I love my Silhouette Cameo. I have owned other brands from the same company. I owned the Wishblade, Silhouette SD and now the Cameo. I have used these machines till I wore them out.
I was not expecting a lot from the Cameo. Truth be told I was not too happy with the new ratchet blade system. The Cameo was a replacement for my beloved broken SD.
Cameo really surprised me. It cuts more accurate and detailed than any of the other machines I have owned. It's quieter than the other die cutters.
Cons- I am still not happy with the ratchet system. The mechanics of the ratchet system are excellent. I just don't like that I have to replace the whole system and not the blade. Least, I am not aware of any "hacks or tutorials" to do so.
I wish it wasn't so propreitary. Yes, you can use other die cutting software such as MTC & SCAL. I used to cut my designs with Inkscape. When I bought the Cameo I was told I could use Inkscape. So far, I have not see how to do this. Again I could be missing a "tutorial or hack." for this. My Wishblade & Silhouette SD I could use in Linux and use Inkscape. The Cameo limits me to Windows OS.
Those are my only cons.
As you can see not really biggies and more user annoyance.
There are some other cons but they don't effect me. Such as you can't cut heavy materials. Some users don't like how vinyl cuts on the machine. The Silhouette can cut cereal chipboard and I saw a tutorial where somebody used plastic stencil material with the Silhouette. I have other die cutters for my heavy duty work. I own a Gazelle & Cricut Imagine too. That's why the cons are not a problem for me. Oh, I almost forgot some users have complained that PTI, Gina's & SU cardstock can be temperamental in the Cameo. Then some users have no problems at all.
This machine can't be beat for detailed cutting and the Print/Cut feature. Also the Silhouette store has teamed with several of the major stamping companies to sale files. You can also find licensed files such as Harry Potter.
I download free SVG's, coloring pages, fonts for quick files. I design my own files. One of the reasons why I want to cut from Inkscape. I use Inkscape to design.
I bought my Cameo from Overstock. Oh My Crafts is the cheapest place I heard to buy the machine from. At the time I was ordering OMC was backordered and I wanted my machine. I paid a few dollars extra from Overstock. I heard some of the new Cameo users have scored great deals at Amazon too.
Since I wrote a book I will throw in a couple of tips.
This is a very detailed cutting machine so you will want a couple of tools. You will want a spatula to lift your designs off the mat. Silhouette does sale a spatula. I am going to recommend an artist knife/palette. You can also use a cake decorating spatula too. I think the cuts come off the mat better with the cake and art spatulas over the ones made for die cutting.
I love the Recollections cardstock from Michaels for Silhouette cutting. This paper cuts like butter with the Cameo's. I received the recommendation for that paper on this board and others. That was some excellent die cutting advice. A big ream in several different colors cost about $20 without a coupon. It lasts forever.
You will want a dental pick to poke out all those little holes on your die cuts. You will want an old gift card to scrape your mat clean. Some die cut users love their lint brush to remove all the stray bits off their mats.
Congrats on your new Cameo.
Silhouette Cameo
