind it up. The Eleit chipper is not for the faint of heart. This noisy beast(yes, wear good hearing protection) makes easy work of small branches(under 2") and dry organic matter. It made a mountain into a molehill in a matter of hours. I will rent it again.