Finally, a Smaller, More Affordable Cricut Product: A Cricut Mini Review

I’ve been in the market for a personal vinyl cutter for sometime now. I started looking at them years ago when I was doing a lot more scrapbooking and buying individual die cutters was cost prohibitive for me. In the last 10 years personal cutting systems have been on the market, and while the idea of having one for all of my crafty endeavors appealed to me, the cost was always prohibitive due to the nature of the cartridge systems that were required and not being able to customize the images that I wanted.

Last year I intensified my search for a cutting system after seeing the Provo Cricut Mini in action at Maker Fair NYC. The Cricut Mini is a slimmed down version of the original Cricut machines, and at $99 on Amazon it’s a great kit for those looking for an inexpensive cutting system. Straight out of the box it’s easy to see that this machine is different than its predecessors in the Cricut product line. The Cricut Mini has no handle, no digital display, no keyboard and is much lighter then either of the Expression models. The Cricut Mini can either accept any of the Cricut cartridges on the market or it can be controlled by the Cricut Craft Room software. The Cricut Craft Room gives you access to about 400 images for free before having to purchase additional cartridges or images. I had hoped that the software would be the ticket to making my own designs; however, it isn’t. It’s a great program for maximizing your paper usage and designing your layouts, but there are no design capabilities incorporated.

The Cricut Mini comes with a starter pack of paper, one mat with cover and a starter project. Follow the enclosed step-by-step directions, and wait patiently while the machine cuts very quietly. The Cricut Mini cutting mat comes with a removable adhesive surface to reduce the movement of the paper on its surface. The first few projects I completed were hard to peel from this surface without ripping. However, over time the stickiness reduced and paper came off more easily. I was surprised at the amount of wear that showed up on the mat and I wonder how often the mat will need to be changed in the future.

I will admit, however, that despite the extensive array of cartridges/images available, the Cricut Mini just didn’t meet my needs. I had been looking for a machine that I could be creative with and create my own designs. While the Cricut Mini system is incredibly new-user friendly, it is incredibly non-hacker friendly. All of the patterns are in a proprietary format that isn’t publicly available. You cannot draw and cut just any design you wish from the internet or that you design yourself. All images must come from one of their cartridges or from their online content. This feature was important to me as I am a massive Doctor Who fan and had several projects that I would like to have printed designs, vinyl stickers or fabric cut-outs. This is pretty much impossible since there is no Doctor Who cartridge and no way of creating custom designs.

The Cricut Mini is a great cutting unit for those of you who are curious about precision die cutters, but aren’t sure about paying for a more expensive system. It would be a great tool for anyone who needs to make bulletin boards on a regular basis, i.e., teachers, residence advisers, and even social organizations. It’s also wonderful for folks who really just want to pick and choose pre-made designs for their projects. However, the Cricut brand is unlikely to be the right fit for anyone looking for a die cutting machine that allows true creative freedom.

A sample product was provided for this review.