Best cutter these days?

[g61]

Hello larry089, welcome to UKS.

Cricut Maker owner here. There is no subscription needed for using Cricut's software (Design Space), or for saving/accessing your projects. (They did propose that, but there was an outcry and the proposal was dropped.)
You can choose to pay a subscription if you want access to Cricut's own ready-made design files and fonts. However, Cricut will use any font installed on your system. For your projects, there are several choices. Design Space is not particularly sophisticated, but is fine for simple designs. It can import standard file formats such as .svg so if you already have the necessary software you can design using that, and import it to Design Space for cutting. Just search for free .svg files - there are many sites offering them (as well as some who charge, of course).

Cricut has come in for criticism of Design Space, and it has its issues, but there have been some new features recently, such as the ability to create a "shadow" round a word or shape.

The Cricut can cut many different materials, and customisation is possible too, eg to make additional 'passes' on thick or dense materials. It can also write, score, engrave etc (using the appropriate tools).

Do you know what you would be using a Cricut or Silhouette to create, what materials you might be using?

[MiniOwner]

Cricut Maker for me - I find the software intuitive and you can import files from anywhere else including Silhouette.

[Susie.A]

I rarely use my Silhouette I got fed up with the mat being too sticky, not sticky enough and changing blades and working out depth and paper thickness and at first I couldn't see the point of the scan'n cut but now if I was to change it would be the scan 'n cut. I like the idea of being able to scan my cutting die shapes and making them larger or smaller instead of being stuck with one size. I like how it tells you exactly where the design is on the paper so less wastage. It is very quiet and to upgrade it is simply a software download. Mind you, what would I do with all those Silhouette designs now. Could cut them and scan them in I suppose and can still re-size them. Unless there is some way of using the Silhouette files with scan 'n cut, if anyone knows do tell please. I'll be interested to see how you get on with your new machines.