The Cricut promises an awful lot of things that it does not deliver. The majority of materials it promises to cut, will not work, and will void your warranty if you use them. It does not deal with detail very well, and even basic shapes often inexplicably scuff, rip or cause the machine to go into a tizzy and destroy the mat. The design space was designed by primary school children, and cannot perform basic functions that a paper crafter would expect such as snap grids or the ability to align an image on a page. It is also very glitchy. The mats lose stickiness very quickly and are very expensive to replace. Everytime I try to use this machine for very basic paper-cutting functions, I end up swearing and giving up. The worst part is the customer service. After explaining my problems with my machine not being fit for purpose, they just point blank refused to deal with my issue or return my machine. They instead concentrate on trying to find ways that you have voided your warranty. I am amazed that I was unable to find this information before buying my machine, and feel that Crricut have done a very good job of paying for positive reviews. If you look at all of the glowing reviews on blogs etc, they are all sponsored or in exchange for a free review.