Discount Silhouette Cameo Starter Kit Bundle Cutter

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List Price: $344.95
Sale Price: $229.00
Today's Bonus: 34% Off

I first want to start by saying I have owned many Cricut machines, including the most recent Expression 2. I was dedicated to the brand. This until a friend of mine showed me her Silhouette SD. The cuts were so precise! No paper ripping, no rough edges, no expensive cartridges and beautiful outcomes! I decided I was going to sell my Cricut and purchase the new Silhouette Cameo. I have been using it every day for about a week and I have not regretted my decision to part with my Cricut! I can honestly say, this machine is great.

I find myself in shock after cutting each image. It is so clean, the images are stunning! The graphics available through the design software that came with the Silhoette are wonderful. If you go to Silhouette's website, you can preview the designs for free, prior to purchase. The images are relatively cheap compared to having to buy expensive cartridges in which you only need one image. Almost all of the images are .99 and you can use your own fonts along with the supplied software. I have used a couple of websites which sell SVG files and print them out then cut. They turn out amazing! Included with your Silhoette purchase, you receive a $10 credit towards the online store. I should also mention you can purchase a subscription (which is what I did) instead of paying per image. I used a coupon code which saved 20% on the subscription rate. A quick google search will help you find a code. I pay $16 a month for $150 of images!!! That is nearly 150 images! There are lower rates available too but decided this was the best bang for my buck. I am able to use $150 of images in 2 months time, meaning, if I don't use all my "credits" within the month, they don't expire until the following month. Great deal!

Another positive the Cameo has over the Cricut is the cutting mats and accessories. The cutting mat is wonderful, not too sticky, just perfect. Recently, Cricut changed their cutting mats in which I couldn't get anything to stick while cutting, thus ruining projects! Not the Cameo! I have used my mat a ton and it is still sticky, Silhoette claims their mats last 5 times longer than Cricut... I completely believe it! Another fun thing about the Silhoette is the sketch pens. I was skeptical at first but bought the metallic pens and the designs turned out so beautifully! The pens are great quality!

Another point I would like to bring up is customer service. Their customer service is amazing! If you email them during business hours, they respond within 5 minutes, if that. Now that's customer service! Another example is when I called their 1-800 number. I was expecting to wait on hold after pushing numerous buttons to get to the right peron. I dialed the number and I heard, "thanks for calling Silhoette...". Shocking! They were very friendly and helpful.

In conclusion, I have to respectfully disagree with the prior review. I am a card maker and mom who loves to make goodie bags for my kids' school classes and I can honestly say, The Silhoette Cameo is a great, great product! Anyone who is on the fence... trust me, you will love it! No more Cricut and no more expensive cartridges! :)

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I've had the Cricut for a few years now. I had similar complaints that many others have limited to the images on the cartridges; the cartridges have more images than I need; waste too much paper because it's difficult to position the needle; can't see clearly what you're cutting and how big the design will be when cut.... All that aside, the machine was meeting my needs until I needed to cut my own design for a project. A friend told me I could purchase a program that would allow me to use my own images, so I went researching. I was actually prepared to buy a new Cricut (because it was bigger and better) until I realized that Cricut sued the program that allows you to use your own images. That sent me searching for a new solution.

After conducting research, I came across the Silhouette. And, all I can say the Cricut pales in comparison! Out of the box, I was able to use my own images. And, every frustration I had with the Cricut was addressed by the Silhouette. This machine works beautifully! I've cut paper. I've cut fabric. I have seen complaints regarding the life of the blades and the cutting mats. I haven't had issues with either one. The possibilities are endless with this machine. I'm nothing short of impressed and would recommend it over the Cricut any day. Silhouette has a better business model, and they've got a better machine.

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My husband bought me the Silhouette Cameo Starter Bundle from Amazon after I bragged about how many things this machine could do. Of course, after receiving it, I wanted to start using it right away. I went to our local Joann Fabrics store and bought a multi-pack of cardstock. I immediately started cutting. What I noticed were the following:

* the cardstock was tearing while cutting

* cardstock was even tearing more after I tried to get it off the cutting mat.

I was rather disappointed at first. I tried a few different settings with the blade, but nothing helped. I even used the new blade that came with the bundle but even the new blade was tearing up my paper. Until I did some more research on the Silhouette Cameo.

Yes the cutting mat is very sticky, but looses it's stickiness rather fast after a few uses. Now after so many uses my mat isn't sticky enough anymore. So I use adhesive spray to keep my paper in place and it works great!

NOW the most annoying problem of them all was the tearing of the paper while cutting. I bought the Core'Dinations Premium Textured Cardstock from Joann's. That was a big mistake. That type of cardstock seemed very soft and fibrous. So after some research on peoples blogs I found out that Bazzill Cardstock or American Crafts Cardstock works the best with the Silhouette. Of course our Joann's doesn't sell any of these. But our local Michael's does sell Bazzill Cardstock but only as individual 12 x 12 sheets. I bought some sheets and tried them! Oh boy! What a difference! No more tearing and nicely cut shapes came out of my Silhouette. Now I'm as happy as can be!

So anyone who is having problems with tearing cardstock I advice to try different brands because the Silhouette cuts some cardstock better than others.

In the meantime I have cut vinyl and used the sketch pens without any problems.

Another big PRO to the Silhouette is their website and lack of cartridges. I never owned a Cricut or any other die cutting machine because I simply didn't want to buy those expensive cartridges. I do graphic design in my free time and I love to be able to use my own creations to cut with the Silhouette. Also shapes in their online store are $ 0.99 so it's a bunch cheaper and you only pay for the shapes you want. They also have a free shape of the week and weekly clearance shapes for $ 0.50. There are also online stores where you can buy reasonably priced shapes. Much better than fooling with cartridges.

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Finally... something that makes it so my wife quits yelling at me about playing video games. MEN!!! GO BUY YOUR WIFE ONE OF THESE, THEY WILL BE ADDICTED TO CUTTING OUT LITTLE THINGS AND CRAFTING ALL DAY, it is amazing.

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This was so easy to set up....and I am TERRIBLE with techny stuff. Within an hour of getting the Cameo, I was ready to test drive it and the first cut came out perfectly. The paper did stick A LOT though on the first trial so if you have a mat scraper and spatula, that will greatly help. I did the trick a woman suggested on You Tube and that is to "treat" the mat a few times by applying it against a fleece or tissu to soften the tackiness or stickiness of the mat. I bought a few designs from its online store and its really cool. Whenever I had any problem with the Cameo or downloading the designs, I called customer care and it was there, ready to serve and answer my questions. Fabbbbulous customer service, and it's also one of the reason why I bought this machine (and not its competitor based on the positive customer care reviews). Wow....have been playing with the Cameo for the past hour and I'm just LOVING it. Have lots of plans and scrapbooking projects and having this cutter will be wonderful. Highly recommend the purchase. Will update in a few months since I just got it today.

Nov. 19, 2012

OK, I have now owned the Cameo for appx 2 months and I have a better assessment of this tool. I really want to like this machine, and I do to some extent. Unfortunately, I have had to downgrade from a 5 stars to a 3 stars. Let me explain.

Firstly, I wish to say that the fact that the Cameo cuts my own images (I buy a lot of digital stamps for coloring/card making) is a big positive in itself. For the most part, if the image is "clean" and does not have too many small details, the Cameo will do a fantastic job at cutting "most" images perfectly.

Unfortunately, with time, I have come to notice imperfections with the Cameo though. When the design (I have only used the designs bought from the Silhouette Online Store) has lots of details, fine lines, lots of circles, etc....and thus requires the blade to go back to the same spot multiple times, the machine tends to tear my paper. It does not matter that I will use a smaller blade number; the paper gets torn or the cut is less than desirable. I have now steered clear from doilies, flowers, flourises, borders, etc....that have lots of details or finer ones since I know the job will be butchered. I wish to point out that the size of my design job needs to be reduced considerably bcuz I make cards more than scrapbooks. The size of the cards being smaller than a 12X12 scrapbook page , the card's decorations will be proportionated to it and thus minimized.

Moreover, although I have had the chance to play with the blade and its intensity, I still find it's a miss or hit a lot of times. If I use a smaller blade number (example, a 2), the design will not cut properly. I will then have to manually finish the job with an exaclto, leaving the design scarred. On the other hand, if I use a higher number (4 or 5), then the force of the blade is often too strong and that will just tear bits of my paper altogether....SIGH....Also, at first, I used all kinds of paper: cardstock AND beautiful, thinner patterned paper. Yet, the latter cannot withstand the force of the blade, even at number 2 (which, by the way, won't cut smoothly as explained above). These days, I just never bother using the thinner patterned paper bcuz it gets chewed up by the Cameo. No point wasting my nice paper. I tend to use rigid or more solid carstock if I want to increase my chances at getting a good job. This has reduced the type of work/design and paper I can use with the machine.

Finally, on more than one occasions, the mat/paper will slide/move while the machine is cutting. That pretty much kills it all.

As a final note, I went out and bought a Big Shot from Sizzix. It was mostly for the embossing work but the Big Shot also cuts (with die cuts). I have to say...the die cuts I have seen from Sizzix or other companies (Big Shot is very compatible with most die cuts from other companies) are much, much nicer than a lot of the designs sold by the Silhouette Store. Yes, individual die cuts are much more expensive than the designs marketed by Silhouette (which tend to run appx $0.99 each) but I find it was worth it to buy the Eiffel Tower Die Cut from LalaLand at $20 than the eiffel tower from Silhouette (that design is NOT even pretty). However, I can't use half of the stuff I have bought online from Silhouette in any event (reasons explained above). Furthermore, lots of the Silhouette designs are just NOT pretty or not what one would have expected when just looking at the image in the catalog. Since the store does not give a preview of the finished product, one buys a design based on what one thinks it will look like in the end. Lots of optic misrepresentations when looking at the catalog image so be careful about that. I have been disappointed more than enough times after cutting the design by realizing it was NOTHING like the catalog's image. Had I known about the Big Shot first and tried it out before I got the Cameo, I must confess that I would likely have NOT bought the Cameo. It is still a good tool, I don't argue that, but from my perspective, too expensive for what I have been able to accomplish with it.

But on the very positive note, Silhouette's customer service has been very responsive to my inquiries. I rarely get a voice mail. It did happen on a few occasions during business hours, but that was never the norm. I hope that in time, I will get better use out of the Cameo. The Cameo does not come cheap (and I have a good monthly subscription until next year with the Silhouette Store).