Cutter 2 of 3: The Boss Kut Gazelle Review (part 1)

Picture by www.bosskut.com

So I placed my order for the Boss Kut Gazelle on March 18, 2011 and it was finally delivered on April 1. If you are following me on Facebook, you would know that I had my first chance at opening the box yesterday. 

This is the box the machine was shipped in:

I had ordered the machine while Boss Kut was running a promotion. The $389 bundle includes the Gazelle electronic cutter, 1 set of Standard Blades, 1 set of Vinyl Blades, 1 Deep Cut Blade, and 1 extra 12"x12"cutting mat. In addition to the bundle, I also ordered the Embossing Tool and mat, a 12" x 24" cutting mat, the Engraving Tool, and the Pre-Set Blade Holder.

I thought it was funny that the Gazelle box is so much bigger than the Silhouette SD box. That is clearly a reflection of the difference in sizes of the two cutters.

The embossing mat and the 12"x 24" cutting mat were tucked into the side of the outer box.

 The machine also comes with the Funtime software.

Getting the machine out of the box was a struggle because the styrofoam packing fit really tightly in the box but I managed to get it out without screaming out any expletives. :-P

As soon as I see the machine, I remembered why I hesitated ordering it. I don't like pink! Definitely not shocking pink. I wished that the makers of this cutter had used a different color for the ends (e.g. red. I love red!) so that I never would have needed to agonize over this purchase.  

Interestingly, while the Gazelle cutter is larger than the Silhouette SD, it is actually smaller than the Cricut.

If you recall from this post, the Cricut Expression weighs over 12 lbs while the Silhouette SD weighs exactly at 4lbs. The Gazelle cutter weighs in at 9lb 13ozs or almost 10 lbs.

The machine comes with one 12"x12" cutting mat and the promotional bundle was supposed to include a second 12"x12" cutting mat. Apparently, the promotion was so popular that they sold out of machines and ran out of cutting mats. Debbie of Boss Kut did call ahead to ask if they could substituted it with the Thick Media Cutting Mat which is supposed to have a stronger adhesive to hold down thicker materials like chipboard.

 

The blades for the Gazelle looks very much like those used in the Cricut except that there are blades specifically meant for cutting with vinyl.

The Gazelle's blade holder that comes with the machine looks very different from the Cricut's. I decided that I don't want to fiddle with it so I bought the Pre-set Blade Holder which looks very much like the Cricut's, a machine that I am too familiar with.

Both are Gazelle's blade holders. The original blade holder is on the left.

This is how the blade holder is held by the machine's "clamp". While I really like that the blade holders are made of metal, I am not really impressed by the way the blade holder is secured by a single screw thing. It makes the whole clamp mechanism feel a little clumsy. Once I screwed the thing tight enough, the blade holder was firmly secured.

Compare this to the Cricut Expressions' clamp. While I really don't like the "cheapy" plastic blade housing, I do prefer the way it is held by the machine.

There are only 7 buttons on the Gazelle:

Here's another look at the size difference between the Cricut and the Gazelle.

For a first impression, I must say that I'm liking how the Gazelle looks and feels. Even though I really don't like the shocking pink color, I like how "solid" the machine feels. It is mostly constructed out of metal and it definitely does not feel like it is cheaply made at all. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the front cover to find how heavy that cover is. Unlike the Cricut and the Silhouette, the cover is mostly made of metal and I really like the feel of that.

I am not interested in learning about the Funtime program because Make-the-Cut does everything that I want a cutting software to do. I am going to try to figure out how I can cut to the Gazelle with MTC. Wish me luck!

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