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Are you in the market for a new cutting machine?! Are you overwhelmed with which machine to choose?! I can help! The video below will walk you through how to choose which machine is best for you. Of course I have my favorite machine, but it is such a personal decision so before I tell you which one I’d choose, watch the video and let me know which one is best for you!
How to choose?
There are two questions I want you to think about!
1. What is your budget?
2. What types of crafts do you enjoy making? And do you think that will evolve or change?
Budget
The Cricut Explore Air 2 retails for $249.99 but you can usually snag it on sale for around $199.99! The Cricut Explore Air 2 is a power house of a cutting machine, but if you are looking for the top of line, and your budget allows, you may want to consider the Cricut Maker. The Cricut Maker retails for $399.99, but usually you can find it for $349.99. The Cricut Maker is the ultimate smart cutting machine and does everything that the Explore Air 2 does and then MORE!
Now that you know the numbers, the real fun starts! Let’s talk about what each machine can do.
Comparing machines
Materials
Both machines have the ability to cut 100s of materials! More materials than I have ever tried! To see a comprehensive list of all of the materials, check out this article from Cricut.
The main difference between the machines is that the Cricut Maker has the ability to support more tools… which means you can cut more materials! With 10x more force, the Cricut Maker you can cut unbacked fabric, crepe paper, basswood, balsa wood, 2mm chipboard, mat board, tooling leather, etc!
Tools
The Explore Air 2 supports the following tools:
As you can see the Explore machines can support a lot of tools! The Fine Point Blade comes with the machine and will be the blade you will use most! It can cut hundreds of materials! The fine point blade may be silver or gold depending on the machine color you pick! In addition to the Fine Point Blade, there is a Deep Point Blade for thicker materials. I use the Deep Point Blade to cut chipboard, craft foam, even some thin wood veneers. In the comparison video, you will see me cut wood with the Deep Point Blade! The last blade you have is the Fabric Bonded Blade. This blade should be treated the way you treat your fabric shears. You will use this blade to cut bonded fabric. Bonded fabric means that the fabric is backed with some type of stabilizer. I don’t recommend cutting unbacked fabric using your Explore machine.
You also can use the scoring stylus to score paper (and other materials too) to create cards, add dimension, and create 3D projects.
The black fine point pen comes with the machine. In addition to cutting and scoring, your Cricut machine can draw and write! You will want every color of the pens!
As you can see by the graphic, the Maker supports all of the tools the Explore machine does and more! While the Explore tools work in the Maker, the Maker tools do not work in the Explore machine. Any of the blades that have the gears on top are known as the Adaptive Tool System and only work in the Maker machine.
The Rotary Blade comes with the Maker and it may be my favorite blade! It is a mini circular blade that rolls along the material. It will cleanly cut unbacked fabric, felt, and crepe paper. If you are a fabric crafter, you need the Maker just for that blade.
The Knife Blade can cut through thick, heavy chipboard and even wood. The knife blade requires several passes, but with each pass the blade will cut deeper and deeper. In the comparison video, I was shocked to see just how well it cut the basswood.
I saved the best for last– the QuickSwap Housing! This one housing works with all of those little tips! So instead of having to buy a blade housing for all of the tools, you just need one and can switch out between the tips. The tips that are currently available are: Scoring Wheel (double and single), Perforation Blade, Debossing Tip, Wavy Blade, and Engraving Tip.
This is where you can see you get more for your money! Cricut has promised to continue to develop additional tools for the Maker… I am excited to see what else they come up with!
Side by Side Cutting Challenge
Originally I was going to blog the side by side cutting comparison, but I decided I really want you to watch the machines in action so you understand how the heck these machines operate! Check out my video to see a head to head cutting comparison where I show how long the cutting takes and which machine cuts better. Just remember that whichever machine you choose, it will be the right decision! This is a personal decision that can’t go wrong. Having worked at both Silhouette America and Cricut, I do whole heartedly believe that Cricut has superior cutting machines than ANY of the competition!
Let me know which machine you end up with!
Have questions or want to connect!?
I know you are just itching to buy your machine! I get it! I was there too and my cutting machine completely changed the trajectory of my life! So much so that I now teach people to use their machines as my full-time job. If you found this comparison helpful and it led you to purchase a machine, I would love for you to consider purchasing a machine through one of the affiliate links below. Affiliate links show retailers that I sent you to shop and they may reward me with a small commission. Since prices are changing often, I have added my affiliate links to several retailers so that you can price compare! Thank you in advance for shopping through my affiliate links and supporting my blog!
Cricut Explore Air 2:
Cricut Maker:
If you are looking for a promo code for Cricut, join my Cricut Facebook Group for the most up to date code since it changes each quarter! Don’t forget to check out my social media sites below so we can be new craft besties!
Karley
