UPDATE 7/2017: It has been almost a year now since the below review was penned. I use my Cameo everyday, for hours. I thought an update was due. Again, to be clear, if you're only looking to make simple vinyl sign/car/wall decals or HTV designs, this is your machine! It's amazing. 5 stars. The possibilities of this thing are limitless. Most people cut vinyl, but what a waste. Paper, felt, clings, fabric... It is an amazing tool for simple, occasional use. The only maintenance cost is the blades, which are readily available and reasonable priced. If you are between this and the Cameo 3 (or even the Cameo 1) know that they are all great machines and are not very different. Even a used one will be a workhorse.
HOWEVER, I use it for the "Print & Cut" feature. Everyday. I like to design and cut my own stickers. And for this it super, super sucks. It has since the original Cameo, and for 2 reasons: 1) The camera on the carriage will only read every other page or so. 2) Even when it does "read" the registration marks, it still cuts a few of the shapes willy-nilly on the page, rendering the whole page garbage. So, in the end, for every 10 sheets of vinyl I print (at about $2 each), I only create 3-4 usable, salable pages. This machine costs me money. It EATS RESOURCES. It feeds off joy and vinyl.
This machine, Cameo the II, lasted less than a year before the camera died. Which is impressive, I guess, when you consider the camera on the original Cameo lasted only 3 months. Remember, I use these about 15 times a week. Probably "heavy use" for this lil plastic hobby machine. In a last ditch effort to make this work, I bought the Cameo 3. It does not work any better for my P&C needs. The camera registers fairly consistently, which is something this older 2 Cameo never could do, but it will NOT cut reliably! I finally gave up on P&C when I bought the Cameo 3, but that's a review for another page...
TL;DR: Cameo 1,2 & 3 are great machines for a simple mom-preneur business. Print & Cut sucks.
--------------original review----------------------
I have been using the Cameo for about two years now. I have used Cameo 1 and now Cameo 2 (more on this in a minute). It works great for occasional vinyl cutting, like decals or HTV. Never fails. And I love this touchscreen version just as much as the original. For this purpose I'd give it 5 stars. But that's not what I use it for...
IF YOU NEED IT FOR "PRINT AND CUT" ONLY, THINK TWICE. It has a feature (Print & Cut) where a wee camera on the blade cartridge will read registration marks and "know" where to cut your pre-printed designs. I have a side business cutting custom printed vinyl decals (stickers). I use Silhouette Connect for Adobe Illustrator and a Business Edition of the software to make sure everything is just right. I print onto 8.5x11 vinyl sheets and expect this machine's Print & Cut feature to cut out the images along predetermined lines. And this is why I hate this thing. It is unreliable. I don't know if it's the camera or the software (or hey, maybe my printer!), but I'd say at LEAST 4 out of every 10 prints fails to cut. Sometimes 6 of 10! I have tried the P&C tips found on the internet and my luck has not improved. The fact is that, for whatever reason, this thing just can NOT reliably cut even 60% of the time. And when it does decide to cut it will randomly cut some shapes on the page way out of registration. I can sit for an hour working with this machine and only finish about half the decals I should be walking away with. It's costing me a lot of time and money.
When I first created my decals 7 months ago, my original Cameo refused to P&C anymore after only 3 months. It suffered a few weeks of spotty use until one day stopped reading the registration marks altogether. As if the camera died. This was after more than a year of flawless use cutting normal vinyl decals (where no camera functionality is needed). I got this NEW AND IMPROVED machine to replace the ol' girl. Out of the box, it failed to read 3 of the first 10 prints! I guess the one thing I can say is that it performs consistently. It FAILS CONSISTENTLY.
I will not be buying a third. The volume of decals I need to create is only increasing over time, so I'm forced to look for a more advanced solution, either a professional machine or a professional shop. It is clear the good people at SIL never meant for you to use P&C more than once or twice a year.
So in summary:
Home decal hobbyist? Bored mom? This is your machine!
Slightly-caffeinated Graphics Professional attempting to cut 30 pages of 8.5x11 vinyl decals a month, relying solely on the Print & Cut feature to fargin' CUT? Good luck.
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I LOVE this machine! I have been able to make so many cute shirts, mugs, and cards. I can't wait until I have more time to see what else I can create with this bad boy!!It was very easy to learn to use, although I already knew a little about designing, because I used to make decals professionally. But there are a ton of useful and very helpful youtube tutorials that will walk you through step by step.I will add a few pictures of some things I've done with the silhouette. Unfortunately I never take pictures so I don't have a lot. I made the two shirts, the valentines cards, the banners and lettering on the hot air balloon.The silhouette store has tons of adorable fonts and designs, but you can also copy just about any image you find on google or pinterest.Quick note-I rely greatly on customer reviews when I am looking to purchase an item, and I know others do too, so I try to be as thorough and honest in giving it as possible. I put a lot of thought into my review and appreciate feedback, so if you have found my review helpful, please take a moment to click on "yes” to let me know. Thanks so much for reading and feel free to ask me any questions! :)
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Gemma H
Very good seller, Great Machine..... must have for the serious crafter!
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Wow, what an amazing deal!
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