I am an original Cricut owner. In fact, when it first was coming out in 2008, Pam and I ordered it six months in advance and waited. That original Cricut later became known as the "baby bug"---which was quickly replaced by many newer models.
The Cricut is an electronic die cutting machine. Back in the early days, Pam and I even taught classes with the Cricut. We loved our machines! Back then, you had to refer to the book that came with each cartridge to know what it could cut. Pretty soon, as our library of fonts grew, this became a bit of a problem. And then....
Over the years, Provo Craft has come out with newer versions of the Cricut---with better technology each time. Weeellllll, I got an email earlier this week letting me know that Provo Craft was no longer going to be supporting the Gypsy. Seems they have come out with an App for you phone where you will do all of your designing there. I'm sure you'll have to buy the app. That's all well and good, but new technology is too new for those old machines. As if to smooth it over, Provo Craft offered me a $50.00 discount on a new machine. That's a joke and I told them so. Those machines are hundreds of dollars. Not everyone can afford to replace their machines every couple of years.
I did, in fact, purchase a new Cricut a few years ago so that I could take advantage of their "Design Space" on the internet. You can use and buy, individual images without having to own the cartridges--for 99 cents. Considering new cartridges were once $89.00, this seemed like quite a bargain. Except for one thing---the thing they don't tell you BEFORE you make the purchase---compatibility with Macs is limited. I spent many hours on the phone with tech support to finally be told by one of the techs that I needed to check back occasionally and update the software to my machine because they were still working on the Mac compatibility issues. I've used that machine exactly twice. It's been 2 or 3 years and has been gathering dust. In all fairness, I haven't checked to see if those bugs have been worked out.
So that brings me back to the Gypsy and a recent discovery. You cannot get the new cartridges to work with it---and now we know why. Provo Craft is no longer updating the Gypsy. I sent an email of dismay. The problem as I see it---is that Provo Craft has to force you to keep buying new machines as this is the only way they make money. And let's face it, users make the big purchase once. It's a lot of money to shell out. I let them know that if I'm forced to purchase another machine, it won't be a Cricut! I'm usually brand loyal, but unless they give a huge discount to their loyal customers, they can count me out.
I'm all for the latest and greatest technology, but this is highway robbery---I tell you!
Ugh :(
ReplyDeleteThe lack of Mac compatibility is why I went for the silhouette. Not that I've used it a huge amount but still....
I've been "thinking about" getting an electronic die cutter since forever, but even back when I shied away from the Cricut because of the necessity to buy the cartridges. If I ever do spring for a machine it will be the Silhouette which can cut any image on your computer.
ReplyDeleteI have a Cricut Expression and I've not used it very much. In part, because I use it so infrequently that to use it at all, I need to run online updates every time, and I never have that extra time. I do have about two dozen cartridges for it (all bought at half price or less), and thankfully they are already loaded onto the Gypsy - so maybe I will be okay. At the point where I can no longer use what I have already invested in, I won't be giving Provo Craft any more business either. They misled me in the first place, because I bought it thinking I could use anyone's cut files and that was not the case because they disabled that functionality shortly thereafter. Don't they know that we scrapbookers have long memories?
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