Die cut machine shopping

I hae an older Cricut but when it's time to replace it, I'll be going with a Silhouette

I just purchased a Cricut Maker and I am really enjoying it.

If you want to just cut titles and use an iPad peek at the Cricut Joy. I love mine so much because it's small and easy to work with. I have owned a lot of die cutters. I have owned all the major brands over the years. Right now my Cricut Joy is my favorite out of all the cutters I have bought. Not affiliated or anything. If an offset function is important to you Cricut can not do it natively. There are workarounds but if you need the ease of native offset feature then that would be a con for all the Cricut's on the market right now.

My second favorite cutter is my ScannCut. It is a specific cutter. I love it for scanning and cutting. I really don't use it for anything else. It is a good cutter and I never had issues with it. Blades and mat's are proprietary. That can be an expense.

Silhouette machines are the advanced machines for our industry. There are other advanced machines on the market but are a bit overkill for scrapbooker's who do not have another reason to use those machines. As of right now I feel their iPad app is very basic and can not handle files like Cricut's iPad app. Also bluetooth can be wonky and there are several articles addressing this issue on the Internet. I have recommended over the years strongly about why the Cameo is a smart purchase. I just purchased the Cameo 4 and I feel I no longer can recommend this machine. Silhouette use to have good customer service but it has gone downhill. My Cameo 4 has a lot of issues and apparently some of those issues are on the Cameo 3. The reason I am mentioning Cameo 4 if you are looking for a new machine in the Silhouette line it will probably have to be a Cameo 4 because they are phasing out 3. It can be hard to find the Silhouette Portrait which is their smaller machine.

The Cameo 4 is to powerful for it's own good. It is so powerful the cutting bar lifts up during cutting. Print & Cut has some issues, actually a lot of issues. The machine is so powerful it knocks the blade loose and you have to constantly tighten it. Those who have needed to cut heavier materials like balsa wood can not get a good cut through balsa wood. It is a ton of little issues with no official support. I don't mind working through these issues because I have advanced die cutting skills. If you just want to set down and cut some titles then I would be a little leery of using a newer Cameo. If you can get your hands on an older Cameo then you should have no problems. My DH used my Cameo 4 the other day and he said it was the worst machine I have ever owned. I have owned everything from the original baby Cricut to a Bosskut Gazelle. The Cricut Maker is also a powerful machine but they built it better so these issues that Cameo 4 is having do not pop up as frequent as the Cameo. I have only used cardstock with my Cameo 4. I wanted to add that because I am not using anything heavier with it and still having these weird wonky issues.

If you do need Print & Cut. I would still recommend a Cameo. It does have advanced Print & Cut functions that Cricut is slowly catching up to. I would try to find an older machine.

I was watching a professional die cutting artist the other day and she gave the best advice. She said as of 2020 the best die cutting combination is to buy the Silhouette Design Studio software business edition and then buy a Cricut machine- Maker, Joy, Explore. All three are good. You need to buy the one for your cutting needs. I agreed with her advice.

HTH!

Another vote for Silhouette cameo...mine is a 2 and I’m still very happy with its performance so no need to upgrade. Download the software and check it out. A freebie file is offered every week so you can start downloading now. I use mine mostly for SB titles and love how easy it is to use ie. saw Wicked on Broadway, downloaded the Wicked font for that page.

Good luck deciding.

I have a Cricut, I bought it mostly for cutting titles. I really hate using it for titles lol. It's just a pain to get the letters off and I like smaller letters sometimes, and that gets challenging to cut. I fully admit I am not a frequent user so for others who use their digital machines often it might be no big deal. I'm going to invest in some alpha stamps and dies soon though, for me it just makes more sense. Not saying you shouldn't pursue the digital path, just that for me manual seems like a better solution.

Just popped in to see if you had made a decision, I know there is a lot to think about! I have been a Cricut user since 2006, there are ups and downs but for me it came down to was I interested in designing my own stuff? Nope, I was not. I bought enough cartridges that I have a good stock of images and fonts now, and with the online option, I can just pick what I want. I don't have to pick letters off the mat, I "weld" them, and they cut as one title. (edited to add, this is online. You cannot weld without the computer, unless you have a Gypsy and that is a whole 'nother thread) You can either be fussy and make a shadow, or just cut another title and offset it for a shadow effect.

The learning curve of the more powerful machines was a deterrent to me, I will admit. I just wanted to push a button, lol. I have taught a lot of folks how to use a cricut and I think it's one of the easier electronic cutters to learn. Depending on where you want to go with it, I have seen some expressions with several carts on CL or other sites, (probably FB) for around 100 bucks.