<div dir="ltr">Yes the Cricut is VERY vendor locked. A few third parties even released software which allowed cutting of generic SVG files on it via it's USB interface. And Provocraft (the manufacturer) sued those companies over it. Limiting your options to only their cartridges which are rediculously expensive.<div>
<br></div><div>We had a Cricut for a couple years, and used it with the third party software, but once they shut that down we had to look at alternatives. (by the way I still have a 24" Cricut that I'll be putting up for sale soon, if anyone's interested lol)<br>
<div><br></div><div style>My Wife has the Silhouette machine now, and it's quite nice. The software for it is free, and works with an online store with a wide selection of designs. And also lets you create your own designs with drawing tools, or by importing images and "tracing" them and so on. But for an extra $50 you can buy the "Pro" software which lets you import generic SVG art from hundreds of sources on the net.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Also one nice feature the Silhouette has is "print and cut" which lets you print on an inkjet, and it has an optical sensor that lets it detect registration marks, and accurately cut out the printed image.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Considering the Silhouette is in the same approximate price as the Cricut, I'd say it's far more value for a hobbyist.</div><div style><br></div><div style>(the one we have is the 24" model, and yes it will work with vinyl as well as other materials).</div>
</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Andrew Plumb <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:andrew@plumb.org" target="_blank">andrew@plumb.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div>On 2013-05-28, at 1:47 PM, John Nicol wrote:</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite">
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<div dir="ltr">Hi,<br> <br>Have you looked at the Cricut? <span> </span><a href="http://www.cricut.com/home/" target="_blank">http://www.cricut.com/home/</a><br> <br>This is a hobby machine that cuts stencils and I believe has a large format version as well. I also saw a machine in a hobby shop in the US that was for fabric stencil creation for screen printing. Can't remember what it was called, sorry.<br>
<br>John<br></div></div></span></blockquote><br></div><div>Maybe it was one of the (older) CraftROBO or (newer) Silhouette machines by Graphtec that you saw?</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.graphteccorp.com/craftrobo/" target="_blank">http://www.graphteccorp.com/craftrobo/</a></div>
<div><a href="http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/" target="_blank">http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/</a></div><div><br></div><div>They tend not to be as vendor locked-in as the Cricut system with its proprietary cartridges.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Andrew.</div><br><div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica">--<br><br>"The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed" -- William Gibson<br><br>Me: <a href="http://clothbot.com/wiki/" target="_blank">http://clothbot.com/wiki/</a><br>
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