cricut cartridges and gypsy

[afdish]

I am just getting into the cricut cutting system and accompanying stuff. My question is... how does it work when you load a cartridge onto a gypsy? I mean, the cartridge can be used straight in cricut device, but can it be loaded onto a second gypsy? The reason I ask, I've seen ebay auctions for gypsys with several cartridges loaded on them, but the cartridges don't come with it. Are people getting the gypsy, not liking it, and selling it with whatever they've loaded on it still on it? And what happens if you buy a used cartridge that has been loaded onto a gypsy? If you get a gypsy, will you be able to load that cartridge?

[Crafter 4 Life]

A Cricut cartridge can only be loaded into one Gypsy. Some owners of a Gypsy might be selling the cartridge because they think they no longer need the actual cartridge since they have loaded it into their Gypsy. This is technically true as long as their Gypsy never 'crashes'.

Myself, I like to have the handbook for easy reference. I know you can go online but it is faster to have the actual handbook to be able to see all the images that are associated with a particular feature key. Also, knowing my luck (or lack thereof), my Gypsy would 'crash'!

[lylacfey]

Early PSA here. I am not the Cricut police. I promise! I have some warnings about the Gypsy. I am a long time Cricut girl. I guess you can say I was one of the originals. I have owned Cricut's since they first came out.

This is going to be long but I hope it will help.

When you link a cartridge to the Gypsy that cartridge is only linked to that Gypsy. It can not be relinked to another Gypsy. The only possible way to do this is if your Gypsy breaks and ProvoCraft reserializes your new Gypsy for those cartridges.

I also recommend never ever buy a Gypsy with carts linked to it. The reason why I don't recommend it because the Gypsy is downright wonky and has a plague of problems. If you go over to the Cricut Message Board you will see posts after posts about this. If your Gypsy goes down, needs to be sent back to PC, well your out of luck when it gets returned because if PC can not fix it and sends you a new Gypsy you don't have those cartridges any more to be linked.

When you link the cartridges you get a big TOS telling you how that cartridge is permanent on the Gypsy. You can't resell the Gypsy unless you sale it with the cartridge and blah, blah, blah. It's a long TOS! I read everything & I read the whole thing since apparently I have no life or too curious.

ProvoCraft does not condone you buying a used Gypsy without the cartridges included contrary to popular belief. They will tell you upfront no cartridges you can't relink. You will only get the two cartridges that are loaded on to it. If you were lucky enough to get the five cartridges that were given away you can get those back.

Also with the recent PC lawsuits several PC customers are dropping all their Cricut products and selling the cartridges separately from their Gypsy so they can recoup the most money from it. On forums these girls are bragging about that they are lying on Ebay saying they bought the cartridges from Estate sales or garage sales. They are saying they don't know if the cartridges were linked to the Gypsy or not. If buying cartridges on Ebay right now I would proceed with caution. I only buy cartridges in the blister pack. If you don't use the Gypsy I guess you can find some good deals for people reading this that are non-Gypsy owners.

There's another problem with this. Since the Expression, Create, Baby Bug & Design Studio are all being phased out so PC can concentrate on the E2 and Craft Room. You are going to need clear cartridges in your library to link. Trust me PC is going to be nit-picky about this cartridge linking thing.

I do want to add that I have owned my Gypsy since it first came out. Mine was a gift. It has not broke on me. I do get strobed by the blue light all the time though. I just don't want you to worry to much that the Gypsies are wonky. It's better to be Gypsy educated so you can avoid the wonkiness.

I own several digital die cutting systems and they are my little robotic children so I am used to all their quirks.

I hope I helped.

[sblair]

Thanks for the info lylacfey. I received a Gypsy for Christmas and when linked my first cartridge I noticed all the others. My husband got the Gypsy for me and I am sure he was totally unaware of this. I don't know where he got it but I suppose it was a re-furb or ebay purchase or even an on line store. I'm going to play as long as I can with the understanding that it could come to a crashing end and that's ok. I will have my cartridges to fall back on.
Thanks for the good info.