(Update: please note that the Silhouette SD has been
discontinued by Silhouette America and replaced with the Silhouette
Cameo.)
-----
(If
you use this machine with Make-the-Cut, please add your opinions about
this machine under the COMMENTS section of this post. Please only comment if you use the Silhouette. Also, do mention if you are using the machine with MTC or Silhouette Studio. If I see any comments relating to any other cutters on this page, I will move or delete it. Thank you.)
MSRP: $299.99 (currently $199.99 on Amazon.com, and $189.99 on Overstock.com)
Official website: Silhouette America
The following
user review
was contributed by my friend Gale, the owner of
Stamps-and-Stitches blog. Gale bought her Silhouette from Amazon.com this past weekend and she just took it out to play today (mar 17). Thank you, Gale, for sharing your review with us.
------------------------------------------- Gale's review -----------------------------------------
Hi. I'm Gale from
stamps-and-stitches.com. I recently decided to switch
from the Cricut Expression to the Silhouette SD. My new Silhouette
arrived yesterday and I had my computer all ready to play with it. It is
a bit involved to use with Make-the-Cut. I had to be sure to install
the craft robo controller and drivers but that was easy enough. I used a
helpful tutorial from the yahoo group MTC_Tuts to set up the Silhouette
to use with MTC. Even so I had some confusion and a few missteps.
Somehow my settings changed to the default after I had originally set
them, which caused a bad cut. Once I figured that out, I had no trouble
whatsoever. I didn't have much luck using multiple papers on one mat but
that's something I will definitely experiment with again. It seemed
like as the mat moved, some of the papers lifted ever so slightly and
got caught up in the machine somehow. It was super easy to separate my
cuts in MTC though, and cut them individually. Since I was more
comfortable using the same area of the mat each time, I just put the
shapes on their own pages and cut each one separately. The Silhouette
cut easily even through 110# cardstock in just one pass. In fact, I
think could have used a lighter setting. I didn't try cutting anything
intricate with the thicker cardstock but it did a great job on thinner
patterned paper. I felt that the cuts were more accurate than the ones
made by the Cricut and they were very clean and smooth. On thicker
cardstock (like the kind Stampin' Up sells) there was just a little at
the corners of right-angle cuts that didn't seem to cut through cleanly
but I didn't have it on the thickest setting. I think the only thing
that is a downer on this machine is the maximum size. Even so I rarely
cut any shapes on the cricut that won't fit on this-I just wouldn't be
able to cut as many from a single sheet. Also the mats and blades cost
quite a bit more and are not as easy to find. But there are instructions
online about how to make mats from quilting plastic and cutting boards,
which I will try this weekend. It is a bit loud but luckily my craft
room is far from all the bedrooms so there's no danger of waking anyone
up during a late night cutting session. Anyway it's probably just barely
louder than the cricut. All in all, I'm very happy with it so far!
------------------------------------------- end of Gale's review ------------------------------------
This is the first card that Gale made with her brand new Silhouette and the Make-the-Cut program. To read more about Gale's adventure with her new cutter, go to
Stamps-and-Stitches.com
The next
user review
was contributed by Amy Chomas, the owner of
Chomas Creations, the seller of gel pens and gel pen holders. Thank
you, Amy, for taking the time to share your review with us!
------------------------------------- start of review --------------------------------------
I got the Silhouette originally because of the amazing downloadable designs that were offered for the machine. And they roll in at, get this, a mere $.99 each! Better
yet, you can buy a subscription and for around $16 a month I get almost
150 downloads! (some files are licensed and cost $1.99) There are other options for subscriptions depending if you want more or less downloads each month. Now
that I’ve got my Silhouette working with Make-the-Cut I will also be
able to use all the MTC files I already have, as well as SVG files to!
The price for the machines isn’t that bad either, I’ve seen them around $180 for just the machine.
Pros on the Silhouette machine:
Does
an amazing job with the mini gel pen holders to draw or write
journaling, even on fine details and is less jerky then on some other
machines.
Cuts vinyl, you can even add a vinyl roll to the machine and skip the mat, and will cut up to 36 inches in length this way.
Has cheap downloads available in singles, no pricey cartridges and no designs you don’t want! They have a lot of designs from companies like Hero Arts, Cosmo Cricket, SEI, and KI Memories. There are also licensed designs like Peter Rabbit and the Little Miss, Little Mister line.
Does a great job at print and cut when using the Silhouette Studio software and an optical eye. You
print our your image with registration marks in your printer, then put
the image into your Silhouette machine which will read the registration
marks and cut your image.
Has loads of rhinestone template downloads thru the Silhouette store.
Cuts a perfect circle!
Very quick, but of course you can slow down the cutting speed if you need to.
The Silhouette SD comes with an SD slot to save your designs in for on the go use.
Customer service is very helpful. There are yahoo groups that can help with small issues and answer any questions. These ladies have always been super helpful to me.
Cons on the Silhouette machine:
Only cuts to 8 inch in width.
Lacks a lot of pressure, some thick cardstocks like Bazzill may need a double cut to cut all the way through.
Will not cut chipboard.
Blades and mats are pretty pricey. But there are 3rd party companies that make cheaper blades and you can always resticky your mats a few time.
Around me I need to shop online for the blades and mats as I haven’t seen them in any stores. They are easy to find online though.
All
in all a good starter machine, or a good machine for someone that likes
well priced downloadable designs for purchase and doesn’t want to
search the internet for files to download. Very small and very portable.
Thanks, Amy
Visit my blog at http://amychomas.blogspot.com/
for more info, ideas & videos with mini gel pen, mini Sharpie
holders for the Cricut & mini gel pen & mini Sharpie holders for
the Silhouette.
---------------------------------------- end of Amy's review -----------------------------------------
Here are a few things that Amy has made with her Silhouette and Silhouette Studio program:
Thank you, Amy, for the detailed review.
--
The following review
was added to my
call-for-reviews thread on the MTC board by poster Paperthreads. Thank
you, Paperthreads, for taking the time to share your review with us.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any retailer of electronic cutters.
--------------------------------------------------start of review-----------------------------------------
I also use and sell the Silhouette machines. Here are my answers on this machine, based on my experience and opinion. I've not cut to my Silhouette with the MTC software, but have cut to it using Funtime, Illustrator, KNK Studio GE, Silhouette Studio, and Robomaster.
What do you like about the Silhouette?
It's a great small machine, at a lower price. so good for getting into the machine market. The optical eye for print and cuts is a great feature. (I believe you can find brand new machines for about $180 a machine, if you look carefully, and shop specials. We were selling them with a large Christmas package over the holidays at $249, and that included the add on package as well as free shipping to the US.)
Does the Silhouette cut vinyl and chipboard?
Yes to vinyl, no to chipboard. The machine doesn't output enough grams of pressure for chipboard. Vinyl doesn't require much pressure, and so it's able to cut that, and in fact, the company has it's own label of the vinyl on the market.
What do you, as the end-user, think about the pros and cons of the Silhouette?
Cons is that it has a smaller cutting width, and lower end on the amount of pressure.
Pro is the new software that it comes with, plus the ability to use other software programs to cut to the machine, such as MTC, KNK Studio GE, and Funtime. Another pro is the optic eye, once yo master how to use it, the technical aspects of it, etc, you can make some really fun print and cut projects with ease.
Is the Silhouette too slow?
Slower than some machines, but not too slow on a file generated within their program, or on a file cut from another program The files that were "converted" to GSD format from outside programs definitely bog the machine down and slow up the cutting, painfully so.
Is the Silhouette too fast?
Definitely not too fast!
What don't you like about the Silhouette?
For those that want to cut a variety of materials and have the ability to do a variety of tasks, this is probably not the machine for you. It doesn't have the tools and accessories or the pressure and cutting width that other cutters have out there on the market.
Would you recommend the Silhouette?
I do recommend the Silhouette for a certain market of users. It's great for a beginner, someone that doesn't know that they would want to cut larger width, and for someone that is a paper crafter only, and looking to do basics with their machine, yet want the ability to be able to design and cut their own patterns/designs. It's price point is a major selling consideration.
How expensive are the mats and blades for the Silhouette?
Replacement blades for the Silhouette are $12.99 The mats are a bit more expensive than other cutting mats, but the GREAT thing about this machine is you can use lots of different materials to create your own mat! Quilters template, flexible cutting boards from the dollar store, and other plastic type materials.
Are the Silhouette machines and accessories hard to find?
I don't believe they are hard to find, they are online, and at some scrapbook stores. There aren't as many accessories for the machine as there are for the other machines, but this is because the machine doesn't output enough pressure to be able to do some of the other tasks.
How is the customer service like for the Silhouette?
That is one thing they have been pretty successful with, and that is their customer service. They have a customer service team, and they have bee pretty helpful through the years. As they moved under their own brand and redeveloped the company, they maintained that customer service aspect of the company, and I hear very little complaints.
++++++++++++++
We carry a variety of the machines, and I have personal user and knowledge on the other machines out there, not only because I sell the machines themselves, but because I also am a high end user of the machines in a production capacity. The Silhouette machine is used in my other business in production. There are a few things to note though, while I use it in production, a machine used in this capacity only lasts me about a year to year and a half, at which time I have had to replace the machine. After cutting about 45 minutes straight, we have to let the machine "cool down" Note that this is 45 solid minutes of cutting, and there are over 100 pieces on a sheet of paper that we cut, so it's heavy use cutting. We still use the machines in production though, because we can run this machine at the SAME time as we can run our KNK cutters, on the same computer. Outputting to the two cutters doesn't have interference, so it allows us to run two machines at the same time! While the KNK produces nearly 3 times as much cuts in the same time frame as the Silhouette, by adding this smaller machine to our output we are able to cut down on our production time.
--------------------------------------- end of Paperthread's review --------------------------------------
Thank you, Gale, Amy, and Paperthreads for sharing your reviews with us.
Everyone, if you are using this machine, please add your own
review to the COMMENTS section below.
Thanks so much!!
