Electronic Die Cutting Machine Comparison
You want an electronic die cutting machine but you’re not sure which one is the best for you. Most articles out there for all of these machines seem to be centered around cutting vinyl for decals and shirts but you want to know which one is best for paper crafts! Today we’ll take a look at the Silhouette Cameo, the Cricut, and Brother’s ScanNCut. I’m comparing the price to get started, the price of replacement mats and blades, software, and ease of use. I’ll also look at the best places to purchase online for the best deals possible.
All three of these electronic die cutting machine function in pretty much the same fashion. You place something to cut onto a cutting mat, load the mat into the machine, then using the software, tell the machine what to cut and where to cut the material on the mat. The options for software, accessories, and ease of use is what sets each machine apart.
As we know pricing is going to vary over time, so keep in mind the price that I discuss here is as of April 8, 2019. I’m looking at basic prices from the manufacturers and bundle prices from other retailers.
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Electronic Die Cutting Machine Comparison
Silhouette Cameo 3 Electronic Die Cutting Machine
I’m going to start with the Silhouette Cameo 3. Here are the general features of the machine and the software Silhouette Studio:
- Cuts over 100 materials (paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric) up to 12 inches wide.
- Print and Cut Technology; PixScan Technology
- Dual Carriage for two tools at once
- Bluetooth
- AutoBlade
- Silhouette Studio Design Software (not web-based), 4 Versions for different levels of creating
Silhouette Cameo 3 Electronic Die Cutting Machine Price and What’s Included
The price from the manufacturer is $299.99. What’s included in the box from the manufacturer?
- the machine (of course)
- power cable & USB cable
- 1 standard cutting mat
- 1 AutoBlade
- 1
Crosscutter - Silhouette Studio Standard Software download
- 100 exclusive designs and 1 month of Silhouette Design Store subscription. Keep in mind you don’t have to the subscription to make purchases from the Silhouette Design Store.
I do not recommend purchasing a machine from the manufacturer in this case just because the price is SO high. The best place to buy a Silhouette Cameo 3 is Amazon! Here’s the weird part: the best-priced bundles are sold by Silhouette America through Amazon. Crazy! But what’s in the bundle?
- Everything from the list above plus
- An additional standard cutting mat
- An additional AutoBlade
- 4 Sketch Pens
- 5 Piece Tool Kit that includes – scraper, ruler, hook tool, spatula tool, and a quick pickup tool
There are a wide range of bundles for the Silhouette Cameo. Most of them cater to the vinyl cutting crowd. If that’s what you’re looking for then I suggest checking out the bundles over on Swing Design.
Silhouette Cameo 3 Electronic Die Cutting Machine Replacement Mats and Blades
All electronic die cutting machines use consumable materials (meaning the items get used up and need to be replaced) which include cutting mats and blades. The price of replacing these items is something to consider when you are making your decision on which electronic die cutting machine to purchase. One important thing to note: if you purchase off-brand cutting mats and blades for your Silhouette Cameo 3, it could void the warranty.
The standard Silhouette cutting mat come is 12 x12 and is around $12 each. And that’s pretty average if you purchase the mats online. In the local craft store, the mats are around $15 each. (And keep in mind you can’t use local craft store coupons on most Silhouette products. Be sure to read the fine print to see if a coupon can be used.) And of course, you can purchase bundles of mats that bring the price per mat down.
How often do you need to replace the mat? That’s going to depend on how often you use the mat and what kind of material you’re cutting. I use my mats until there’s no stick left and it looks like a team of hockey players have been skating over it. Also, there are unfortunately counterfeit mats out there that do not last. Read the reviews of the product if you purchase online. The one linked below is the genuine article.
Blades are little more complicated only because there are options. The AutoBlade replacement is about $11 for a single blade. And these come in bundles too that bring the price down. But there are also other blades available. There’s a Deep Cut Blade, Fabric Blade, Premium Blade, and a Rachet Blade. Since I cut paper, I tend to stick with the AutoBlade and the Rachet Blade. The only difference in the two blades is the Rachet Blade has to be adjusted manually while the AutoBlade is adjusted by the machine.
How often do you need to replace the blade? Again that depends on how much you use it. I cut a lot more now than I used to and I’m still going strong with the AutoBlade. The Premium Blade supposedly lasts the longest time but it is the most expensive option for blades.
Silhouette Cameo 3 Electronic Die Cutting Machine Software and Ease of Use
I’ve grouped software and ease of use because the software is generally where folks start to get nervous. Silhouette Studio is a rather robust design software but there are four levels so it doesn’t have to be scary. With the Standard edition that is free, you can start cutting images from the Silhouette Design Store right away. If you want to cut SVG files then you’ll need to upgrade to the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. It’s a one time fee to upgrade to a different version and the prices for upgrades are very reasonable.
The tutorials available for Silhouette Studio are pretty good from the manufacturer’s website. There are tons of them on YouTube too. The only issue is most of the tutorials are dated since Silhouette does make significant improvements to the software rather often.
Cricut Explore Air 2 Electronic Die Cutting Machine
Here are the general features described on the Cricut website.
- Cuts over 100 materials (also writes and scores)
- Dual Carriage for two tools at once
- Bluetooth
- Up to 2X faster cutting and writing
- Cricut Design Space (web based)
Cricut Explore Air 2 Electronic Die Cutting Machine Price and What’s Included
The suggested retail price of the Explore Air 2 is around $299 but looks to be marked down to $229. Included in the box is
- Cricut Explore Air™ 2 machine
- Premium Fine-Point Blade + Housing
- Fine Point Pen, Black
- LightGrip Mat, 12″ x 12″ (30.5 cm x 30.5 cm)
- Welcome Book
- USB cable
- Power adapter
- Free trial membership to Cricut Access™ (for new subscribers)
- 50 ready-to-make projects
- Materials for a practice project
There aren’t as many bundles available for the Explore Air 2 as there are for the Silhouette Cameo 3. In this case, you can purchase this machine pretty much anywhere for the same price and get the same stuff.
Cricut Explore Air 2 Electronic Die Cutting Machine Replacement Mats and Blades
Mats for the Explore Air 2 come in various levels of grip or stickiness. There’s the Light Grip, Standard Grip, Strong Grip, and the Fabric Grip. There’s also two sizes available 12 x 12 and 12 x 24. A single Standard Grip, 12 x 12 mat is around $15. The other two mats are more expensive.
Blades for the Cricut Explore Air 2 are a little different. When you purchase replacements you can purchase just the blade or the housing and the blade together. Both have different price points. Just replacing the blade will run you about $7-$10 online and replacing the blade and housing will be around $25. There are lots of generic blades with pretty cheap price points but be sure to read your warranty before purchasing generic blade replacements.
There are also many different kinds of blades for the Explore Air 2 that include the Deep-Point Blade, Bonded-Fabric Blade, Knife Blade, Rotary Blade, and Scoring Wheel.
Cricut Explore Air 2 Electronic Die Cutting Machine Software and Ease of Use
Again, I’m grouping these two together. Cricut Design Space is a web-based application. It has pretty basic functions but assumes you’ll be starting with a pre-made project of some kind. And there seems to be only one version of the web application. Since the assumption is there that you’re starting with a project, all you do is click, adjust placement, and cut. It’s pretty straight forward.
Brother ScanNCut
- 631 Built-in deisgns including 7 fonts
- Cuts materials up to 2mm thick
- 300dpi Scanner
- Edit directly on LCD touch screen (No computer required)
Brother ScanNCut Electronic Die Cutting Machine Price and What’s Included
The Brother ScanNCut is the priciest option but remember, it does have a built-in scanner. This machine will run you around $240 to $350 depending on where you make the purchase and which version of the machine you purchase. There are currently three versions of the machine. All of three versions do the same thing but a little better with each version. I don’t know of anyone that has one of these machines for anything other than cutting out stamped images.
- Standard cut blade holder with blade
- Spatula
- 12 x 12 Inch cutting mat
- Two color pen set – black and red
- Pen holder
- Touch Pen
- 4.85″ LCD touch screen display, 30% larger than before!
- Wireless Network Ready, PC Connectivity, or Stand-Alone
- Over 600 designs and 7 built-in fonts
- 300 DPI Built-in Scanner – Create your own cut files. Machine memory – 1MB or 60 pockets
- Enhanced Scanning – RGB color recognition. 631 designs and 7 built-in fonts
- ScanNCutCanvas – Free cloud-based web application for editing and designing cut data.
- New project gallery provides step by step instructions and downloadable cut files to create unique projects
- SVG file readability and import
USB cable is required (not included) and wireless connectivity card sold separately
Brother ScanNCut Electronic Die Cutting Machine Replacement Mats and Blades
It seems everything for this machine is more expensive. The mats are 12 x 12 and will run you anywhere from $20 – $30. As with the Cricut, you replace the actual blade and not the housing. The blades are about $10 each.
Brother ScanNCut Electronic Die Cutting Machine Software and Ease of Use
The software for the Brother ScanNCut is built into the machine. There’s a little pop-up LCD panel that you edit everything on. At least that’s what the product proclaims. It’s a little confusing because there is also a web-based application that you can “edit and design cut data”. I’m not sure exactly what that means.
Final Thoughts
The Cricut Maker is the most popular Cricut but for just paper crafters it’s honestly overkill. The Cricut Explore Air 2 has everything you need without the larger price tag. If you just want to purchase designs and not create any of your own designs, I’d say check out the Cricut Explore Air 2. Anyone that designs projects to cut with a Cricut does so outside of the Cricut software. So, keep that in mind.
The Brother ScanNCut machines are good for one thing in my mind: die cutting stamped images. I’m sure there are folks out there that will totally disagree with me but Brother isn’t in the designing business. It has its hands in mostly business electronics like printers and calculators. I don’t
I believe the Silhouette cutting system is the best option. Yes, I am a Silhouette Cameo owner and I love my machine. The learning curve is a little bit longer because with the software and the machine you can do SO many things. Silhouette really did design this to be an all in one option for crafters of all kinds. The software is robust enough that you really don’t need to design in another program. And yet it’s simple enough that anyone can use it.
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