I am so excited to bring you the review for the Silhouette Cameo 3 as this machine brings us some new features. Now keep in mind this review will concentrate on the machine ONLY. At the time of this review Silhouette, America HAS NOT released the new Silhouette Studio software. Below is my full video review, however under the video I will also go into more details on the new Silhouette Cameo 3 to help with your buying decision!

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY 

The Silhouette Cameo 3 offers some great cosmetic and convenience advancements over the Silhouette Cameo 2. Now for this review I will not cover features and benefits already released and used in previous machines. Just for some peace of mind this machine WILL SUPPORT Print-Then-Cut/Tracing (Seen Here), PixScan Technology (Seen Here). Neither of these received upgrades on the machine, however it might be updated with the new release of the Silhouette Studio. The machine also features some breakout hits of the Silhouette Cameo 2, including a cross-cutter and storage (lots of it) Here is some of the features of the Silhouette Cameo 3:

The Silhouette AutoBlade is Silhouette's version of the Cricut Explore Machine's smart dial. It is exclusive to the Silhouette Cameo 3. Now the Silhouette AutoBlade works by self-adjusting the blade to the settings in Silhouette Studio by  "punching" in the auto blade portion of the machine. This does not eliminate the selection of material in the current version of the software! It is important to note that you still have to select the correct material and program specialty materials. All the Silhouette AutoBlade does is change it to that setting eliminate the user from doing it. It is important that in the current version of the software the Silhouette AutoBlade DOES NOT adjust to the material rather to what the program is stating that material should be set at. This might change in update Silhouette Studio programs, but for me was a HUGE disappointment. 

Now let's talk about the touch screen and the ability to cut CORD free as the Silhouette Cameo 3 welcomes Bluetooth technology, or does it? The new touch screen display is pretty nice and simplified. It now features an unload/load to lessen the confusion around material vs mat option. The touchscreen allows you to change the language, set sleep time, change the color scheme, display help icons, and even view tutorials. In addition to the new features, they have added a speaker that gives you sound while you make selections. However, the most exciting addition to the menu is the ability to use BLUETOOTH! These features finally give Silhouette users the ability to cut without a USB cord. Now keep in mind Silhouette released two different bundles a STANDARD edition and a BLUETOOTH edition. Here is how you will note the difference:

Now for the following keep in mind that Silhouette has not released the updated Studio. With that said, the user experience for the Silhouette Cameo 3 was terrible. The way you connect to Bluetooth is frustrating and even to the day of this release I have YET to get Silhouette Studio to connect to my Bluetooth. After spending 2 hours on this (I kid you not), I have come to the conclusion that I will not be able to use this feature at this time. I researched in many groups, chat forums, and online only to find out that MANY users were experiencing this same issue and the ONLY people who I have seen connect to Bluetooth are the select few people who were sent a machine ahead of time. I have YET to see a video showing the Silhouette Cameo 3 actually connecting to Bluetooth. This was beyond frustrating and actually made me walk away from my review to not tarnish my other thoughts on this machine. Hopefully in the updated software this issue will be resolved or many users will be upset. 

This brings me to the BIGGEST FRUSTRATION that I have with the Silhouette Cameo 3, the force of the machine! The Silhouette Cameo 3 has a cutting force of 210 grams, and guess what? That is the EXACT cutting force of the Silhouette Cameo 2. What did they change, well they gave you a higher clearance on the machine to fit thicker materials, but not necessarily CUT thicker materials. And the noise level? Exactly the same as previous models!! The Silhouette Cameo 3 is compatible with the Deep Cut Blade, combined with double cuts that might be able to cut thicker materials...BUT NOT GUARANTEED! This machine will be able to cut Paper, Tissue Paper, Vinyl, Iron-On, Craft Foam, Light Weight Fabric, and Rhinestone. This machine WILL STRUGGLE with thicker materials like Leather, Balsa Wood, Acetate, Shrinky Dinks, and more. This is the "What were they thinking?" of my review as this is the biggest PRO for the Cricut Explore Machine. The fact that the  Cricut Explore Machine can cut these materials and at a fraction of the sound, would be enough for me as the owner of a competitor machine to invest in improving my next machine. I feel this was a misstep on Silhouette's part.