Hey Everyone! Ken here with Ken's Kreations.
Before you read this post it is important to note that I DO NOT work for either Cricut/Provocraft or Silhouette America. I have been asked to do beta testing for Cricut, and would be happy to beta test for Silhouette America if they asked me. My opinions are my own and I am not being paid to represent them.
So one of the main questions I get on a daily basis is what cutting machine to go with. This is a very personal question for me as I have owned both machines, and to be honest I felt as I had "been there/done that" with Cricut. I started with Cricut and then when I go frustrated with the company, I too made the leap over to the Silhouette Cameo. I was happy with this machine. To this day I still feel that the silhouette is a great machine and it has held up to everything that Silhouette America has promised. Well as many of know on my channel I love to test new machines, so when Cricut released the news that they had a new machine coming out I just had to test it. The Cricut Explore was released and the first thing I knew I wanted to do was to compare the two machines.
Now I have made 3 different YouTube videos comparing these two machines:
I first compared the general cutting of the machines. In this video I showed how each machine cut intricate designs, circles and more. Now some people have accused me of being biased, however if you watch the video I am more surprised than anything as this was the FIRST Cricut machine to cut as good as the Silhouette for me. You have to remember up to this video for over 1.5 years I was using the Silhouette Cameo.
In the next video I showed how these two machines compared to cutting material. Now that I had both of these machines for some time I personally noticed I was grabbing the Cricut Explore more for thicker materials that my Silhouette Cameo could not cut easily.
For my last video I wanted to compare these machines in how they performed Print Then Cut. I was largely attacked for doing this video as some people said that if I did certain things to my Silhouette Cameo I would have got better results. The entire point of this video was to show the ease of the Print Then Cut on the Cricut Explore and to show that the calibration process was easier and the process of Print Then Cut is a simple 3 step process versus the complicated tracing process on the Silhouette Cameo.
Up to this point I have been doing these comparisons on my own to give people an idea of what machine to choose. Every day I get over 15 emails asking what machine do I recommended and through a series of questions I can point them to the right machine, which is NOT ALWAYS the Cricut Explore.
Up to this point I have been going off my own videos, which many people have accused of being biased which is each individuals right to say. Now we have TWO independent companies doing testing on these two machines and here are the result.
First of all a 3rd part company, Percept Labs (www.percept.com) , performed an independent study of the machines. Percept has worked with larger companies like Microsoft on product testing, analysis and competitive benchmarking. They bought both the sets of machines independently in the market. And then did their own testing for several weeks. Here are the results:
First of all a 3rd part company, Percept Labs (www.percept.com) , performed an independent study of the machines. Percept has worked with larger companies like Microsoft on product testing, analysis and competitive benchmarking. They bought both the sets of machines independently in the market. And then did their own testing for several weeks. Here are the results:
PRECISION REPORT
The next comes with a comparrison of multiple machines that compare MANY die cutting machines. If you are not familiar with Top Ten Reviews, take a look at who they are and what they do by clicking HERE. For 2015 they tested all of the most popular die cutting machines and rate them on a 10 point scale. Here is their results of the machines from top pick down:
As you can see the Cricut Explore came out higher on the list with a score of 8.2/10 versus the Silhouette Cameo which was a 6.45/10.
The next comes with a comparrison of multiple machines that compare MANY die cutting machines. If you are not familiar with Top Ten Reviews, take a look at who they are and what they do by clicking HERE. For 2015 they tested all of the most popular die cutting machines and rate them on a 10 point scale. Here is their results of the machines from top pick down:
As you can see the Cricut Explore came out higher on the list with a score of 8.2/10 versus the Silhouette Cameo which was a 6.45/10.
Both of these independent companies confirm what I have also found in my series of YouTube videos. The Cricut Explore:
In testing, the Silhouette Cameo was only able to cut 1 of 8 popular crafting materials such as leather, chipboard, aluminum, and magnet sheets. The Cricut Explore machine cut nearly 100% of the tested materials.
I can say with confidence now that the machine I choose when in my craft room is the Cricut Explore. I understand this machine is not for everyone, however I have never been so happy with a personal cutting machine and it amazes me everyday to see how well this machine performs. If you are trying to decided what machine to go with, don't just take my advice look at what all of these bloggers are saying:
These are just a few people in the crafting world who have expressed how well this machine performs compared to the Silhouette Cameo.
I will continue to test machines and do reviews on my YouTube Channel on new machines as they come out as I know people are always looking for the next new thing. However I have to say that the Cricut Explore has made me fall in love with Cricut again. This past summer I have to admit that I had an affair with my Silhouette Cameo and ended up divorcing her for the Cricut Explore.
If you have any questions which machine is right for you, please feel free to reach out to me!
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