Cricut or Silhouette?

[4HOLIDAYS]

I am hoping for some advice and opinions.

Which do you like better and why? Which is the easier to use? Better range of capabilities? Cost and availability of accessories?

I have made a fair amount of digital books but like the original real pics and paper versions better. I have alot of supplies from before going to digital. I only have a sizzix bigshot as far as embossing/cutting with dies. i wonder how much having one of these will cut down on buying of more dies.

thanks!

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

So no answers yet.... How about just letting me what you use and do you like it? I really love the pics in the virtual scrapbook thread and am hoping to fing out how everone's tools/machines have been helpful, most used...

 

[concertkatie]

I have a Silhouette Cameo and I love it. I have the designer edition so I can use SVGs I've purchased elsewhere or use their software to create my own shapes or buy items from their store. I also like that I can use almost any font on my computer to cut out as well. I also recently bought a pen holder and have been making coloring book like pages for my scrapbook which has been fun. I've never used a cricut so I can't really compare.

 

[Luvscrappin]

I have both the sil cameo and the cricut. I prefer cricut. My Sil was so inconsistent with cut settings. The only thing I miss about the SIL is the capability to make titles and shadows.

 

[uccats97]

I've been wanting to invest in one or the other as well. I'd love to hear more opinions!

 

[Reddy]

I have both - I like them both for different reasons, I hate the craftroom for the cricut but loves how it cuts, I use SCAL with the Cameo - so it is more that which ever one is connect to the computer is the one I'm using (unless the craftroom is acting up then I'll change it out)

 

[BCV2003]

I have 3 Cricuts, the expression, Mini and the Air. The Air is the best they have made so far. I love using Design Space and I love how I can bring my own images in and cut whatever I want. The precision is much better on the air and I have cut some really intricate patterns.

I've only ever used Cricut, but in my opinion, if you get a Cricut you need to get the newest Air. You won't be disappointed. I use it exclusively now.

No need to really purchase many images unless you want to. You can add fonts to your computer and use them in the Cricut as well as copy any image to the cricut and cut that or even print and cut.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

I have both the Silhouette Cameo and the Cricut Explore. I had the Sil first and it worked just fine. I purchased the Cricut strictly for the Disney images. You could import your own svg but I find that to be a pain to try to find a decent image to import. Not sure if that would be a deciding factor (to get Cricut)?

As for cuts/functionality....
Cricut
PRO - I like the writing/drawing feature with it. With the Silhouette it is pens and sometimes I want thicker/darker writing. With Cricut you could do markers and get that.
I like the print/cut feature much better with Cricut. It seems that Silhouette is hard to get it to align.
CON - Since it's webbased I have experienced times when there are a lot of people online the program crashes. This seems really bad around Christmas and everyone doing crafts.
I use a mac and it seems I'm constantly having to update drivers/flash/plugins/whatever to make it work. I have 3 browsers I have to flip between at times as one will work but the other needs plugins.

Silhouette
PRO - Not webbased so I don't have to worry about anything other then my own computer. The Silhouette store offers one (sometimes more) free images you could download each week. They also have a weekly clearance section where the images are half off. You are able to folder your images in folders that you want (create) so you could have your holiday images then animal images, etc.
CON - They don't have licensed images. Print/Cut is a pain to align.

I go to whatever platform has the image I want to cut.

 

[Cptjackandcrew]

I have both the Silhouette Cameo and the Cricut Explore. I had the Sil first and it worked just fine. I purchased the Cricut strictly for the Disney images. You could import your own svg but I find that to be a pain to try to find a decent image to import. Not sure if that would be a deciding factor (to get Cricut)?

As for cuts/functionality....
Cricut
PRO - I like the writing/drawing feature with it. With the Silhouette it is pens and sometimes I want thicker/darker writing. With Cricut you could do markers and get that.
I like the print/cut feature much better with Cricut. It seems that Silhouette is hard to get it to align.
CON - Since it's webbased I have experienced times when there are a lot of people online the program crashes. This seems really bad around Christmas and everyone doing crafts.
I use a mac and it seems I'm constantly having to update drivers/flash/plugins/whatever to make it work. I have 3 browsers I have to flip between at times as one will work but the other needs plugins.
I recently read that the update/flash/plugins issue is a mac problem not Cricut. The article said that the mac is too slow, so just refresh and you won't need to change browsers. It has been working for me. Good luck.

Silhouette
PRO - Not webbased so I don't have to worry about anything other then my own computer. The Silhouette store offers one (sometimes more) free images you could download each week. They also have a weekly clearance section where the images are half off. You are able to folder your images in folders that you want (create) so you could have your holiday images then animal images, etc.
CON - They don't have licensed images. Print/Cut is a pain to align.

I go to whatever platform has the image I want to cut.

 

[Cptjackandcrew]

Oh my gosh, Reddy you posted! I used to love to look at all of your beautiful pages. I know you had problems with people using them improperly, but is there someplace to just peek at them?

 

[msr709]

I have the Cricut Expression Air and LOVE it. The only down side is what was posted before about the website crashing when there are a lot of people online. I've downloaded a lot of my own images and its been very convenient the Print/Cut feature. Sometimes it takes a while and the downside is that it in the Print option it has to be done only on 8.5 x 11 White paper, it won't do it on any other paper. But it is very user friendly. Go to YouTube and see for yourself the different tutorials posted and you can see how easy it is to use. HTH!