Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This was so easy to set up....and I am TERRIBLE with techny stuff. Within an hour of getting the Cameo, I was ready to test drive it and the first cut came out perfectly. The paper did stick A LOT though on the first trial so if you have a mat scraper and spatula, that will greatly help. I did the trick a woman suggested on You Tube and that is to "treat" the mat a few times by applying it against a fleece or tissu to soften the tackiness or stickiness of the mat. I bought a few designs from its online store and its really cool. Whenever I had any problem with the Cameo or downloading the designs, I called customer care and it was there, ready to serve and answer my questions. Fabbbbulous customer service, and it's also one of the reason why I bought this machine (and not its competitor based on the positive customer care reviews). Wow....have been playing with the Cameo for the past hour and I'm just LOVING it. Have lots of plans and scrapbooking projects and having this cutter will be wonderful. Highly recommend the purchase. Will update in a few months since I just got it today. Nov. 19, 2012 OK, I have now owned the Cameo for appx 2 months and I have a better assessment of this tool. I really want to like this machine, and I do to some extent. Unfortunately, I have had to downgrade from a 5 stars to a 3 stars. Let me explain. Firstly, I wish to say that the fact that the Cameo cuts my own images (I buy a lot of digital stamps for coloring/card making) is a big positive in itself. For the most part, if the image is "clean" and does not have too many small details, the Cameo will do a fantastic job at cutting "most" images perfectly. Unfortunately, with time, I have come to notice imperfections with the Cameo though. When the design (I have only used the designs bought from the Silhouette Online Store) has lots of details, fine lines, lots of circles, etc....and thus requires the blade to go back to the same spot multiple times, the machine tends to tear my paper. It does not matter that I will use a smaller blade number; the paper gets torn or the cut is less than desirable. I have now steered clear from doilies, flowers, flourises, borders, etc....that have lots of details or finer ones since I know the job will be butchered. I wish to point out that the size of my design job needs to be reduced considerably bcuz I make cards more than scrapbooks. The size of the cards being smaller than a 12X12 scrapbook page , the card's decorations will be proportionated to it and thus minimized. Moreover, although I have had the chance to play with the blade and its intensity, I still find it's a miss or hit a lot of times. If I use a smaller blade number (example, a 2), the design will not cut properly. I will then have to manually finish the job with an exaclto, leaving the design scarred. On the other hand, if I use a higher number (4 or 5), then the force of the blade is often too strong and that will just tear bits of my paper altogether....SIGH....Also, at first, I used all kinds of paper: cardstock AND beautiful, thinner patterned paper. Yet, the latter cannot withstand the force of the blade, even at number 2 (which, by the way, won't cut smoothly as explained above). These days, I just never bother using the thinner patterned paper bcuz it gets chewed up by the Cameo. No point wasting my nice paper. I tend to use rigid or more solid carstock if I want to increase my chances at getting a good job. This has reduced the type of work/design and paper I can use with the machine. Finally, on more than one occasions, the mat/paper will slide/move while the machine is cutting. That pretty much kills it all. As a final note, I went out and bought a Big Shot from Sizzix. It was mostly for the embossing work but the Big Shot also cuts (with die cuts). I have to say...the die cuts I have seen from Sizzix or other companies (Big Shot is very compatible with most die cuts from other companies) are much, much nicer than a lot of the designs sold by the Silhouette Store. Yes, individual die cuts are much more expensive than the designs marketed by Silhouette (which tend to run appx $0.99 each) but I find it was worth it to buy the Eiffel Tower Die Cut from LalaLand at $20 than the eiffel tower from Silhouette (that design is NOT even pretty). However, I can't use half of the stuff I have bought online from Silhouette in any event (reasons explained above). Furthermore, lots of the Silhouette designs are just NOT pretty or not what one would have expected when just looking at the image in the catalog. Since the store does not give a preview of the finished product, one buys a design based on what one thinks it will look like in the end. Lots of optic misrepresentations when looking at the catalog image so be careful about that. I have been disappointed more than enough times after cutting the design by realizing it was NOTHING like the catalog's image. Had I known about the Big Shot first and tried it out before I got the Cameo, I must confess that I would likely have NOT bought the Cameo. It is still a good tool, I don't argue that, but from my perspective, too expensive for what I have been able to accomplish with it. But on the very positive note, Silhouette's customer service has been very responsive to my inquiries. I rarely get a voice mail. It did happen on a few occasions during business hours, but that was never the norm. I hope that in time, I will get better use out of the Cameo. The Cameo does not come cheap (and I have a good monthly subscription until next year with the Silhouette Store). Update, January 2, 2014 I had to downgrade this product to a one star because I barely ever use it anymore, and when I do, this machine and especially its digital designs do not do anything much for me. I now own a Big Shot and I LOVE that little piece of machine. The die cuts I buy are so much nicer and better than the designs I get out of my Silhouette. I regret making this purchase.