Silhouette Portrait vs Silhouette CAMEO 3 kit

For a price tag below $140, you're getting a fully functional vinyl cutter. Even though this machine does not have the ‘fancy’ features more premium cutters have, such as tangential emulation or overcut, it still can cut any standard vinyl sheet.

The maximum cutting length of this machine is quite impressive: 120” in total. Therefore, the effective cutting area of this vinyl cutter is 8” x 120”. You can easily cut medium-sized signs with this amount of workspace available.

Silhouette Studio is the software this machine works with. No special skills are required to work with it. Even a new user will easily produce his/her first cut within 10-30 minutes. All the buttons and tabs are easy to find and use.

This machine has got a registration mark system, being able to detect printed registration marks with the aid of a camera, mounted near the toolhead. This feature allows you to cut multi-colored stickers and heat transfers.

Silhouette offers very affordable blade replacement options. For under $8, you can buy a new replacement blade with a cartridge. The blade (and its cartridge) is a consumable part that needs to be frequently replaced.

You do not have to be an artist to work with this machine. You can easily buy artwork from the Silhouette design store. The prices are more than affordable: the majority of the shapes are priced between 50 cents and 3 dollars and several free shapes are also available. All the purchased forms are imported to your shape library automatically.

Due to its compact size (16.25” x 5.6” x 4.5”) and light weight (3.5 lbs), this machine is a perfect solution for those who need a portable vinyl cutter.

The starter pack contains all the products required to experiment with sign vinyl and heat transfer vinyl, and it is an excellent solution for those that want something that's ready to work with straight out of the box.

This vinyl cutter comes with a free copy of Silhouette Studio software. This software is a great tool for taking the first steps in vinyl cutting. Its user interface is clear and simple. The main functions (shape drawing, exporting, and cutting) have their own separate toolbars. It's also very good for experimenting and trying out new cutting parameters.

After the blade depth is initially calibrated, using the Silhouette Studio software, the cutter will automatically adjust it, if needed. This can significantly reduce the machine preparation time and also allows for fast switching between different materials.

It's capable of data communication using a standard Bluetooth communication protocol. No USB cables are required whatsoever, allowing it to be placed/used wherever you'd like.