** I was given a Cricut Explore One in exchange for an honest review of the product. ** ** I use a Macbook Pro (OS X 10. 9. 5) and Safari or Chrome as my internet browser. ** ** I own a Silhouette Cameo, a Cricut Explore, and a Cricut Explore Air.
** I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Cricut had decided to offer a lower priced model with the release of the Cricut Explore One. I wasn’t sure how they could reduce the price of the machine without compromising the quality of the machine and the preciseness of the images cut.
But, after spending some time with the Cricut Explore One, I am happy to say that the Cricut Explore One meets and exceeds all my expectations. With all of the projects that I did while test driving the Cricut Explore One, every cut was as clean and precise as I have come to expect with Cricut products.
Here’s what you’ll get with the Cricut Explore One: Cricut Explore One electronic cutter USB connect cord Power cord One 6”x12” vinyl sample Start here packet Some of the main differences between the Cricut Explore One and the Cricut Explore/Circuit Explore Air are: – If you want to use your Cricut Explore One to write or score on your images, then you will need to purchase an accessory adapter (sold separately).
This adapter allows you to remove the housing and blade and insert a pen or scoring stylus (sold separately) (see photos). This accessory adapter is only needed with the Cricut Explore One, it is not needed with the Cricut Explore or Cricut Explore Air.
– As with the Cricut Explore, the Cricut Explore One has a Bluetooth port in which the Cricut Wireless Bluetooth Adapter (sold separately) can be plugged in. This allows you to connect your computer to the Cricut machine without the USB cable.
Your computer or iPad must have Bluetooth capability. The Cricut Explore Air has the Bluetooth Adapter built into the machine. – The Cricut Explore One does not come with a bag for carrying your machine.
Both the Cricut Explore and the Cricut Explore Air come with a carry bag. Setting up the Cricut Explore One was straight forward and free of problems. All I had to do was go to the Cricut Design Space website, download the Cricut plug-in, sign into Design Space, and I was ready to go.
I even installed my Wireless Bluetooth Adapter that I used on my other Cricut Explore machine and connected via Bluetooth without a hitch I had received the Cricut Explore One the week before Mother’s Day, so I decided to make a card for my mother-in-law.
I found and purchased a project from SVGCUTS. com. Using the online Design Space software, I uploaded the all of the svg files for my project (this particular project had nine svg files). The upload process is easy and quick and within 10 minutes I was ready to begin to cut out my images.
This particular project included teeny, tiny flowers. The flowers are pretty small, but the Cricut Explore One cut the 34 flowers that I needed without a single problem. The project also included a pagoda which required delicate cuts around the windows and the front porch fence.
The Cricut Explore One performed perfectly! The project also required eight different colors and thicknesses of paper, but it only took me 15 minutes to cut all of the pieces. I also tested the Print Then Cut feature with the Cricut Explore One.
Historically, I’ve had trouble with the Print then Cut feature when it comes to using the white cardstock that I like to use. This experiment yielded the same results. But, since I’ve had this same problem in the past, it stands to reason that the problem is not limited to the Cricut Explore One.
In order to get around this problem, I’ve found a different shade of cardstock that can be used with the Print Then Cut feature. For this test I chose a “Make It Now’ thank you card using standard printer/photocopy paper.
Because I wanted to see how the stylus and the pen worked with the accessory adapter, I modified the project just a tad so that some of the items were printed using a laserjet printer, some written with a pen, some items cut with the cutting blade, and some scored with the stylus tool.
All worked just as planned. The thing I liked most about the Cricut Explore One was that it was easy to swap out the housing/blade with the adapter and insert the stylus or the pen. As I mentioned, I also own a Silhouette Cameo.
One of the complaints I have with the Silhouette Cameo is that for some reason I have a difficult time reseating the housing/blade into the cutter. This wouldn’t be a bad problem except that with the Silhouette Cameo, you need to remove the housing/blade in order to set the depth of the blade whenever you change the material that you are cutting.
For instance, if you were cutting images out of flocked iron-on vinyl and heat transfer vinyl, you would have to remove the housing/blade on the Silhouette Cameo, set the blade to ‘2’, reinsert the housing/blade into the machine, and then you would need to set the speed and thickness settings in the Silhouette Studio software.
Each time you changed the type of material being cut, you would need to repeat the process. For some reason, I always seem to struggle with reinserting the housing/blade on the Silhouette Cameo. Either I would not fully insert the housing/blade, I would have the blade set to the incorrect number, or I wouldn’t correctly set the screw-on nut that holds the housing/blade into the carriage.
Whatever my problem, I would end up with a cutout that was ripped, not thoroughly cut, or not cut at all. With the Cricut Explore One, you remove the housing/blade only when you want to write or score your material.
This can be accomplished with an easy flick of a latch, remove the housing/blade, insert the accessory adapter with the pen or stylus (it slides right into the slot and adjusts itself), close the latch, and you are off and running.
Another reason I love my Cricut Explore One is that I can use up the scrap pieces of paper, vinyl, chipboard, etc. when creating my projects. On one of my project, I was able to use a 3”x4” scrap paper to cut out a small arrow.
I’ve tried to use some of the smaller pieces of paper with my Silhouette Cameo. More often than not when I tried to use my scape pieces with the Silhouette Cameo, I would end up throwing away my cut out piece because the paper wouldn’t stick to the mat while the Cameo was cutting the image.
I suppose I could attribute this problem to the cutting mat, but I can honestly say that I’ve used mats with minimal stickiness with the Cricut Explore and I’m still able to get a clean cut while using scrap pieces of paper.
With the Cricut Explore One (and the rest of the Explore family), I am able to save money by using almost all of the paper, vinyl or whatever material I happen to be using. The cost of crafting supplies can add up quickly.
The Cricut Explore One helps me make the most of my crafting dollars. If I had to find something with the Cricut Explore One that I didn’t like, it would have to be Cricut Design Space. In order to use the Cricut Explore One, you need to use Cricut’s online software or iPad app called Design Space.
If you don’t have access to the internet, then you won’t be able to use your machine. In my opinion, Design Space is not the friendliest piece of software around. But, from the short amount of time since I started using Design Space, I have seen Cricut install changes towards making it more user friendly.
And, as with any piece of software, the more I use it, the friendlier it becomes. It is easy to do the simplest of tasks in Design Space, such as cutting out letters for a locker poster or a simple wall décor.
But, if you want to do something a bit more elaborate like some of the things you see on Pinterest or Etsy, then you’ll want to plan on spending some time learning the ins and outs of Design Space. There are videos on YouTube not only by Cricut, but by craft masters such as Kens Kreations, and Melody Lane that are extremely helpful in learning the features of Design Space.
The Cricut Explore One is a great option for the crafter who wants to own a high-quality, electronic cutter, but not spend an arm and a leg. If I were eager to purchase an electronic cutter, but was not quite sure that I want to spend the money to get an electronic cutter that has all the bells and whistles, then the Cricut Explore One would be the one for me.