Electronic Die Cutters

If you are here you likely found us through the r/cricut sub, and may know that I have BIG FEELINGS on Cricut as a brand. While I have made Cricut machines work for me and my business (we do own 4 makers after all!) I have a very hard time recommending them to people looking into purchasing their first electronic die cutter. These other machines boast many of the same features as Cricut, and while they all use their own proprietary software, what makes them different to Cricut is you can run them offline. A Cricut machine always needs and active connection to the Cricut server to run (yes, there is an offline mode, but you cannot create or change a cut job in it…you can only use it to run a job you have saved and have already cut before…if you try to even change a word in that design, it will not work offline) because of this, if Cricut as a company went belly up tomorrow, your machine will no longer function. This is one of the many reasons I am sour on them.

Standard Desktop Cutters

Silhouette Cameo 5 or Cameo 4 - cricut’s direct competitor. you can find the machines and parts for them readily available at most us craft stores (it’s a smaller display than Cricut but it’s there!) This brand has the largest userbase after Cricut so you will easily find the help you need. Silhouette School Blog is the place to get you started!
Siser Juliet - the newest machine on the market but as Siser is already one of the most popular vinyl brands out there they might gain popularity as people reach the end of life on their current cutter.
Starcraft Solo - these are less popular but the people who have them LOVE them.
Brother Scan n Cut SDx125 or SDX85 - watch this video to see why we think the Scan n Cut is better than cricut for sticker makers. The Scan n Cut was also designed to be a companion to a sewing machine, which makes it great for fabric cutting. Allbrands is the best channel to learn this machine
Cricut** - in the battle of Cricuts we recommend the Maker over the Maker 3 or the Maker 4 (we have both the original and the 3, we find the original is more efficient. The difference between the 3 and the 4 is negligible. Speed isn’t always an asset especially with intricate cuts and unlike all the competitive brands, you cannot adjust or control the speed of the blade with a Cricut) As of Fall 2023, the original Maker has officially been phased out and is very hard to come by. Between the Explore 3 or Explore 4 and Maker series, we would choose the Maker 3. But honestly we recommend looking into the above machines more closely as we find the cricut brand to be very flawed.

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Small Format/Portable Cutters

Silhouette Portrait 4 or Portrait 3 - The main difference between the two is that the 4 can use the electrostatic bed that does not require a sticky mat. While larger than the cricut joy, they are actually lighter.
Cricut Joy Xtra or Joy - the Joy is sized to do mostly greeting card sized projects, the Joy Xtra can fit a letter sized sheet of paper in it and has the ability to do “print then cut”. I will warn that we are seeing more and more complaints about the accuracy of the JoyXtra, when one of our members on r/cricut reached out to Cricut to see if they could get it resolved they got an answer that is frankly ridiculous.

Large Format or Professional Cutters

Silhouette Curio 2 - This machine only has a 12x12” bed but what makes it different to the other desktop cutters is its a flat bed where the materials do not move, the tools move around the bed, which makes it ideal for fragile materials as well as it allows for larger things that cannot fit directly in a die cut machine, so with this you can customize something like the cover of a journal without taking it apart.
Silhouette Cameo Pro MKII - 24” Cutter. Its basically the Cameo 5 in the body of a Cameo 4 Pro.
Silhouette Cameo 4 Pro - 24” cutter
Silhouette Cameo 5 Plus or Cameo 4 Plus - 15” cutter
Siser Romeo - 24” version of the Juliet.
Cricut Venture - 25” cutter (they do the extra inch to force you to buy their materials) This is simply a very large Explore 3.
Roland BN-20A - this is not a hobby machine and is priced as such.
Graphtec CE8000 - Another professional grade plotter, this is not a printer like the Roland.
Vevor 28” Vinyl Cutter - What can only be described as a knock off of the Graphtec, but hey! You can’t beat that price.

Laser Cutters

we own a Full Spectrum Laser Muse 3d however we have removed the link and our affiliate discount due to their current drama. If we find the company
xtool m1 diode - great for starting small
xtool p2 co2 - this is comparable to the machine we use
xtool f1 fiber - this is good for engraving (not cutting) directly on to metal and things that cannot fit inside of a traditional laser bed.
While the Glowforge is the most popular in the hobby craft market, we find their company to have the same flaws as Cricut, so we cannot recommend.

Printers

Epson XP-15000** (THE BEST sticker/card making printer. wide format prints up to 13x19. It is cartridge based which is the only drawback, but the print quality is worth it. If you are looking for an EcoTank alternative then the Epson ET-8550 is it (or the ET-8500 of if you do not need wide format). This is the only ecotank we’d recommend for sticker making, but it comes at a higher price than the XP-15000.
Epson ET-2800 - If you really don’t have the budget for the printers above, This eco-tank is the best small format one.
Brother monochrome printer** - best for toner foil prints, it has a rear door that allows for the paper to feed straight through instead of curving around, which is needed if you print on cardstock.
WrMK Print Maker** - this thing is so great for printing directly on to things, I use it to make ribbons for my products and printing the fragile warning on to boxes.
Canon TS9521c - (top crafting printer, prints 12x12 sheets)
Munbyn Thermal Label Printer - for small business shipping labels

Sublimation Printers

Epson ET-2800 or ET-15000 - are the top two choices for converting to sublimation
Epson F170 - if you do not want to convert a sublimation printer, this is an out of the box alternative (however you can only get it at certain resellers) We bought one of these and were actually disappointed in the print quality, so after only printing 30 pages on it, we returned it.
Brother S1 - Newest on the market, it takes cartridges similar to the the Sawgrass machines listed below but marketed as a more entry level beginner friendly machine. No conversion required and seems to provide amazing quality.
Epson F570 - if we had the funds and the space, we would use this as our sublimation printer
Sawgrass SG500 - a different style sublimation printer with a higher start up cost, but users boast that their print manager and color system is THE BEST. Replacement ink costs are also high. (they also sell it in a larger format printer as the SG1000)

Heat Presses

our starter heat press - this is the press we used for our wedding projects and to start our business. Many people will recommend multifunction presses, but we have seen too many complaints about components wearing out faster. There is also a big chance you wont use all the functions!
HPN Signature Series heat press** - This is what we currently use. it is a BEAST, it took 2 people get it out of the box and an industrial cart to house it. Might want a smaller one if you are not running a shop
HPN Signature Series 7 in 1 mug press** - we started out our business using the Cricut mug press (which I wouldn’t recommend. You are much better off getting something like the PYD life tumbler press)
HTVront autopress - PRO TIP: avoid the cricut brand presses! if you like the style of the easypress, HTVront sells many comparable models for less.
Sublimation Oven - this is great for expanding to anything that doesn’t fit into a traditional press. NEVER SUBLIMATE IN AN OVEN YOU USE FOR FOOD!!! To use this you either need shrink wrap sleeves (you also need a heat gun for the sleeves) or silicone wraps.
Oster Countertop Convection oven** - This is what we use as a sublimation oven, we chose it for its size. You can use any countertop oven really, you just need something that has a variable temperature control and something big enough to fit your substrate. If you use a standard convection oven its best to use an oven thermometer to be sure of the actual internal temp.

*we are based in the US so most of these companies are US based

**these items are currently in our craft room or are our go to supplies, they come with the highest of recommendations.

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