Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The TL;DR: Maybe OK for crafters, more a toy than tool for professional work. It's the iPhone of cutting machines: it looks pretty, the hardware is pretty nice, and even your Grandma can figure it out - but it's not for real work, and is as proprietary as a device/software combination gets. As a graphic designer who sometimes produces printed materials in-house for clients, I had high hopes for using the Cricut Explore for cutting custom-sized/shaped labels, die-cut style business cards, unique handouts, small boxes, envelopes, etc. Sadly, the limitations of this device vastly outweigh its utility for any purpose other than cutesy craft things (not that there's anything wrong with that, in and of itself). After weeks of frustration after frustration, multiple interactions with Cricut Support over chat, I've returned my machine to Amazon, and will never again deal with the Cricut brand. The pluses: The Explorer itself appears to be well-made, and rather easy to set up. I had no technical issues with the hardware, it always did what it was told to do by DesignSpace. Sadly, DesignSpace is the worst piece of design software I've ever encountered in my 20+ years of design. My primary issues: 1. The Print-Then-Cut feature is limited to 5.5x8". Period. 2. Print-Then-Cut has a maximum image resolution of 72dpi. Your printed images will be blurry. Period. 3. There is absolutely no control over WHERE on the paper the cut will be made. Period.\ 4. ProvoCraft, makers of Cricut, have gone out of their way (and into court!) to ensure no third-party software works with this machine. My explanation: 1. The Print-Then-Cut feature is limited to 5.5x8". Period. This rendition of the Cricut only works with Cricut's online Design Space software. In order to use the device, you must be connected to the internet (not that big a deal these days, except if your internet - or the Design Space server - goes offline). Print-Then-Cut allows you to upload your chosen image to Design Space, which determines the outer edges of your image and creates a cut line surrounding the graphic. When you're ready to go, Design Space creates a page for your printer that includes your image (with the outer edge optionally extended and blurred as a bleed area, so that if the cutting isn't perfect, you won't have empty white space) as well as enormous registration marks for the Cricut's optical scanner to identify where your graphic is on the printed page. Because these marks are SO large, and because of limitations of the average home printer to print close to the edge of the page, the result is that your image to be cut can be no larger than 5.5" wide, and 8" tall. You have to use an entire sheet of 8.5x11" paper (usually, nice photo paper or cardstock) to get your one image. You can print and cut multiple images, but again, they all have to fit within that same 5.5x8" area. You cannot print on larger paper, either. What a waste. To re-iterate, the Cricut Explore ONLY communicates with DesignSpace - anything you wish to do with your piece of paper has to go through this slow, buggy, nigh-unusable excuse for a design program. 2. Print-Then-Cut has a maximum image resolution of 72dpi. Your printed images will be blurry. Period. Because DesignSpace is an online application, it runs through a web browser, and as anyone who has printed from a web browser knows, images are blurry when printed. This same effect occurs when using Print-Then-Cut with the Cricut. Hope you enjoy blurry cutouts! I did find a workaround: print to a PDF instead of the printer, place the PDF file in Photoshop or Illustrator, then place copies of your desired image over top of the blurry version rendered by DesignSpace, making sure to meticulously align the edges, THEN print your new document from Photoshop/Illustrator, THEN proceed with the "Cut" portion of the process--but unless you've got access to both Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, you're hosed. 3. There is absolutely no control over WHERE on the paper the cut will be made. Period. When making my wedding invitations (a tri-fold invite with curved edges and a built-in pocket for holding custom-shape information cards) a few years back, I was able to print the invites on legal-sized specialty stock, create an outline of the desired cut shape in Illustrator to be exported as SVG, and send the printed sheets and SVG file to a friend, who used a Silhouette Cameo to cut the invitations to the exact shape desired. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE WITH THE CRICUT EXPLORE. While you can import an SVG file to create a cut shape in DesignSpace, you have absolutely no control on where the cut is made - DesignSpace automatically moves your shapes as close together as possible, and directly into the top-left corner of the page to be cut. Furthermore, there is absolutely no correlation between the inch markings on-screen in DesignSpace and the inch marks on the carrier sheets used in the Cricut. This has multiple ramifications: • It's not possible to designate where you'd like a cut to appear. For example, I tried to make a cover for a booklet that contained a simple rectangle window cut in the front to allow text to show through from the 2nd page. While you might think it should be easy to create a 2x3" rectangle to be cut exactly 2" from an edge, you would be wrong. It took me nearly a dozen attempts, and the use of a throwaway shape (a .25" square) grouped with the window I wanted, in order to force DesignSpace to leave the rectangle I wanted in the middle of the page, instead of infuriatingly moving it to the corner. • If you cut out a shape on a sheet of paper, or cardstock, and then later decide to cut another, you'll have to use a new sheet of paper, or rotate the paper around - you can't cut "next to" your previous cut. Sorry. 4. ProvoCraft, makers of Cricut, have gone out of their way (and into court!) to ensure no third-party software works with this machine. Nearly every cutting machine on the market (and there are more than a dozen!) allows you to use third-party software with the machine. Not this one. In fact, ProvoCraft sued the makers of (at least) one such program, and got an injunction to prevent them from ever working with their machine again, ever writing software to communicate with their machines, and to prevent said company from ever distributing even OLD versions of the software that worked with previous machines. It's about money, plain and simple, and I can't support a company that behaves that way. As well, I should note that most devices and companies these days have a support forum where new users, or users encountering an issue, can communicate with one another to get tips, tricks, and solutions. Cricut's forums have been disabled for months, and according to the CSR I spoke with, will be completely removed soon, if they haven't already, "because of spam". Any company that can't figure out how to keep spam off of their boards isn't a company I want to trust in any capacity. Good luck finding any help elsewhere. In conclusion, I've never been so disappointed in a purchase in my entire life.