Cricut Explore Air 2

Perfect gift – Bought this for my daughter, it’s amazing, she has been non stop creating stickers, labels, murals and anything else she can. One small issue and help was given within hours of emailing. Only downside is there seems to be more accessories for the joy available in stores, however we will be adding a second machine for just this reason!  Show reply

Don't buy! – Full of troubles and errors with each update. Cuts are not precise even after calibrating. Do not purchase if you are planning on making stickers. I regret purchasing this junk.

A lot of angry Cricuters out there right now – Used to be a great machine but something has gone very wrong. Cricut have acknowledged there is an issue but are not fixing it. We have been left withba machine that no longer works. Many users are now having cutting and engraving issues. The software has always been finniky and laggy but its got to the point where some of us cannot do anything… Read more

anymore as the machine itself doesnt cut properly since an update in Sep.. What used to be great customer service has turned into a nightmare. We are not getting any resolution or any idea when this will be fixed. We feel basically ignored. Posts have even been deleted on their fb page. Im buying a cameo. Ive had enough

Extremely poor after-sales customer service – My new explore air2 machine has some cutting problems. Contacted them 3 months ago and the whole experience was very frustrating. I understand covid would affect their operation but they asked me one question each time and take a month in between to do it while they could have asked me all at once. After 3 months and me providing different… Read more

photos/videos for them all they said was their technicians will work on fixing the issues and they can't give me a time frame of when will it be fixed. It's a problem of my machine as well so I'm not sure how the technicians will be able to "fix the issues" in their office... Very disappointed at the whole experience and their after-sales customer service.

Cricut not cutting anything – This machine is an absolute waste of money! It won't even cut the material it comes with. I adjusted all the settings like they said and it still won't cut through the Cricut vinyl, Cardstock or Iron ons. Trying to get ahold of the Cricut support line is a NIGHTMARE! Honestly. Save your money and buy something else.

Love my new Cricut Machine – After downloading the app on my phone I was then able to purchase images. So happy to another review who advised to do this when living in Australia. Love it. Show reply

Perfect for Australia! Air 2 is a great machine – I have owned both machines Air 2 and maker. I love both of them. While the Air 2 is the base model it can do almost as much as the maker. It took me a long time to upgrade because the differences in the machines were not enough fro justify the expense. The maker is incredible with the extra things it can do and cut. But the Air 2 is perfect for… Read more ·  1

cardstock, and vinyls.

Signing up to Cricut access is done using your phone as you can select Australia as your address. You can’t do this on your computer unfortunately. Once you have signed up you can use your computer/tablet/smartphone to create anything you like. You can purchase any SVGs you like and upload them to design space.

Love my Cricut. Join one of the many groups in Aus and you will get all the support you need on your crafting journey.

Not suitable for Australian market – Whilst the actual machine works very well, the design space is NO GOOD here in Australia as previously mentioned by other reviewers, once the initial months trial is up most images have to be paid for and being as you cannot purchase here in Australia it is a complete waste of space,time and money.(free files are very limited)Even downloading free… Read more

svg files is painful as you can only print/cut on white paper, not much good if you want a nice coloured file/image. At a cost of $400 it is very expensive as I thought it would cut down on the cost of buying steel dies for my Cuttlebug but sadly not. If you live in the US,Canada or UK then go ahead and buy it but Australian buyers beware. I will stick to my Cuttlebug

Cricut not made for Australi – setting this machine up is proving to be a pain in the rear end. Ridiculous to be sold in Aus but online elements ie. design is not available unless you are USA or Canada and a back door for UK. Unimpressed. Ps. all the advice about using a USA address with a credit card not a debit card is outdated if it ever worked.

Fantastic – I purchased this little gem 6 months ago, absolutely fantastic, the online software that comes with buying this machine looks a little daunting at first and as a first timer I was worried it would all be above my head but found it very easy to use once you feel your way around and with the back up of circuit Australia facebook page that answers… Read more ·  1

any questions and have heaps of videos on how to make things its been hands down the best crafting hobby I have ever taken up. This machine has already paid for it self 3 times over in the gifts and home wares I have created.

5 stars from me

If you're looking to cut fine details in vinyl, paper, carboard, etc then you've come to the right p – Introduction: I've had this thing for just 2 days. (Updated to for use over a year below) Normally I'd go a bit higher-end on my endeavours, to ensure everything works as advertised, but I have to say that I'm quite impressed by the performance of this cutter. I did a lot of research, and yes Roland is Adobe Illustrator compatible, and there are… Read more ·  1

other cheaper brands like Brother's DesignCut series... (which has some terrible reviews) but I was limited to whatever I could find locally for a time-sensitive job that I was working on. So I found this Cricut at my local Spotlight store, and bought some much-needed accessories to make my life a LOT easier. Trust me, you want some of the accessories! I found the tools to particularly useful, as well as a second "deep cutting blade". After that, well.. the accessories you may want will depend on what you're doing!

If you have a crafty disposition, and you want... for example.. to make accurate and detailed stencils to help with your spray painting jobs (like I did) then I can safely say that this unit works extremely well. Perhaps... too well. I frankly, bit more than I could chew, thinking that the detail would be automatically simplified by this cutter... wow was I wrong. It cut every excruciating detail in the veins of a maple leaf... and I thought.. "This is going to look amazing!"....

The sheer intricacy that this machine can do is quite incredible. Which if you're using the Cricut stenciling vinyl sheet I have been, is a double-edged sword. While pretty in theory, it also makes everything afterwards more challenging. It's very difficult to pull out all the little bits of sticky stencil, and nightmarish to pull off again too! So the moral of this story is: "Keep it simple!". I honestly wish I didn't put the veins in the maple leaf now. When they're less than half a millimetre in width, that's some pretty fiddly bits to work with. So I'd strongly recommend sticking (pun not intended) to simpler, solid shapes!

Installation and use:

Installation of the Cricut is about as simple as installing a printer. Plug in the power, plug in the USB, turn it on, and install the software, which you can download from the Cricut web site. There's actually a printed manual which goes into detail for the technologically averse. There's also a bluetooth wireless feature, but since I find cable no inconvenience, and more reliable, that's all I have used.

Cutting boards explained:

Cricut has opted for two sizes of cutting/backing boards. 12" x 12", or 12" by 24". Yes you're limited to 24" but since I'm not a sign writer, I'm happy with this. You'll also note that there are different colours of cutting board, and these relate to the "Stickiness" of the board. The thicker and heavier the cut material, the stickier you'll need the board to be. This is colour coded. With blue being "a little sticky", green being "medium stickiness", and light purple "strong grip".

The software environment:

You won't be printing to this cutter like some more advanced models do. Instead there's an online "design space" which you can use (or use the dedicated app, which links to it). You'll need to register an account to use the system, but there's a free version, or a paid subscription option, which gives you access to more projects, images, styles and fonts. Consequently, I'm stingy when it comes to subscriptions that I'd use infrequently, so I chose the free version.

Who do I think this best suited for?

Personally, I think this is particularly aimed at crafty womenfolk...who probably bake lots of beautifully decorated bags/boxes of cookies.. but that's not me. This Cricut model comes in a light green, blue and black, so if that actually matters to you, then pick your colour of choice. I have a green one... because Crickets are normally green. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was the only one available... :~)

The process I have successfully used:

My project was pretty simple, I found a picture of a maple leaf, saved it to my computer, then simply uploaded it into the design space. Then I had to click on the bits that I wanted to cut out, when I was happy, I resized (and copied/pasted for multiple cutting jobs on the same sheet). Please note that you can't cut right to the marked edge, there seems to be a 5mm border at the edge that you can't cut on. Take this into account when you are positioning your cut-outs.

An IT Guy's way to use Illustrator (or any other program for that matter) with the Cricut:

Now, if you're a graphic designer, and desperately want to use Illustrator with the cutter, I'm sorry but that is not DIRECTLY possible. However, if you CAN save your file as a normal image (say, a JPEG) then upload it into the design space. If you start with a high resolution image (say 300 pixels per inch like photo printing) and you should be able to manipulate it without much (if any) loss in quality to the full size of the cutting sheet. If you're just making smaller cuts, you can probably get away with significantly less resolution.

The Cutting:

The Cricut has two modes, precision (slow) and 2x speed (less precise). I cut some VERY intricate maple leaves of various sizes, and each 12"x12" sheet took probably 30 minutes or so. For simpler stencils, you'd be done far quicker, and with 2x mode, perhaps as little as a few minutes, depending on the size, complexity, and number of separate cuts needed.

Conclusion:

Overall, this cutter does exactly what is says it will, works with both Mac and PC. You could probably even use a phone or tablet with the design space app and blue tooth connection. However, it might be particularly awkward on a small screened phone.

I have had absolutely no problem with the setup or use of the Cricut itself. The software is quite intuitive, and it is SO MUCH FASTER AND ACCURATE than cutting things out by hand. The only problems are:

1. I see what this thing can do, and then make my life more complicated than it had to be. 2. It is limited in size, so sign writing is probably best suited to larger scale models of cutter, but if you just want to make small things more fancy (cards, labels, and simple stencils, just to name a few) then this is more than up to the task!

An update with a year's experience:

Ok, so my bike was... (for a little while) very shiny, and I love the custom paint job. So for me, once I was done, the Cricut was sitting on the shelf, largely unused. So I asked my better half if she could find a use for it... In short, I unleashed a monster... so let me give you some context.

My partner IS a graphic designer, with some serious crafty tendencies. When we aren't making home made food products, she is making hand made soap and is just starting to sell some bars on Etsy. However, as soon as she finally got enough confidence in her soaps to start selling them, the Cricut has been used, tested, and largely experimented on stuff I had never even considered.

My partner doesn't just make labels with the Cricut (although she makes a lot of those in a variety of shapes and materials), she makes the swing tags that the labels go on. She took it further still and made the boxes she wraps her soaps in. All we have to do is fold the cut "nets" and glue them up once finished by the Cricut. This enables her to make a box to the exact dimensions, whenever she needs one. So if she's making a batch "man soap", she can resize the bar and the packaging to suit. Then switch back to making normal bars and resize/reload a suitable net, and cut them to specification.

She doesn't limit herself to everyday paper, but baking paper, thinner cardboard stock, it even worked on light fabrics, and even very thin leather... with the right cutting head. However, sometimes cardboard thicknesses varies a bit and it does need a little help to finish the particularly deep cuts in places.

For jars of food, we put cloth covers over the lids, cutting circles in fabric is something the Cricut can do in come circumstances, but in this case, I find it's easier to mark it out and cut with a pair pinking shears. If you're cutting fabrics, I'd recommend you either keep it to thin/light fabrics on this model, or consider a heavier duty model of cutter. Fabrics also tend to leave little bits of fluff on the sticky backing board, so you need to replace the boards more often.

In short, if you've got a printer and a cutter like the Cricut, there are literally thousands of ideas you can make. Home made card designers will love a Cricut. Also, as mentioned a year ago, you can subscribe to their paid options to use literally hundreds if not thousands of pre-designed projects, but my partner and I like to do things more our way. Whichever way you go, the Cricut gives a surprisingly professional-yet craftsy look to your gifts/products, especially for those starting out on Etsy like my partner is.

I hope this review helps you. All the best in your crafty endeavours. This Cricut, has been a huge help to both of us in our respective projects.

Take care! Hamish.