Silhouette Portrait - In-Depth Review

Introduction of Silhouette Portrait

I am sure by now you are all familiar with Silhouette brand such as Silhouette America Portrait 2. The following equipment comes from them. The Silhouette Portrait is the portable lightweight counterpart to the more popular Silhouette CAMEO electronic cutting tool line of equipment.

As a result of this, it is capable of performing a host of functions that may seem similar to the CAMEO. For instance, the Portrait also connects to your computer with an ease that soon bequeaths you the freedom to cut all your fonts, the ability to download thousands of designs from the Silhouette Online Store, and or design shapes of your own with the included Silhouette software.

About Silhouette Portrait

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The above product is an electronic cutting tool designed for mostly personal use. Much like your home printer, the Silhouette Portrait plugs into your PC via the simple USB cable that comes with it. It doesn’t support wireless connections.

Dimensioned just 18 x 8 x 9 inches and weighing just 3.5 pounds, the Silhouette Portrait ships at a weight of 7.6 pounds, which is still very light. The maximum thickness of materials that can be cut with this machine is 0.8 mm.

Upon purchase of the product, the product comes inclusive of the following items, namely;

Silhouette Electronic Cutting Tool with Adjustable Blade: Blade with ratchet cap
USB Cable: High-speed 2.0
Power Cable: 100-240 volts AC adapter (Power cables are available for US/Canada,Europe, South Africa, Australia, and other regions)
Download Card: $10 gift card for more digital designs from the Silhouette Online Store 8-Inch Cutting Mat: 8.9″ x 13.5″ (22.6 x 34.3 cm)
Digital Cutting Files: 50 exclusive cutting designs
Basic Instruction Guide
Software CD: Silhouette Studio design software for Windows XP and newer and Mac

It comes equipped with a small blade it uses in cutting papers, vinyl, cardstock, fabric, etc, as long as the materials do not exceed it’s maximum carrying capacity of 8 inches wide and 10 feet long. It also has the ability to register and cut printed materials.

One thing this product really has for it is it’s size and also the style of design is quite sleek.

As always when used with the accompanying design software, the product is capable of much more. Lastly, it comes with a 1 year warranty on all parts inclusive of labor.

Silhouette Cameo 3 vs Cricut Explore Air 2: Which One Should You Buy?

* Check out other review of Silhouette Curio cutting tool.

Pros

1. Designed as a home tool, not a heavy cutting and design equipment. As such it’s functionality are well tailored and defined. It doesn’t aspire for functions it isn’t capable of carrying out.

2. The above makes the Silhouette Portrait’s price quite on the cheap side of things.
3. Doesn’t run with expensive cartridges, just go to the store, select your design and voila.
4. Although the sound the Silhouette Portrait makes as it works might be likened to that of a fax machine, it is not too loud and it is not silent either. We loved this sound better than that produced by the CAMEO 3.
5. It’s included 1 year warranty, inclusive of labor.

Cons

1. We discovered that the Silhouette Portrait finds it difficult to cut small details. While we admire the speed of the machine, we believe that it should be toned down just a little bit to allow for precision on the part of design cutting.

2. The related software does not exactly line up well with the machine and proves to be unstable, although from our sojourn on YouTube, this can be corrected by neglecting the guide line on the LHS of the mat and lining up the paper with the right edge of the mat instead.

Conclusion / Should you go for this machine or not?
If your intention is to print and cut in bulk super precise pieces, go for any of the other two products we recommended earlier. But if your need is for something portable and homely and doesn’t require heavy use, definitely go for this one. All in all, we rate it a 6/10 too.

More:You may also wish to buy the Silhouette Cameo Bundle Deals – Accessories & Tools for Beginners.