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I keep going back and forth about this. There are some great deals for black friday on the Gypsy along with the $100 credit. If you own it please tell me your positive or negative thoughts to help me make this decision! Thank you! Stacey
Stacy....If you really feel you will need something to carry around to do your designing on then get the Gypsy. Otherwise, then just get the Design Studio and use your computer. Big difference in cost between the two tools.
I don't need a portable 'Design Studio' but I find the Gypsy sooo much easier to use. When I try to use the 'Design Studio' on my laptop computer, I just cannot get it to 'work' for me. Maybe if my computer was a touch screen type, I would have more success. I know it must be me because OP seem to love/enjoy use 'Design Studio' via a computer.
My biggest problem with using the Gypsy is the small size of the tool and the screen. You have to keep changing screens to do many things since it doesn't all fit on one screen or you have to pan down to see the bottom of the sticky mat.
Using the Design Studio on the computer is much easier in my opinion. But I did find that using the Design Studio on my laptop much easier than on my desktop computer. Since the resolution has to be 1024x768, it is much easier to view on the laptop than on a older desktop monitor (not a flat screen monitor....think old TV screen). Not sure the reason, but the laptop flat screen makes it easier to view even though it's a smaller resolution than the normal 800x600 resolution.
Let me add an important piece of info......I have a Mac so DS not an option. If you have it would you buy it again? Do you love it or hate it? I used to have the Wishblade when I had a PC and did enjoy the designing. I have heard a lot of good and bad on the Gypsy but it sounds like the bad items have been fixed with updates now.....thoughts?
Thanks for starting this thread - I'm interested in hearing different opinions too. i've had my Cricut for about 6 months now and am trying to decide between DS and a Gypsy too so this is very helpful stuff.
KayInFL-At first I really wasn't interested until I started reading all it can do. It seems their were problems initially with the ones launched on HSN but then I have read that they have fixed these problems in updates. The deals being offered on Black Friday plus the 100$ credit that Cricut.com is offering through Nov. 30th is really piquing my interest! Brings the cost down by half making it much more in my price range. Hopefully more will respond with their thoughts. Stacey
I have both the DS & Gypsy. I love my Gypsy. I love having all my cartridges loaded on it. I hate going through my overlays because I have a lot of cartridges. I am making a book right now and I just keep mixing and matching items from different carts. I don't have to think about it or have the hassle of finding the right overlays.
I like it that my carts are protected from wear and tear.
I agree with Crafter 4 Life I like the touch screen better when I am designing.
I have had no problems with my Gypsy. The only two feature I wish they had was a hide contour button. I wish we could have a list of our cartridges separately. Right now I have to scroll through the list of all the cartridges.
I have noticed that using DS & Gypsy when I do a keyword function I actually get different results.
I have both, I do not go to crops nor travel much. I use my Gypsy now more than DS! I love it. I thought since I had never had a device with a small screen that uses a stylus that I might not like it. So I got it knowing I had 30 days to return it. I used it with the 2 loaded carts at first to see if I like dt! Well in 10 minutes I was loading my other carts & never regretted it!! Love it!!
Hi!
I've had my Gypsy for a month now. I've had DS for 18 months, I much prefer the Gypsy over DS.
1. We only have one computer in the house, so having the Gypsy allows me to design and cut without tying up the computer.
2. All my carts are in my hand, no more rummaging around for carts, overlays, etc. This also means that now that I have 45 cartridges and I'm running out of room, I can store my carts away and not go out and buy cart store and tote systems.
3. I was able to take my Gypsy to a friends house who has only had her expression for 6 weeks, update my Gypsy to her machine and make some welded cuts for her. Without lugging all my carts, and she could get a sampling before we made the actual cuts. Then I took my Gypsy home and didn't have a bunch of stuff to put away.
4. I was able to loan my friend 5 carts, two of which I need for a project, and I can just use my Gypsy instead. Woo Hoo
5. The screen is bigger than the screen on my I-Touch. The zoom feature is really nice, you can actually zoom in and work with an image that is 1/4" which is not something I would cut anyway. I did this just to see how well the zoom works.
6. Yes, there were some orginal problems between the HSN release and a few of the updates. As far as I can tell all those issues have been resolved. Does it do everything everyone wants? No. Does it do a good job doing what it does? Yes.
Would I buy it again? Yes.
The copy, feature is great. Being able to open more than one mat (up to 6 I think), is awesome. There is even this shadow feature that follows from mat to mat (inside the file) so you can size and line up things.
I was helping my friend with the DS Trail, and I have to tell you, I work the Gypsy better and faster than I can the DS. Two of my favorite Gypsy features are being able to drag images around the page and being able punch in a height and width (or using the bubble thing) instead of dragging with those arrow handle things. I find I get a more exact size this way.
There's a lot of fuss about how there isn't a printed manual. A. Most people don't read the manual, but it is available for download, which I did and still haven't read. B. The Gypsy is very easy to figure out, press a button, see what it does, erase, press another button, repeat with all the buttons. C. There is a small start up sheet that is pretty much all you need.
As for how-to's, I spent a lot of time watching You-Tube videos. Type in "Cricut Gypsy" in the search window and you'll get a lot of videos. Don't just type in the word Gypsy, you'll get all kinds of weird stuff, LOL!!! Sometimes when watching these videos I'd have my Gypsy in my hand and do the steps right along with the person, hit pause, rewind, etc., until I "got" what they were teaching. Very helpful being able to see what others are doing.
Ladybugstamper2-Thank you for taking the time to lay out all those awesome pluses! I took the plunge last night at M's and now have my Gypsy! I ended up with a better than expected deal as they took my 25% off entire purchase coupon and deducted 25% from my Gypsy (which it said it was not to be used on among other things). So.....I got my Gypsy for around 185$ plus I will get the 100$ credit. Well worth the trip out I would say! I also have a friend buying my two Jukeboxes for 60$ (for both) so that just brought my Gypsy down to almost nothing! Stacey
Stacey,
Enjoy, oh wait, you're probably having fun using the Gypsy and not back on line. LOL!!!
Just a tip about linking cartridges. Many people have some a few stubborn cartridges that just don't link up easily.
1. Blow inside the cartridge, there could be dust or bits of paper shavings inside the cartridge on those little key things.
2. Sometimes I'd have to hold the cartridge in the palm of my hand and gently (very gently) squeeze it into the linking cable. Sometimes, I'd have to rock it a bit to get the connections to "grab", I'd just hold this position until the cartridge finished linking.
3. Sometimes I'd find I'd have to have the cable and cartridge laying flat on the table for a good connection.
4. My George and Basic Shapes cartridge is an older cartridge and the Gypsy display screen had some steps for me to follow. I had to insert the cartridge into the machine, turn the expression on and off, if this happens just follow the steps on the screen.
5. Some people found they could get a successful link by first putting the cartridge in their machine, make a cut, take the cartridge out of the machine and make the cut. Others found they could put the cartridge in the linking cable backwards and get a connection.
6. A few people simply couldn't get a cartridge to link and contacted Provo Craft for help and rarely an exchange of cartridges.
I linked 45 cartridges and had trouble with 5 or 6, so don't be worried, just be prepared.
Since you can't use DS on a MAC, you kind of have to go with the Gypsy. I think you'll love your G!
For me, Design Studio on a netbook, and a Jukebox so I don't have to swap out carts during cutting, works perfectly. The screen is much larger and I can use the netbook for many other things. I don't need to cut away from home, so my carts stay in my craftroom and DS comes with me. If I went to a lot of crops or traveled with my carts, I would definitely be more interested in a Gypsy.
Provo is bringing the PC version of DS and the Gypsy version of DS into parity. They will eventually have the same design features and functions, which makes sense if DS-created files and G-created files are going to be truly interchangeable/transferable. Right now, some files created in one version do not open properly in the other version. They do open, but the files are not the same (multi-mat files end up with all objects on one mat, hidden contours are not hidden, slanted/skewed objects won't cut properly etc.).
It's Provo's intention that future updates to both programs will fix all these issues.
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
You can go to You Tube and type in Provo Craft Gypsy and get a ton of videos! That is where I have learned a ton about my new little G who I love so much already!
Just another feature I tried with the Gypsy. I bought the 'Snow Friends' cartridge and was cutting out the bodies and accessories. I 'dragged' the shirt/hat over the body using the stylus to see if they fit. Found out that if I use the same image size for the body and the clothes, the clothes were too big. Example - I cut the body at 3.5" and had to cut the hat at 2.75". I can't seem to manipuate things using the DS as easily as using the stylus and the Gypsy. I am trying to be open minded and use the DS but am not as successful.
Let me add an important piece of info......I have a Mac so DS not an option. If you have it would you buy it again? Do you love it or hate it? I used to have the Wishblade when I had a PC and did enjoy the designing. I have heard a lot of good and bad on the Gypsy but it sounds like the bad items have been fixed with updates now.....thoughts?
silly question but cant you load onto your Mac a windows platform and just run that for pc required programs. My friend does for gaming and it should be the same shouldnt it. Just a thought.
Yes you can load PC enviroment on Mac but I did that for Wishblade and did not like using it. Just love my little mac world! Gypsy has been an awesome addition to my life!
Gypsy-To buy or not to buy? Thoughts???
