Cricut Explore Air 2 - A DIY Cutting Machine for all Crafts, Create Customized Cards, Home Decor & More, Bluetooth Connectivity, Compatible with iOS, Android, Windows & Mac, Mint
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april Jackson
> 24 hourI have always wanted a cricuit and finally bought myself one for my birthday. I was nervous that it would be hard to learn, but it was not, and I have been having so much fun making decals. I am looking forward to learning to make more things. It really has limitless possibilities.
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Kelsey T.G
> 24 hourMixed feelings. I have always wanted one, so when it was on sale for only 170 I jumped on it. EDIT: You HAVE TO PAY for the Cricut service if you want any functional writing fonts. Otherwise, the Cricut will draw the letters as if cutting them out (so the letters will be hollow). See final pic. Ive had it about a week, and while I like it when it works, Im having some issues with it. *Personally, Im worried I got a lemon because it makes a scraping sound in the gears or something when its working... based on another video I saw online, its not supposed to sound like that, at least not after only a day of use. So, Im going to reach out to the manufacturer and double check with them. Tips, complaints, etc: --You MUST have transfer paper to get your designs off their base sheet and aligned perfectly onto the end result (i.e, a complex sticker with empty space in some spots will not be lined up when you try to put it by hand onto a mug). This is a bit angering for me, because transfer paper is just another chunk of plastic that will go in the trash. The Cricut already has so much waste without this (more on that later), I just hate that I have to buy even MORE product (since I bought the tools separately) just to throw even more away. --There is no consistency between material type when it comes to the dial. I used Cricuts premium vinyl for the stickers in my attached photos, and set it to vinyl on the dial, but I could barely tell it had cut it at all and when I tried to pull the designs off, they didnt budge. I figured, Well, shoot, I must have to go under custom. I did so, picking their premium vinyl from the drop-down in the program. I ran it back in--which I did before with regular old cheap sticker paper to re-cut stickers and it worked just fine--and this time it was off by about 2mm. So it totally messed up my letters. Turns out it HAD cut through the first time, because each of those little pieces were coming off as I tried to remove the letters. So frustrating on all accounts. --MATERIAL IS WASTED. You can do your best to fill the complete space with the Design Space program, but Design Space basically tells you, No, you need a second piece of material, Im not going to cut that close to the edge. If you have a 12x12 sticker sheet, and you take the time to cram all your letters and images into that space nice and tightly, AND use the attach feature so the program wont auto-arrange, it doesnt matter, because it will tell you thats too big, or it will split everything and expect you to use two mats and two sticker sheets, with 2/3 of each sheet blank. The MOST WASTE is when you use the print and cut feature. Look into it: you cant make anything actually 8.5x11. The max is like 9.25x6.25, because the program needs to draw a black line around the border of your project so the Cricut has a reference point for cutting. Thats fine, but... like, why cant Cricut just bump out the lines to 9x10? Thats PLENTY of margin. Instead, you get to waste nearly a full 2 frame of sticker paper. Turns out this has been a complaint for years, and Cricut just is not going to change it. --It does not come with a scoring tool. Frankly, I didnt even know this was an option, but if you want to get this specifically to make greeting cards, congrats, you gotta buy it separately. --People on Etsy make pen adapters so you can use markers you already have instead of wastefully buying another 20 that are specific to Cricut. Ive just ordered some, because I have literally 100 markers. So, keep that in mind before you go out and buy the Cricut marker set. --The mat it comes with is the light grip. Holy SMOKES I would HATE to have gotten the standard grip! This thing is like GLUE, and good luck lining everything up along the ruler cause if you get it crooked you will ruin a whole sheet of material getting it off to realign it. Im not joking, this happened while I was calibrating the machine. The hack to flip it over and curl the mat off the material so the mat curls instead works, but only until the last strip of material left on the mat, then that end curls. *Keep the clear sheet for the mat so you can cover it after use and reduce dust*. --You do NOT need to pay for the access in Cricut Design Space to get cute fonts. Just download free fonts to your computer and restart Cricut, and you can use the fonts that are on your system. HOWEVER.... It seems to be a bit finicky when cutting because the machine cuts each individual letter instead of seeing it as a single image to be cut, so even if you use a cursive font, it WILL mess it up while cutting. I guess thats intentional so you have to pay 10 bucks a month or 5 bucks per font to have a good cut. All in all, Ill keep it, but Im still disappointed in it.
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Mad Mensch
> 24 hourBought this Cricut machine to make t-shirts and its quickly become a favorite for my kids who Love making their own decals. We’ve made shirts and sticker using both the web-app as well as the iPad app and it’s such an easy process even my kids have done it themselves. For Spring Break we took the family to Disneyland and had planned to wear matching shirts that I designed. Initially I received quotes from online shirt makers and the cost of that one project was easily higher than the cost of a cricut machine + materials. So we decided to make them ourselves. The shirts came out amazing and even after a few washes they still look brand new. One small negative I have however is the cricut app. I with there were more ways to edit your image template to ensure the decals come out perfect. It’s happened a few times where I’ll drop in an image I’ve made and the cricut app processes it in a way that rounded out some sharp corners. Other than that the cricut is great for medium-large format decals, shirt transfers, etc. If you’ve ever paid someone to make custom shirts or decals for you (or are considering doing so), I highly recommend considering a cricut instead.
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Chyna
> 24 hourthis machine works very well
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Kayla
> 24 hourI can honestly say this is one of the best things I’ve ever purchased. I love the cricut so much and everything it has to offer. You can do so much with just a few add on items that you do have to buy but it is so worth it.
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julian avila
> 24 hourEs una maquina muy buena, para aquellos que les guste las manualidades, es muy versátil y practica
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Nicole Mauro
> 24 hourI was obsessed with my Cricut! It was so helpful for personalizing items and making them look neat and pretty! Unfortunately, the power button lit up red less than a month after having/using it which is something that apparently happens sometimes and means that there is nothing you can do to fix it according to the Cricut helpline. Thankfully the helpline was great and they are providing me with a replacement with no hassle. A true bummer but I look forward to having one again and hope this one lasts more than a month.
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Alec
> 24 hourGot this as a present, and it was immediately put to use in the crafts center! The initial instructions weren’t the best, but once you download the mobile app everything almost just works. It’s a bit creepy that they make you pay for some basic fonts and shapes, and also the fact it needs to be connected to the cloud to work, but for the cost, this thing is a bargain!
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Andrea T
> 24 hourI had tried a friends Cricut machine out before ordering my own, and I wasnt sure I wanted to buy one because it seemed awfully complicated. I had to be ready to sink some time into learning the machine and the software before I really enjoyed the things it can do. I am an elementary school teacher and Im finding all kinds of uses for the machine, including cutting materials for bulletin boards, labels, t-shirts, decals, cards, etc... if you sound like me, give this machine a try. My second major Cricut project was a serving try sort of thing - you can see it in my picture. It was a gift for a nacho-loving friend and she really liked it. It takes time to learn, and patience to do, but I think this machine is cool for things like that. Thanks.
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Ricardo
> 24 hourHe utilizado este producto de manera continua durante mas de 6 meses en un negocio de personalización de productos y me ha resultado muy buena inversión. Mis recomendaciones para el posible comprador seria que incluya también en la compra por lo menos un mat (plástico con adhesivo con el que trabaja el plotter) porque si bien es cierto tienen buena duración, si piensan darle un uso continuado cuando menos lo esperen el mat que viene con el equipo les resultara insuficiente.