Silhouette Cameo News – Important!

ByJill Lipscomb May 20, 2019October 12, 2020

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You know how Apple has big corporate announcements with big showy conference and TV coverage? The crafting industry does the same thing with less news coverage. Anyway, Silhouette America had their big annual announcement party (in Hawaii of all places) about two weeks ago. And there are some HUGE changes coming to the Silhouette Cameo line of products. So here’s your Silhouette Cameo News!!

I’m going to get right to the most important part first. Silhouette is releasing two additional sizes to the Cameo line: 15″ and 20″. What does this mean for you as a consumer and possibly a small business owner? It means the Cameo 3 is going bye bye! As soon as the production lines start making the Cameo 4 line there will be no more Cameo 3. And we’re talking fall 2019, not next year. I doubt the Cameo 3 production will still be around for Christmas since they are already taking pre-orders of the 12″ Cameo 4.

Grab your Cameo 3 right here!

That means if you’ve EVER thought about adding a Cameo 3 to your crafting tools, do it NOW!! Bundles are still reasonably priced for the Cameo 3. And the Cameo 3 is perfect for the general crafter. How much of a price difference are we talking here? Around a hundred bucks. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of money in my world.

But it’s not just about the money! I think improvements to the Silhouette line of products is great! But in this case I think the Cameo 4 might be a little over the top for the general paper crafter. They really geared this machine for the small businesses that use Silhouette products which is a HUGE portion of their market. And I totally get it. Just keep that in mind while you mull it over.

What’s new with the Cameo 4?

The Cameo 4 will come in 3 sizes: 12″, 15″ and 20″. The new Cameo 4 will still have the dual carriage however the second slot will be for additional tools such as a rotary blade or knife tool. The second slot will have significantly more downforce for these cutting tools so you won’t be able to use a sketch pen or the Foil Quill in this second slot in the Cameo 4 which means back to switching out for these tools.

The new Cameo 4 has a built-in, slide-out roll holder for those vinyl crafters out there which is pretty rockin’. Also, the AutoBlade will be single tap instead of the multi-tap to get it in position. The tools for the Cameo 4 have a larger circumference and are not backward compatible with Cameo 3 or prior.

The other thing I wanted to mention here is even though the price point on these machines is going up, Silhouette will still be less expensive than the Cricut Maker. While, the number of tools available for the new Cameo 4 hasn’t quiet reached those available for the Cricut Maker, the cutting abilities go beyond the Cricut Maker. The new Cameo 4 can cut up to 10′ (feet) while the Maker is limited to only 2′.

There are updates to Silhouette Studio as well but we’ll cover those in another post. For now, I just wanted to bring to your attention that the Cameo 3 production is coming to an end sooner rather than later.