Silhouette America Portrait 3 Desktop Cutting Machine - White

This machine is absolutely excellent at it's job. It's fast, works well, and can cut shockingly good and accurate details. If you're not someone who's willing to watch an hour of youtube tutorials and fiddle around with depth & pressure settings for 15 minutes this isn't for you though. It takes a bit to get used to the software, get it to do what you want, and dial in the cutting settings. It's completely worth it though, once you learn it you know it and the software feels great to use. You'll also want to get more then one brand of sticker paper to see what works best for you. I've only had 2 issues with this device so far: 1. Bluetooth connection is pretty inconsistent. This is probably because I live in a very densely populated area with high amounts of radio interference though (In a large apartment, another large apartment next to me, and out through my window is 2 more large apartments across the street). I do have issues with other bluetooth devices at times because of this at times, but not usually to this extent at all. I've found the device is only really usable over usb which is sort of too bad. 2. One time, the software went crazy and no jobs would start. The cutter looked for the registration marks in areas higher then where the paper was even loaded. After some tinkering I solved this by simply restarting both the cutter and my computer and I haven't had the problem since I haven't had any of the issues with glossy paper I see anyone else mentioning yet. I'm getting absolutely excellent better-then-I-thought-was-possible precision using ppd-73-u paper. The paper is a little thinner then I'd like, but it is absolutely excellent in all other ways.

When I got this machine, it did not work out of the box, which is why I only give it 4 stars. I believe there is something defective in the blade that came with the machine. Though the red indicator line was changing, the blade was not sticking out, it was in the zero position. Though I could manually adjust the blade by setting it to the Manual blade in Silouette Studio, this kind of defeats its purpose. I switched to using the 1 mm Manual blade for better control, but it means having to pause the project to adjust the blade. Also, I found that there is an issue with the Print and Cut feature as the lines on the mat do not match with the machine's placement. It would cause difficulty in the machine's ability to scan the marks since the paper was being placed too low based on the mat's marking. I found a way to work around this. But it it shouldn't have to be like this. Other than these issues, the machine cuts well and I am happy with the purchase.

Ok, so I’ve owned a Silhouette SD (one of the earlier versions of this) for the last decade. I have loved it. But, recently, I’ve had issues with it, and decided to get myself a new machine. This is pretty sweet. Blue tooth is pretty cool, but since I do my work on a desktop, I’ve got all the ports I need, so the Bluetooth isn’t too big of a deal. I do love that it cuts very precisely and it is pretty much the same as my old machine in how it works, so no learning curve for me. I like to design things in photoshop, then cut them with the silhouette, but the silhouette software is pretty simple too, there are tons of tutorials out there, and you can usually get the hang of it pretty quick. The only thing I don’t like about the machine is this new auto blade. It’s more expensive, and if it worked, I’d be fine with it. I’ve had to reset mine 5 times already, every time I change any setting or use a different material, I have to reset it. I’ve trashed some expensive vinyl because of it (luckily, it was scarps I was using for small projects, but still, not cool.) I’m now waiting on my order for the adaptor to use my ratchet blades, I’d rather just adjust the settings manually, and know the first time it’ll cut right. I will also say, this machine is a bit noisier then the old silhouette, or maybe it’s just in my head? Anyway, this is a pretty slick machine! I use it mainly for Vinyl, HTV, Stencils, Stickers, and sometimes fabric. Update: got the adaptor set, it says it’s only for cameo 4, but it works perfect for this portrait 3, and I love it! Cuts perfect every time!

I just used this for the first time today and honestly its amazing! It takes a bit to understand the software, but that would happen regardless of what cutting machine I bought. Once I learned how to use the software cutting was a breeze! You might need to tweak things a little here and there to get proper cuts (at that's what I did for my stickers) but once you learn which settings you need everything else becomes pretty straight forward. I did have one problem with the registration not working but setting it up manually (which is super easy to do, just use the arrows on the screen to move the blade to the black square) helped fix my issue. It only happened once, but even if theres a registration error again fixing it manually isn't really a hassle. I've only had it for a day now, but so far so good! My only real issue with this is the horrific sound it makes when cutting, but other than that I would recommend this to beginners like me!

Love it! It has been my baby sinceI I bought it. It works properly

This thing is straight up malicious. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I despise this machine. I'm used to working with sub-par or stubborn technology; I worked in a digital photo lab for a while and had to deal with their big Epson poster printer, which was an absolute nightmare beast. I've had numerous bad home printers, I've struggled through classwork on awful all-in-one school desktop computers, I had an Alcatel smartphone in 2014... I've experienced pretty much all that can be awful in everyday technology at least a few times, because I'm poor. No piece of tech has ever betrayed or frustrated me or straight up gaslit me the way this thing has. It's pushed me to the limits of my sanity. The only reason I have not smashed this worthless piece of garbage into bits with a hammer is because, again, I'm poor, and I need it to make stickers for my shop. I swear to god this thing has caused me genuine psychological harm. Sometimes it works fine with no problems. Other times, it fights me every step of the way, for no discernible reason. I can have one really good, productive day, and then under EXACTLY the same conditions the next day, exactly the same files, exactly the same paper, exactly the same setup in exactly the same lighting-- suddenly, it won't read registration marks, it won't cut accurately, it won't do anything right. I give up, I put it away, I come back again when I'm forced to by things like Needing Money To Live, dreading another day spent literally sobbing at my craft table from stress, and mysteriously, it works again. Every time I think I have the rules nailed down, every time I think I figure out, every single time I think, ah, I just needed more experience, I'm good at troubleshooting it now-- it finds a new way to misbehave that wastes hours of my time and buckets of my tears. It doesn't have quirks so much as it has moods. It either works fine or destroys everything it touches. You can't even call it "temperamental," really, because that would require some consistencies. I've edited my previously positive "I just need to learn how to use it!" review to admit the truth: this is a TERRIBLE machine. I lied to myself because I needed to believe that I was getting better at moderating its bad behavior. I wasn't just inexperienced. It wasn't just the wrong lighting. I didn't need to just learn its quirks. It just sucks. The truth is, it's been terrible the whole time, and unfortunately I wasn't able to discern that within the return period, because it was my first die cutter and I didn't know whether the amount of trouble I was having was normal. It was terrible the day I took it out of the box and it will be terrible the day I mail it off to one of those youtube channels where they crush stuff with a hydraulic press. Also, Silhouette never actually manufactures enough new blades or cutting mats for it, so whenever one wears out on me I have trouble replacing it. I had to order a blade from a craft store in another country once and pay crazy shipping on it. I guess if you're still going to buy this (don't. for the love of god, RUN! run!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!) be aware you'll want to order your new mats and blades ahead of time.

I debated for quite a while which cutting machine to purchase and so happy I decided on this one. Very easy to set up. The program takes a bit a to learn but there are a lot of on-line videos that you can learn from! Seems to be a solid machine and cuts well.

Around this time last year I tried the Portrait 2. And it was nothing but misery. It would chew up my mats, never register print marks correctly, and it wouldn't cut the same thing twice in a row. The cuts would constantly fail, or be completely off. I had to return it after two days of frustration. The Portrait 3 is a gamechanger for me. The autoblade is wonderful, just set it to the paper I want to cut, and done. Don't even need to use a mat for sticker sheets / if you're not cutting through the entire paper. Now, I will say that their autotrace PNG feature introduced in Silhouette Studio 4.4 is flawed/their software needs work. I had a PNG saved to my Silhouette design space, and it would not autotrace the borders at all. And copy-pasting a transparent PNG also resulted in the autotracing not working, either. You have to actually SAVE the images to your computer, and then DRAG them into the software. Then, it'll autodetect the borders and autotrace for you. Once you've figured that out, if you want to add an offset (like a colored or white border to stickers, for example), use the Offset settings as normal, then select the entire sticker / image, right-click and Weld. This will combine the new offset border and your original image border into a single cut. The software is pretty clunky and I wish it were more guided, like the Cricut software is. There's a lot of settings. But thankfully the autoblade does all the heavy lifting here. I will say that the cut precision between the Silhouette Portrait 3 and Cricut Air 2 is night and day. I had terrible sensor issues with the Cricut, no amount of light or calibrating or troubleshooting would help. The silhouette's cuts are pretty accurate! It's a relief.