Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter with 2 Cartridges

List Price:
$339.98
|
Product Details
- Decide from 250+ designs in 12 different sizes--from 1 to 5-1/2 inches incredible
- Cut letters, shapes, or phrases; works with vellum, paper, cardstock, and vinyl
- Measures 17-4/5 by 9-2/3 by 12-8/9 inches; 1-year minimal warranty
|
Product Description
Customer Reviews
Sweet machine
The Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter with 2 Cartridges is fantastic. Bought this for my wife for Christmas. Very easy to use. Even my 9 year old grandaughter is having fun using it by creating Birthday Card and projects for school. Uses are unlimited. Would be a great asset for anyone who does scrapbooking or has children.
2010-02-05
| Lucky One (Edgewood, KY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5
Great product if you're not technology challenged
I bought this during the Lightning Deals and got a great deal but my girlfriend had to show me how to use it. It's definitely great instead of cutting out individual letters but it takes a while to get the jist of how to use it. Trying to get the end lined up so it cuts right can be difficult.
I did use it to put names on Christmas packages and it looked great! It only took a fraction of the time as I wouldn't have even attempted this had it not been my Cricut. Cartridges are expensive too!
2010-01-30
(Wild Wonderful WV) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3
This is a good starter machine...
I purchased this because I wanted to use it with the $75 Sure Cuts Alot software. The reason I wanted to use it with this software is because you can download any image, font, etc from the internet to use without any additional cost to you and you can also cut smaller than the 1" the machine with cartridge will allow. So, this machine along with the Sure Cuts Alot software, I recommend, but not the machine alone, only because of how pricey the cartridges are.
Now for my complaints...The Cricut Create and Expression machines will allow you to cut smaller than 1" with the cartridges, but for some reason, this machine doesn't. The other complaint I have about these machines is that the mats lose their stick, pretty quickly. I've read about ways to make them sticky again, but have yet to try them.
Also, you really need the spatula with this machine. It would be really hard to get the project off of the mat without it. The Cricut tool kit is also very nice to have, but not as important as the spatula. I think the machine should come with a spatula, but it doesn't, so you should really invest in that as well. I hope this helps. Happy crafting=)
2010-01-13
(Memphis, TN) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 4
Just Doesn't Rock My World
I received my Cricut for a Christmas gift 2 yrs ago and have tried using it several times since then for many things and I just don't care for it. You have to use fairly thin or lightweight cardstock to get it to cut all the way through and lift crisp and cleanly from the sticky paper, even after increasing the depth of the cutter blade, etc. I keep going back to it thinking that the more I play with it and get used to it, the more I'll like it. It's just not happening and it just sits in the corner of my craft room, unused. I'm going to try to sell it. It's a shame, too, because I have 6 cartridges to go with it. I really like my other die cut machines better, especially my Wizard, which not only cuts, but embosses, as well. My mother-in-law has the Cricut, too, and loves it. Seems to be a personal choice. I would recommend you try using a friend's or one at a scrapbook store before you put out the money to be sure you're going to like it and use it.
2010-01-07
| Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 2
I love it having a blast with it,
I found it to be very intellegent when it comes to the cutting part so that it doesnt destroy the images, and larger is better. bye for now.
2009-07-03
| Designing woman (Cumberland RI USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5
Dahle 12" Vantage, Personal Guillotine Style Paper Cutter

List Price:
$79.00
|
Product Details
- Hop action metal blade will not fall down
- Robot paper clamp holds work securely
- Pre-printed grid for comfortable sizing of paper
|
Product Description
Customer Reviews
Great produce for the price
The guide/stop for measuring the item you're cutting works well. It cuts a very clean edge. The inline clamp works very well for holding the item in place during cutting. My project involves printing 4 pages duplex on legal size paper. I'm cutting the legal paper exactly in 2 even pieces (7 inches). I found that cutting 5 pages at a time presented no problem. It could probably cut more as advertised, but I was being cautious to ensure a clean and uniform cut.
2010-01-07
(Midwest, USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5
Paper Guillotine
I am very impressed with how sharp and how quickly I can cut thick card stock. The stop allowed me to make numerous cuts without having to constantly stop and remeasure. It is what they claim it to be.
2009-09-13
| Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5
Pazzles Inspiration Electronic Cutter

List Price:
$599.99
Price: $549.88
You Save: $50.11 (8%)
|
Product Details
- Cutter adapted to to cut vellum, vinyl, cardstock, poster cabinet, and more
- Measures 6 by 21-1/2 by 10-inches; made in China
- Piercing width measures 12-inch
|
Product Description
Customer Reviews
I sold the Cricut so I could buy this Pazzle instead!!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS MACHINE!!!
My friend and I purchased the Cricut and MANY cartridges. I was sick of shelling out money for the things. I ran across the Pazzle on their web site and fell in love. My friend and I purchased it at a scrapbooking convention and then sold the Cricut on eBay (I DON'T miss it). I was intimidated by it a bit and it took about a year for me to really start using it to it's full potential. I wanted to take a class at the convention but it never worked out. I would cut images but never imported them and fixed my own. I was amazed at how easy it was. The Pazzle web site has instructional videos that walk you through it. Now I'm an expert!! I cut an 3-D Christmas tree design out on another die cut machine, scanned it into my computer, imported it into my Pazzle software, converted it and cut it out. The whole process took me less than 15 minutes. I then resized it from a ~4 inch tree to and 11 in tree so I could make it into a centerpiece. It was beautiful! I gave it to the lady that had the original die cut. She was amazed.
One major suggestion: I am frugal and refuse to pay $20+ for the image Cds. If you join one or more of the MANY yahoo groups you can get the WPC files for images you may want to cut. There are hundreds!! You can even learn to download and convert GSD files to WPC. You can also get tons of help and very creative ideas. Very creative people out there.
The software is easy to use and so is the machine. It can get a little quirky but usually it works out in the end. Make sure to update the software and the machine from the web site.
The mats last a long time if you store them with the protective sheet on, flat and upside down. Also rotate the mat so that every edge gets used equally. I've used the same mat for the better part of the year. If I get paper that doesn't want to stick then I put tape on the edges of the paper so that it will stick to the mat. The blades last quite a while too.
2010-01-01
(Arizona) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5
Worth every penny
I bought this product a few months ago and so far I have to say it's a great investment if you do scrapbook, greeting cards, invitations etc.. If your thinking that about getting a die cutter machine but think this one cost way to much money your wrong. The cricut is going to end up costing you so much more money. You have to always buy cartridges and those cartridges cost about $90 a piece. so in the end your paying way more money. With the pazzles machine you don't need any cartridges at all. You can use pictures from clip art, or create your own. The machine can take any of the following format jpeg, eps, and ai. It also uses any true type fonts so you can download them from the internet. Most of them are free. The machine cuts very fast and is not that noisey at all.
The machine is only pc compatible for mac user like me. I bought a program called vmware fusion or parallels which lets you use windows on your mac. Just keep in mind that you still have to purchase windows vista but it saves you from buying a new computer. If you have a newer macs you don't have to vmware fusion or parallels at all you can use bootcamp which comes on the macs now.
2009-07-01
(new york, ny) | Helpful Votes: 18 | Rating: 5
Great Product. Worth the $$$
The Inspiration cuts almost any shape imaginable...and you never need to buy a cartridge. You can draw your own, clip an image from the internet or cut just about any digital image you already own. As an example, I was able to clip a 3 color college logo from the internet. I used the Inspriation software to break the logo into its respective parts, sized the logo and then cut each piece out in the appropriate color. The result was a 3D logo in the size I needed for my project. Couldn't do that with a Cricut!
It was easy to install and set up the machine and took very little time to get to know the software. The software has all the functions I was looking for to cut out images but still needs a bit of work to make it even better. Sometimes I wind up manipulating images in PSP and then moving them into Inspiration to size and cut.
As for type, it comes with many fonts and also works with all true types fonts you have loaded on your PC so your imagination is the only limit. It's so easy to meld type into groups so you don't need to deal with indivdual letters.
While the accessories (mats, blades etc) are available only from online retailers such as Amazon or Pazzles.com right now, the Cricut mats work just fine and the new Cricut deep cut blade seems to be the same as you'd purchase from Pazzles. As I understand it, Pazzles makes the Cricut's for Provo Craft.
So, far, I've only used my cutting blade but I have recently purchased the embosser tool and mat and am looking for a project to try it out on.
This is a terrfic product for any scrapbooker or paper crafter and worth the money!
2008-12-02
| CRC Skier (Chicago, IL) | Helpful Votes: 24 | Rating: 5
Is there such thing as an affordable laser cutter or electronic cutter? Trouble with Architectural Models...?
Jul 09, 2007 by xsd87x | Posted in Hobbies & Crafts
I have to build models constantly for my Architecture classes, and I cant fathom how conveinent a laser cutter would be. I would like something that you could hook up to your computer, draw out shapes and have it cut out of thin wood or chip board. I know laser cutters are wildly expensive, but there is this craft cutter on the model now called the Cricut. You can see what im talking about here if you dont know what it is..
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog_old.jsp?CATID=166365
This clearly only cuts paper and it seems like it only cuts pre-set stuff. But my question is, is there anything out there that is relatively affordable (under $500) that would cut out custom shapes from wood or thick cardboard? Thanks!
Don't be lazy! All of us who went through architecture school had to build a crap-ton of models. It is a skill that is very fulfilling and I actually miss building them. The process of building them by hand is also invaluable to the design process. As you build them, you tinker with different aspects and might find something that suits your design better. Don't wimp out!
carchitectress | Jul 09, 2007