Cricut Explore vs Silhouette Cameo

If you Google it, there are tons of websites noting the differences.

To me, the main difference is a cartridge vs a website for images. I didn't want to pay $60 for a cartridge when I only wanted a few images. (I know prices have come down now.) but if I need something, I just go online and buy it for $1. And I have a subscription, so it's more like 25 cents. At 5 am, I was working on a project and bought a hockey puck image. I didn't have to wait another 5 hours for Mike's to open and hope they have the cartridge.

I also could have traced an image of a hockey puck. I like being able to cut any image that I find with the trace feature. And I go to dafont.com all the time to download tons of free fonts. Did I mention free?!

One drawback is that it doesn't cut chipboard thicker than cereal box weight. I'm good with that. If I need something thick, I just cut it multiple times and stack the cut outs.

All week, I've been cutting vinyl. I made wooden footballs and then cut vinyl for the stripes and lacing. I put the team mom's, coaches, admin, etc names on them and they will get them at the banquet tonight. I made similar footballs for the boys at the beginning of the season and mounted them on fence pickets. They lined the ramp where the boys March onto the field at home games. I'm always using my machine. It was a great investment!

The Explore isn't tied to cartridges. You can use the Cricut online store and it is capable of cutting svg files. I think the most important difference is that while both use the internet and your computer to get images. For the Silhouette, once you download the images to your computer, you do not need your internet connection. To cut with the Explore, you must have an active internet connection. And for me that is a deal breaker. I attend a few crops and weekend retreats with no internet. So an Explore would be a paper weight durning my most productive scrapbooking time.

I love my Cameo, I do so much more on it than I ever did on the Cricut. Mind you I didn't have an Explore, just an Expression, but I find the Cameo cuts better than my Expression.

And then there is the cost factor. I would buy a cartridge just for one or two images. As a previous poster said, now I can buy the one image I want, and at any time of the day or night, for mere cents.

I have had my Cameo for 2 years now but kept my Cricut "just in case". I have a craft night once a month and the other ladies would use it, but then they all saw my Cameo and started buying their own. Just last weekend I boxed up the Cricut and all the cartridges and extra supplies and gave it to my niece who is doing her teaching practicum. I'm her favorite aunt now .

I am really happy with the Cameo, and I wasn't always happy with my Cricut.

I ended up with a Brother scan n cut. Totally love it!!

I think the internet and software differences. Depending on how much you really do on your own. I don't know if it's changed with the Explore but with their software you could only load images from Cricut not outside sources or use SCAL or other software. The Cameo I can do my own images in Photoshop and then load them in my cameo software.

I think I am in the minority here...I LOVE the explore (and I do have both machines). Since I already had lots of cartridges when I got both machines, it was much more economical for me. Cuts like butter...and you can buy just an individual image as well. The software is extremely is to use. Not so much for me with the other software. And I found if I didn't own a silhouette image and was at a crop without internet I was crap out of luck could I could not log in and get it so that is a minus for both machines (as far as internet access).

Explore will never be an option for me because of the internet issue. I do most of my scrapping at weekend retreats and we don't have internet access there.

I have an Explore and a Cameo and a Scan N Cut. The Explore is the newest of the three. I absolutely love it. I didn't think I would, but I love it. You can cut SVG and PNGs, etc with the Explore and you can use any font on your computer. And tracing vector designs is a breeze. The software, however does not give you a ton of design capabilities. So if you really like to design, you have to do it in Inkscape or MTC or whatever and then open in Cricut Design Space. Silhouette has much better design software. Much. Especially if you do rhinestones. However, I feel like I'm always having to guess about cut settings and manually changing the blade, etc. Also you may prefer the designs available in the Silhouette store rather than those in the Cricut store. You should browse both and see what's more to your liking. The Explore will cut much heavier material and it cuts intricate cuts better than the Silhouette, but if that's not something that's super important to you, they compare comparably.

I have used the Silhouette print and cut and it's super easy. I haven't used it on the Explore yet. Maybe I'll try it tonight.

You can get Silhouette blades much cheaper than Explore blades on Amazon. However, the Cricut mats are much cheaper than the Silhouette mats (you get 2 in the pack from Cricut).

I guess it really all just comes down to the internet access and whether or not you want to do more designing.

I also really, really love the Scan N Cut.  But I wouldn't suggest it as your only cutter.

An App for the iPad is coming out for the Explore in the 2015. I don't know much about it since I have an E2 and not an Explore... yet. I have lots of the cartridges that I love using so at some point I will get the Explore. I do know with the Explore you have to use their design program. I didn't like that idea however I have been using Cricut Craft Room on a laptop with the E2. I had loved my Gypsy until my eyesight wasn't as good anymore! So I have touched my Gypsy in months. Now that I've had some playtime with CCR, I'm more inclined to think about having the Explore.... And being in Canada, I may have to take a peek at that sale at Michael's this weekend! See what Hubby thinks.