Cricut V1 - is it worth it?

I saw that Micheals is selling the Cricut V1 for $69.99 tomorrow only. Does anyone use one and if so, is it worth the investment? They list the regular price at $199.99.

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

V1? Meaning version one? the original?

From my perspective, only if you have SCAL 2 from pre May, simply because otherwise you are depending on cartridges and that cost will add up fast....

The add said V1. I really have never thought about getting one until this year when I started doing a lot more glitter tattoos.

Thanks for the advice.

from my understanding of the cricut you need the catridges and they are expensive i think you need the programs or the gypsy to create your own designs... i think people get other machines for that reason. i have a cricut i only got it a few weeks ago havent attempted to use it yet.

No...don;t buy it. I bought the pink breast cancer one....what a waste of money.
At the time I bought a program that allowed you to make any image into a stencil. Well....that program was told to stop the updates from Cricut. So, you can no longer use the program...which in turn means the Cricut can only be used with their cartridges.
I sold mine a few months ago.
The time and effort it would take as well is totally not worth the money. Faketoos is an awesome site that sells great stencils and a very good price.
If you have them on Facebook, they have offers for 15-25% off.

You can download SCAL from e-bay for $50...

Faketoos were great for me until my last and biggest order ever. They shipped the entire order to the wrong address! I moved and they sent the order to my old address instead of the one on my invoice. I made sure to double check everything and order over 2 weeks ahead. Luckily 2 days before the event they showed up. I'm still debating if I will use them again.

Thanks again for the advice.

As long as the SCAL is version 2 from before May that's good - but the version that came out after that doesn't work with Cricut. As far as I know, Gypsy only lets you store the cartridges you already have. SCAL lets you take any image that is two colour (stencil type) and cut it. Or draw your own. Or convert other images. Or use fonts (ie dingbats) - lots and lots and lots of choices.

There are other choices than Cricut machine to work with a computer based image program - but I'd check with the makers/websites of the programs (SCAL and MTC that I know of) - they've got some inexpensive (relative to a professional laser cutter) options and give a list of what cutters work with their programs.

I like having a cutter - I have a stencil addiction and buying more as often as I did was expensive. I can now draw my own, cut my own, alter my own, resize my own. I love having 4 different sizes of the same stencil, having custom stencils and shields to make any design I want, making whatever I need to replace whenever I need it (or have as many copies of it as I want on hand).

I'm not quite sure yet how I feel about my machine for single use stencils. I consider it very effective for stencils that can be used a thousand or more times, but for single use glitter ones, I'm almost ready to say that it is more worth it to buy than make - to weed and prep to use with tape and so on - it takes me 20 minutes to clear my boards after making some of my designs in durable acetate - I can only imagine if I was trying to pull all those little bits out of vinyl. I've done a few, but in paper, and mostly the "simple" ones that are outlines without as much detail.

which cutting machine do you use noella? i had a look at the SCAL program and it says its for the sizzix ones??

I bought SCAL 2 in April or early May, so I have Cricuts, but when those break down on me, I'll be starting from scratch with research to figure out what works for me at that point based on what's available then. So far so good, they work fine.

I love my Pazzles. I know it can do bucketloads of things, but I just use it for reusable stencils.

I have a silhouette cutter and love it. i use it for glitter tattoo stencils. (I can do whatever I want as long as it is a jpeg and I use PAINT to switch it to jpg if it already isnt) I also make car decals with it.

I have a Cricut, and like it but for the reliance on expensive cartridges. With a little luck, someone will be able to sell and transfer their SCAL 2 license to me within a few months.

But, when I have to start over, I will again do the research but currently I would choose a Craftwell by eCraft. Some machines (as this one does) come with their own programs to use with your computer, yet are not dependent on a computer connection to function. It is compatible with both SCAL and MTC as far as I know.

Places that compare the different machines, uses, and the pros/cons are helpful to know what you want versus cost.

http://die-cutting-machines-review.toptenreviews.com/

There is a download on ebay classifieds for $50. w/a software walkthrough. We've been using it & reinstalled it once with no problems...

I love my Cricut Expression and SCAL2 as well, but I agree with Noella that for large orders of single use glitter tat stencils, my time and money is better spent ordering from someone who does this full time. Where I use mine is custom logos, small orders or last minute gigs where there is no time to order from a pro. I made 400 of my own stencils...sure I saved $$ but boy did I waste time and energy peeling and taping them all. Never again.