Silhouette Cameo 5 12 inch Vinyl Cutting Machine with Studio Software, Electric Tool and ES Mat Compatible, SNA and IPT, 50 db, Matte Black Edition

I've had my cameo 5 for a little over 6 months, so wanted to write a review after having time to use it. As background, I was a longtime Cricut user before moving to Silhouette. I started with a Portrait 3 and loved it (you can read my Amazon review), but wanted a larger size, so got the cameo 5. I was hesitant given the negative reviews, but I knew I could return it if it was defective. To my pleasant surprise, it has worked very well. I had to calibrate it to get print and cut to be more accurate, but as you can see from my picture, print and cut looks amazing. Even the preset autoblade functions have been relatively accurate for me, with some minor adjustments depending on the material.The one negative thing I have to say is I was unable to do matless cutting like I did on my Portrait 3 (my favorite function!). I would usually dock a star, but I ended up getting the electrostatic mat, which is such a game changer and even better than matless cutting because I don't have the roller lines anymore since I move them to the furthest edges. I've always hated sticky mats, which is why I left cricut in the first place, so am happy to be free of them thanks to Silhouette.I want to add I'm in no way affiliated with silhouette, I just genuinely love their products that I've bought. I know the company receives negative reviews due to lack of customer service, dissatisfaction with the machines during the initial roll out, and changes to the design store (I tried today and my synching issues finally seem to be resolved, yay!), but I hope others will still consider silhouette because their products are innovative, reasonably priced compared to other cutting machines on the market, and really seem to try to address the needs and wants of their customers. My review may change if my machine rollers breaks, but for now I'm a happy and loyal customer ;) (knock on wood).

The media could not be loaded. I hope silhouette improves their design release process, because this has a lot of potential. The ES mat was the feature that convinced me to spend nearly double to buy a silhouette 5, rather than a used 4.Let me tell you, I had so many issues with it, by the time I gave up, I'd solved many... so here are some tricks I learned: (because customer service was garbage, and it included no instructions.)1. If your silhouette is failing to hold a connection to bluetooth- it links but then drops... manually connect it to your computer and download the latest firmware.2. There is a secret panel on the front, bottom of the cameo. You need to remove it to connect the mat. (Picture included.)3. If the cameo will not pull the mat in, you need the rollers lined up on the tape on the sides. The rollers will have 12" between them, so- the vinyl cover and 12 x 12 paper will fit perfectly. YOU MUST NEUROTICALLY ADJUST IT TO BE SURE IT ISN'T SLIGHTLY ASKEW. If it is twisted, it will fail to feed during the print and cause the WHOLE WORLD to crumble.4. The vinyl mat is only 12 x 12. Be sure that you PERFECTLY put your paper on it, and you decide what part of the ES mat you want to protect. If you do not get the file to start exactly at the corner of the mat, be sure you will cut the ES surface. Further, if the blade squirms slightly off the paper, it may snag the edge and bring the paper askew. If you did not choose to protect that part of the mat, and the rollers are failing because the paper is askew, see#3. Also, see the picture of the damage.5. There is a white line on the ES mat. It seems like a good place to start, but realize, you'll have to leave the top part unprotected because the vinyl is only so big. There's nothing said about this white line, so do what you want with it. (See picture of instance where the blade got stuck behind the paper and cut a detailed design onto the es mat.)6. After you have resolved all of this, you can make a cut like the one above!

I bought a Cameo 4 not too long ago for sale and it has been a reliable machine, but I had 1 main issue with it. It. was. loud. I was not aware of the Cameo 5 until recently.When I was told the Cameo 5 was going to be quieter, I rushed to buy this. What a godsend to finally hear my thoughts, as the machine no longer screams with the voices of the tortured souls of the dammed. When I say it is quieter, it is not silent. However, it is a MASSIVE improvement from the past machine.The overall setup was a little bit more complex than the cameo 4, I had to watch a few tutorials to get situated. The best resource I could find was "How to Setup Silhouette CAMEO 5: Start to Finish (And Ready for First Cut) by Silohuette School" on youtube. She rambles a bit, but ultimately does a comprehensive breakdown of your machine setup.It is a little more barebones in terms of items being provided with the machine. It does not come with a USB cable and you will need to supply your own. It will rely on Bluetooth but if you want to use a more reliable connection be sure to buy a USB 2.0 USB A Male to USB 2.0 Male cable.I am still exploring some of the features, but so far it is proving to be a great machine. There is still a learning curve to use this machine. You will need to learn via online resources (which there are plenty of) how to use it for your projects, so I would not say this is super beginner-friendly, but in my eyes, it is a reliable machine you will not regret learning how to use.