Silhouette Portrait vs Roland GR-640

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 total cutting area of this machine is 65” x 984”. It is suitable for cutting huge outdoor vinyl signs and even automotive signs (signs for commercial vehicles).

Besides vinyl films, this machine can cut cardboard, corrugated e-flute, heat transfer material, diamond grade films, sandblast mask, high-intensity reflective films, and window films.

Even though the maximum media width you can feed into this vinyl cutter is 70”, it doesn't mean that the machine only works well with this massive size. According to its specifications sheet, the Roland GR-640 handles any media width between 6” and 70”.

This industrial grade vinyl cutter does not require you to spend a fortune on its software. Even more, it uses the same software as all the other Roland machines. It is very unusual for an industrial grade CNC machine to share the same software with consumer grade units.

By default, this cutter is covered by a full 3-year-manufacturer warranty, available upon the registration of the product (it has to be done online). This warranty will cover you if the machine fails. Furthermore, there is an option to upgrade the standard 3-year warranty to a 5-year period by purchasing a Roland Care Premium Service Contract (the exact pricing is available only on request).