Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is the ultimate crafting machine. It seems like the Martha Stewart meets stay at home mom, meets small business machine. The only catch is that it isn't easy. You can design anything you want in the Internet accessible design space. But if you don't have a reliable internet connection then you really won't be able To use this machine. The only way to create and do anything is in design space which is a free download on any platform or device but it isn't accessible "offline." It's also not easy to freehand a design if it's even possible, I haven't figured it out. It's pretty much a less intuitive photoshop type of program. The good news? The possibilities are endless. You can work with so many different medium and there endless groups on Facebook, boards on Pinterest, websites, blogs, Twitter accounts all devoted to this machine and it's counter parts. There are literally millions of YouTube videos on how to make millions of different crafts from paper crafts, to customizing tshirts and anything else your heart desires. The bad news? The machine doesn't come with anything you need to do all that. Want to make a paper craft? You probably need a scoring blade (not included.) You Want to write on your paper craft not only do you need a pen (which you can just use any old pen you have to buy cricut brand pen or other pens that other people have determined will work with the machine, but some people still have trouble. And oh yeah, you also need the pen attachment (not included.) Want to do something on heavier material? You need a different blade (not included.) You have to buy vinyl if you want to make a lot of projects. But be careful what vinyl you buy because there are so many kinds, indoor, outdoor, heat. And for whatever you want to do you have to use the right vinyl or it will be ruined or not work at all. And even if you use the right vinyl there are plenty of brands and some of them don't work well, like the cricut brand vinyl apparently isn't as good as others. And you probably will want a million other tools, like transfer tape, quilling tools, scrapers, weeding tools... This list goes on. So you spend $200 on a machine you can't do much successfully with out of the box. The blades wear out, the sticky green mat you have to have is too sticky when you get it but loses it's stickiness so quickly it also needs to be replaced often. The amount of money you have to spend to get up and running seems insane. And the upkeep on tools and accessories seems quite high as well. They advertise you get an all access pass for free for a 30 day trial and then after that it's $9.99. But in some cases it's $7.99 but who knows who and why some people get charged $7.99 or $9.99. And even when you pay for or use the free trial there are still many designs that are premade for you that still cost money above and beyond the membership. And since figuring out how to use the thing takes so much time and effort for you to do on your own, you'll probably just decided to pay for the membership or buy whatever it is that is premade for you. So again more money. And some people get charged double and it's hard to customize, if it's even possible (I can't figure it out honestly.) Many people have issues on different browsers. I have had this almost 2 months and I have yet to make one project successfully the way I want. If you want this machine or another like it I suggest you throughly do you research and have the time to figure out how to use it. Like a whole weekend free to just mess around. Or have a friend or several who have one and use it so you can learn to use it with their guidance. I wouldn't have bought this machine if I had known how much money I would spend on top of the machine just to do some of the more simple things I want to do.