# $200 Cutter Advice



## xtraheavy99 (Nov 26, 2011)

*$300 Cutter Advice*

I've got $200-$300 dedicated to getting a simple cutter. I have researched Cricut, Silohette, CraftRobo, USCutter, and some Chinese cutters on eBay ("PCUT").

Which of these ultra-low-cost and/or small format cutters is best for cutting heat-transfer shirt vinyl? Which of them is no-good at cutting heat-transfer shirt vinyl?

I don't need many features, optical-eye/contour cutting doesn't matter that much. I just want to send True-type font based text to a cutter and have it cut vinyl I can heatpress onto shirts.

Maybe one day I'll buy a GX24 but for now I'd like something cheap. Cutting letter-sized paper vinyl is fine. I know I can double my budget and get a GCC Expert, but I want to keep things at my budget for now 

Thanks!


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## tankueray (Apr 16, 2010)

No to the cricut, you can no longer use third party software with it and you'll be locked in to buying their software and those stupid cartridges. I have a uscutter mh871, and it's great for vinyl, but the included software and the instructions leave much to be desired. 
Check out the new knk zing, you'll have to get on the waiting list, but it looks like a good compromise between craft and commercial cutters. 

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

What are you expecting from a 200.00 cutter?......


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## Nick Horvath (Feb 26, 2010)

I agree that you will not end up with anything too great for $200. 

Best to look at the Expert 24 for an inexpensive cutter for around $400 from most vendors.


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

I have a us cuter lasercut that was around $300ish. It works great. I mean it's not as quiet or smooth as some of the gerbers I've used in the past, but come on it's a $300 cutter we use for names and numbers. It's great!


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## xtraheavy99 (Nov 26, 2011)

Thanks for the replies guys! I think I'm gonna go with the Silhouette Cameo. It's all over the place for $270 shipped, is backed by a credible manufacturer and credible dealers, and can do 12-inches wide cuts which is more than I had intended. (It can also do contour cuts!)

The wider Chinese cutters (ironically branded US Cutter) are tempting but I feel safer with the Cameo.

USCutter's eBay listings state that they will not accept returns of Dead-On-Arrival cutters. I understand they do that so they can sell the cutters very cheaply but I do not find it an acceptable way to do business. Even if I'm in the 98% of people who get a good cutter, I don't see the justification in not upping the price of each cutter $10 or $20 to take back occasional DOA equipment. The elasticity of the markup will be minimal and will be far-offset by the trust lost with such careless policies . . . Unless, of course there are bigger concerns than the DOA potential . . .


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

It is a "toy".....


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## xtraheavy99 (Nov 26, 2011)

royster13 said:


> It is a "toy".....


Please be constructive. Neither of your posts are helpful and this one is both disparaging and a little insulting.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

So would you rather I lied and said "I think that is a great plan"?.....Sorry but it is what it is, a low end hobby cutter.....And a real bad idea in my mind......But feel free to take someone else's opinion.....And good luck!...


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## ljfgeorgia (Nov 30, 2011)

I looked at the Silhouette Cameo as well - budget doesn't allow for too much and since I am new and have nothing to compare to thought I may try it. I would be very interested to know how it works for you and what you think once you give it a try. Thanks so much!


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## xtraheavy99 (Nov 26, 2011)

royster13 said:


> So would you rather I lied and said "I think that is a great plan"?.....Sorry but it is what it is, a low end hobby cutter.....And a real bad idea in my mind......But feel free to take someone else's opinion.....And good luck!...


Thank you for your opinion and for taking the time to respond.

Can you tell me: do you own this cutter? Or any of the other cutters mentioned or any cutter that can be readily purchased for under $300? If so, what have been your specific experiences (ie. "model: experience")? If not, have you ever used any such or similar cutter for the purposes I outline in my original post and if so what were those specific experiences?

I am very interested in these sorts of well-informed insights based on relevant experience.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

My 1st cutter was a GCC Expert 24 which sells for 450.00.....My second cutter is a Cut-3000 (re-branded GCC Bengal).....Not sure if your can still buy it as a Cut-3000 but a GCC Bengal sells for 890.00...Both are wonderful cutters.....And have served me well and made me money....

I have no personal experience with lesser cutters but having read lots of posts on this and other forums I gather they are more trouble than they are worth.....I have had the chance to use a Graphtec CE-5000 and it did not rock my world....I have also used a SummaCut D75 and think that is a very good cutter.....Mind you it ought to be for 2,500.00......

From what i understand, Sign Warehouse has sold 1,000s of their low end cutters on Ebay....They have a forum that might be useful for research.... Sign Making, Sign Supplies, Vinyl Cutters, Sign Cutters, Vinyl Banners, Wide Format Color Printers, Laser Engravers Their Ebay store is Vinyl Supplies, Large or Wide Format Printer items in Sign Equipment store on eBay! 

If you do a search of various forums you will find lots of discussions about cheap cutters and the unhappy folks that bought them...I am sorry for being so blunt at times, but I would not like to see another person end up with a cutter that does not live up to their expectations.....

Good luck....


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## Ribcage (Nov 4, 2010)

I don't agree that the silhouette and the cameo are toys. Many people on these forums, myself included, have started successful businesses using these. Personally, I've used a silhouette plotter, a Gerber 15" sprocketed plotter and a 54" mimaki plotter. The silhouette is very dependable and I still use it often. It's great for small jobs. If it ever breaks, I'll likely replace it with the cameo. The main thing when your motivated to get started is to get started. If $300 is all you have and you buy the cameo, great. You'll work hard, sell some shirts and buy whatever cutter you want.


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

royster13 said:


> My 1st cutter was a GCC Expert 24 which sells for 450.00.....Both are wonderful cutters.....And have served me well and made me money....


See and I had a completely different experience. I briefly had an expert 24 and thought it was a piece of junk. The construction was sturdier than the US cutter I have now, but the quality of the cut was much worse.


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## CreativiTEES (Sep 1, 2010)

I have a Silhouette SD the model before the Cameo that only cuts 9 in and the cost was less than $200. When I was looking to buy it over a year and a half ago I asked the same questions and got the same answers. Its not a toy but its not a workhorse its good for what it is for the price that it is and for its print and cut feature. I use it for my side business, for after hours at the shop so it suites my needs. I will upgrade to be able to cut a bigger size soon but this has served its purpose, helped me make money to upgrade. I just recently cut out 40 designs out of a dark color transfer papers for a shirt order with no problem, but I only get that every once in a while not everyday so it works for me. So bottom line if you are gonna be going hard on this thing a couple hours a day a couple days a week, I would spend a little more at first. But for mostly little stuff and occasional big orders its a great investment. I have many shirts in my album that I made with my little machine so you can see what it can do.


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## Nick Horvath (Feb 26, 2010)

I would also like to add that a 12 inch cutter will limit you as most heat applied vinyl is 20 inches wide now. You will have to trim all of your vinyl before using. Its a fine cutter, but the width will make things more difficult for you when designing.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

The new Cameo will have more downforce than its predecessor so that's a plus. Besides the width that Nick mentioned, the only real issue I see is that you will be limited with the software you can use with it and the blades may be very expensive to replace. If you go with a traditional vinyl cutter vs a craft cutter, you will be able to use CorelDraw and have a huge selection of aftermarket blades at all price points.

I personally have a 24" cutter but I still cut off pieces of vinyl from my rolls and never actually put the whole roll in it so I don't really see an issue with the size of the vinyl roll no matter how narrow the cutter. 

If you don't mind going into this with the mindset that you may need to upgrade someday when you've made some money, then maybe an inexpensive craft cutter may be okay for you.

You might also want to check Craigslist and eBay for a used cutter. When I was looking for a cap press, I found all kinds of stuff where people were just trying to get rid of things and selling them for like $50 or $100. I would imagine you would be able to find deals like that on cutters as well.


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## xtraheavy99 (Nov 26, 2011)

Thank you everybody for your replies. They are all wonderful and helpful.

I decided to go with the Cameo. I got it today, got everything set-up, got some vinyl, cut some vinyl, pressed some shirts.

Rather than write out all the details, I think I'm going to make a video over the next couple days demonstrating the process. (I feel like everything I know is thanks to this forum and Youtube and that I need to contribute something back.)

There are both pros and cons (many of which have been discussed here) but overall I'm happy with my purchase. Now, let's see this thing pay for its replacement!  Video soon!


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## Ribcage (Nov 4, 2010)

xtraheavy99 said:


> Thank you everybody for your replies. They are all wonderful and helpful.
> 
> I decided to go with the Cameo. I got it today, got everything set-up, got some vinyl, cut some vinyl, pressed some shirts.
> 
> ...


I'm popping some popcorn and looking forward to your video!


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## Michae1 (Jan 31, 2012)

Any chance of that video being uploaded? I am planning on buying one of these very soon, but have yet to see a video of it printing for t shirts..... Looking forward to seeing it


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Michae1 said:


> Any chance of that video being uploaded? I am planning on buying one of these very soon, but have yet to see a video of it printing for t shirts..... Looking forward to seeing it


Cutters do not print shirts.....


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## Michae1 (Jan 31, 2012)

Sorry meant cutting for tshirts, as in vinyl flex for tshirt printing


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## DecalAvenue (Sep 4, 2014)

What people don't know (maybe), is that the Silhouette CAMEO is made by Graphtec, a big competitor of Roland.

The Cameo is a great vinyl cutter to start, then when you have the money to go big just do it. I have the cameo and still using it for small or low quantity jobs.


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## AngelicEndeavour (Aug 12, 2013)

*Re: $300 Cutter Advice*

I also have the cameo and I have cut regular HTV, glitter HTV, Oracal, contour cut opaque transfer paper and printable vinyl -- with those materials I've made shirts, tote bags, koozies, pillows, dog t-shirts, dog bowls, dog treat canisters -- you name it! I've only been toying with mine for a few months, and I've made the money back that I paid for it, twice over! Seeing some of the work I did with it, got me a nice job that I ultimately used plastisol transfers for -made $500 on that job alone! I LOVE my Cameo -- the settings are all pre-set, all I have to do is change the blade depth by turning the dial on the blade to the setting they tell you -- couldn't be any easier! Saves me a lot of troubles I see others post when using the REAL cutters. For my purposes, the Cameo is PERFECT and I will stay with it! I am also impressed by the level of detail that I am able to cut with it!


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

Just like Angelic, All of the above apply to me too. the blades aren't expensive (I bought a couple of spares just in case, as I was working it hard I thought, cutting glitter vinyl for hen shirts, but have yet to change a blade in my first year or so) My partner also uses it to cut epson sublimation photo's out to go into lockets, and lace edges and lace inserts on decent thick card for birthdays etc.

The same old joke applies here "someone's stolen my wife and Cameo,, Reward for return of Cameo!"


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