Cricut Maker

Anybody have one?  This the the top model that can cut thin wood, leather, etc in addition to vinyl.

DW wants one (this model in particular), and I can find uses for it too.  Seems to be about $375 on the street.

Any experience, tips, advice, or good deals are appreciated.  Thanks!

Mrs. Maro uses a Silver Bullet and a Janome cutter for her business. These cutters all seem to run on the same software.

Check to see if the Cricut uses "Sure-cuts-a-lot" software, if it does, be warned. The software is a bit berkeleyey since the last couple updates and the tech support people stop talking to you when they can't fix the problem.

Thanks for the heads up.  Looks like the Cricut uses "Cricut Design Space" by Provo Craft & Novelty.  Looking at SCAL's website, they don't seem related.

The Cricut hardware is pretty good, but it is an annoyingly closed system, so you have to use their software, their cartridges and their parts to do the work.  Great if their software works well.  Not so good if you just want a CNC cutter to toss images at.  For the average hobbyist who just wants to make some neat pictures for scrapbooking, etc it works fine.  If you want to do more than that?  Well...

If I were advising my wife again?  I'd nudge her towards a solution that is a bit more open, but she picked up her Cricut on sale at Walmart (they messed up the manually entered price for black friday and we got home before we discovered it was $1.35, not $135.)  and she has enjoyed it within the limits of the device and its infrastructure.  I've looked at the newer models and they all follow similar patterns for preventing alternative control software.

I think that the [Canoe Explore Air 2] is a favorite among amateur and serious crafters alike. It connects to your computer, tablet, or smartphone through Bluetooth, and it works just as well with Mac and PC or iOS/Android devices. You can also work on the designs while you’re [paddling].

Anyone get the Cricut Expression , first edition to work on a PC ?

It used closed software that is not supported anymore , 

I have one or maybe 2  because they were cheap at the swap meet ,  would love to figure out software !

Thanks

My Cameo3 will do that stuff without being such a closed system. The newer Cameo 4 is supposed to be even better. Use any software, though it comes with Silhouette studio which has an annoying feature of wanting you to buy the upgraded version to import your own files. There's a readily available discount code online though so it's like $25 once. 

In reply to Duke :

I have a friend with one, it's way too tempting to ask him to make crap for me all the time.