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Cricut Explore Air 2, Matte Black
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Customer reviews
- Cricut Explore Air 2, Matte Black
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- Customer reviews
Top positive review
If it Vibrated I Would be Divorced
July 15, 2018
My wife loves this thing and for that reason so did I. Seeing the pure joy in her eyes was rivaled only by things like our wedding day and our children's births. As time has gone by though I'm beginning to suspect that she loves it more than she loves me. She spends all her time with it and when she's not using it she's talking about it. She's taken to snuggling it in bed and when I came home from work the other day it was sitting in my chair at the dinner table. My children call it Daddy. I was getting tired of it and tried to confront it but my dog started snarling at me.
It's too late for me but you've been warned: this machine is a homewrecker.
It's too late for me but you've been warned: this machine is a homewrecker.
1,556 people found this helpful
Top critical review
Subscription required
February 28, 2018
I bought this on valentines day for my wife. Here 2 weeks later, she gets a notice that she can no longer use the software without paying $10 month. She gets on chat with Cricut and they confirm it. So this machine is now useless to us.
611 people found this helpful
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July 15, 2018
My wife loves this thing and for that reason so did I. Seeing the pure joy in her eyes was rivaled only by things like our wedding day and our children's births. As time has gone by though I'm beginning to suspect that she loves it more than she loves me. She spends all her time with it and when she's not using it she's talking about it. She's taken to snuggling it in bed and when I came home from work the other day it was sitting in my chair at the dinner table. My children call it Daddy. I was getting tired of it and tried to confront it but my dog started snarling at me.
It's too late for me but you've been warned: this machine is a homewrecker.
It's too late for me but you've been warned: this machine is a homewrecker.
February 28, 2018
I bought this on valentines day for my wife. Here 2 weeks later, she gets a notice that she can no longer use the software without paying $10 month. She gets on chat with Cricut and they confirm it. So this machine is now useless to us.
July 9, 2018
I bought the Cricut explorer 2 air. first of all i called into the company to ask questions before i purchased the machine. i did alot of reserch online also watching videos etc...then i felt good about spending 300 dollars on all of it, and vinyls, cutting matts, cutters etc..when i got the machine in the mail and set eventually set it up. The first thin you do is create an online cricut account, put in your serial number and go to design space.com. The problem i started having is you cant download the program onto your desktop pc so in order to use the machine you have to be connected to the internet No one said anything about this: The 2nd thing is in order to use the online service you have to pay 10.00 per month No one said anything about this. So if i dont use it for 2-3 months i still have to pay right? There is some hidden things they dont tell you about before you buy this..i dont think its right to have to pay 120.00 a year to use this machine that i already purchased. if i had know any of this i would have never bought this. Im sending it all back for a refund. Beware: Update: i also purchased cutters and cutting mats that i never used, so i sent them back for a refund its been almost a month and no refund yet. i'm just one of the dissatisfied customers they have or had.
July 19, 2017
The machine does not come with software and you can't download any software onto your machine. You can only use their on-line software, which is very limiting. You can not use 3rd party software. So you have to be connected, i.e. within wifi range, to do any design work. When I'm at the coffee shop w/o access, traveling, etc... I can't do any preparatory work. Why don't they list this on the product description? Nobody else does this with their machines... I don't understand why Cricut has to...
December 19, 2017
What's the point of having two tool inserts when I can't score and cut in the same mat. Drawing a design takes forever, cannot set references to draw at all. For example cutting a square with a grid scored inside it doesn't seem possible in one pass. It took ages to draw four parallel lines - I had to manually enter the length and coordinates to get it working. It also looks like it isn't possible to use another software to do this. Any recommendations to do a better job would be helpful
Also, the mat broke when I try to peel the sheet off as recommended
Also, the mat broke when I try to peel the sheet off as recommended
February 6, 2017
I have been trying out all sorts of materials with my new Cricut Explore Air 2 since Christmas. There has been some trial and error but am taking my time since I plan on using it in my business and really want to get the technique right and find the right materials for different applications. My only complaint is that you must rely on their design website,Cricut Design Space, to be up and running properly to get any cutting done. This is not a given as I've run into many glitches, especially on the weekend when I assume the site sees more traffic. It can be frustrating! I wish there was a program I could download onto my computer to bypass this issue.
July 26, 2017
I've been wanting this machine for so long but couldn't justify the price. Also I was super intimidated about spending all that money and not being able to figure out how to use it. Well I got it on sale on Prime Day, which was awesome. And it was super easy to use! The internet has so many helpful hints but is is truly so user friendly. Can't stop crafting!
April 4, 2017
So far I love it! There are some pluses and downsides. On the plus side, because I'm prime member it came rather quickly and free shipping! I've been cutting away since I got it last week. The downside is the limitation on free access to Cricut Access for the Design Space. I got the machine on 3/30 and have Access until 4/17. The feature of one year subscription apparently doesn't apply across the board. It depends on which item you select on Amazon that day. So read carefully. If it's not mentioned in exactly what you purchase, it will be brief, if at all. And it looks like it is very limited in the "free" images and fonts. That being said, I love the tutorials you can find all over the internet. I watch them over and over. If you are afraid of icons, (and there are plenty), the tutorials will be a great saver of frustration. I had an Expressions Cricut before. To me there is no comparison; the Explore Air 2 beats the Expression hands down! It is easier to use, there are more sources for help, although there are many icons, they are very organized in what each does. So, the learning curve isn't that bad. I'm back to scrap-booking and there isn't a page I made that hasn't come from my Cricut Explore Air 2. In four days I've made 4 pages and 2 cards. It is so much easier and fun with the Design Space and the images from Access. I was anxious to get this and got a really good deal. Be patient, the $ changes every day! I spent my savings on supplies I've been using with my Cricut Explore Air 2 since I got it. I have more coming in. I agree with others, the extra money isn't worth what you get in a "packet". If you price it out, and are patient, you can get some really good buys of supplies you "intend" to use or try out, instead of what you may or may not use in a packet. I'm so excited, even still, as ideas keep coming to me on what I can try to do next!
Be very aware that vinyl cutting is dependent on using the included sticky cutting mat that holds the vinyl in place.
June 30, 2018From the perspective of a person who makes vinyl stickers...
I was stunned to learn this thing requires a cutting mat. I make vinyl stickers and I have a much more pro machine as well. I thought they would be basically the same but boy oh boy was I wrong. I cannot stress enough how utterly insane it is to need a big sticky mat to hold your vinyl as it's being cut. It makes the whole process a hundred times worse.
There is no manual feed jogger so if your vinyl gets stuck you have to fight like mad to get it out.
The mat it came with is 12 x 12 inches. I didn't look into other mat options but it seems like a huge handicap to require a mat at all. What if you have a 12 x 48 inch design? Can you imagine peeling a sticker that huge off a large sticky mat without ruining it? I tested this with a 10 x 3 inch sticker and after peeling the cut vinyl off the mat I was left with an inconveniently rolled up sticker that still needed the negative space removed, and to be applied to transfer paper. It was ridiculous.
It is sloooooow, but it is very accurate. So it does make excellent cuts, just about 20% the normal safe speed of a slightly better cutter like a US Cutter laser pro 2.
Very quiet, which is great since it means this cutter can live indoors. My pro cutter lives in the garage because it is so huge and loud.
Cricut definitely wins as far as silence, size, and wireless. Bluetooth is the saving feature of this cutter. Seems like this is a good buy for someone with a basic hobby. It would be foolish to use it as a staple of your business though. Not when there are vastly superior machines out there. Even for the price, if your time is of any importance to you, just spend a couple hundred more and get a US Cutter. It will cut down your production time practically immeasurably - if for no other reasons than the fact that you are not crippled by some sticky mat, which means you can just run your vinyl on rolls instead of... whatever hacky stupidity you'll have to come up to work with the limitations of the cricut. It's possible you could get around the mat thing. Maybe just using a non-sticky piece of plastic and just taping the ends of the vinyl would be enough.
HUGE Negative though - I absolutely hate with severity the cricut design space "software" which is just a link to a website where the design suite lives. That means this thing lives entirely online! What if their site happens to go down and you have a client with a deadline in 20 minutes? I hate online design suites of all kinds. I hate that my library lives in the ether on someone else's machines. I don't feel safe not having physical backups of projects. I haven't looked into whether or not there's an alternative. But to be fair, my other machine's cutting software is horrible too. It's just not an online only thing so to me it feels safer.
I can't speak for any of the other things this could be used for. For all I know it's wonderful for all those other things. This is just the opinion of someone who has other equipment and has never known the concept of a sticky mat or limited cutting space.
I was stunned to learn this thing requires a cutting mat. I make vinyl stickers and I have a much more pro machine as well. I thought they would be basically the same but boy oh boy was I wrong. I cannot stress enough how utterly insane it is to need a big sticky mat to hold your vinyl as it's being cut. It makes the whole process a hundred times worse.
There is no manual feed jogger so if your vinyl gets stuck you have to fight like mad to get it out.
The mat it came with is 12 x 12 inches. I didn't look into other mat options but it seems like a huge handicap to require a mat at all. What if you have a 12 x 48 inch design? Can you imagine peeling a sticker that huge off a large sticky mat without ruining it? I tested this with a 10 x 3 inch sticker and after peeling the cut vinyl off the mat I was left with an inconveniently rolled up sticker that still needed the negative space removed, and to be applied to transfer paper. It was ridiculous.
It is sloooooow, but it is very accurate. So it does make excellent cuts, just about 20% the normal safe speed of a slightly better cutter like a US Cutter laser pro 2.
Very quiet, which is great since it means this cutter can live indoors. My pro cutter lives in the garage because it is so huge and loud.
Cricut definitely wins as far as silence, size, and wireless. Bluetooth is the saving feature of this cutter. Seems like this is a good buy for someone with a basic hobby. It would be foolish to use it as a staple of your business though. Not when there are vastly superior machines out there. Even for the price, if your time is of any importance to you, just spend a couple hundred more and get a US Cutter. It will cut down your production time practically immeasurably - if for no other reasons than the fact that you are not crippled by some sticky mat, which means you can just run your vinyl on rolls instead of... whatever hacky stupidity you'll have to come up to work with the limitations of the cricut. It's possible you could get around the mat thing. Maybe just using a non-sticky piece of plastic and just taping the ends of the vinyl would be enough.
HUGE Negative though - I absolutely hate with severity the cricut design space "software" which is just a link to a website where the design suite lives. That means this thing lives entirely online! What if their site happens to go down and you have a client with a deadline in 20 minutes? I hate online design suites of all kinds. I hate that my library lives in the ether on someone else's machines. I don't feel safe not having physical backups of projects. I haven't looked into whether or not there's an alternative. But to be fair, my other machine's cutting software is horrible too. It's just not an online only thing so to me it feels safer.
I can't speak for any of the other things this could be used for. For all I know it's wonderful for all those other things. This is just the opinion of someone who has other equipment and has never known the concept of a sticky mat or limited cutting space.
April 29, 2017
The absolute weakest design software I have ever worked with. It took my wife and I a total of over eight hours to print fifteen 4"x4" cards. When I called cricut I was told to install on my tablet and it would be easier, no help. You would think that once you spend $300, there would be no need to spend more just to get the software to work.
