Review of the X-Cut XPress!

Hola!

I’m imagining its warm and I’m sitting somewhere beautifully sunny. Instead I’m wrapped in a snuggly fleece and blanket & trying to type to keep my fingers from ceasing up completely! Seriously though- this post was supposed to be all singing and dancing (in fact, neither of the two!).

I wanted to post a video with a little walk through of the XPRESS machine. Things were going well until I tried to upload it- it took 20 minutes to get to 96.4%- and , you guessed it, promptly crashed. So I’m hoping to upload the two quickies onto YouTube & just post the link. In order to be a good reviewer- I should declare all biases. I do demonstrate for Docrafts & so in some ways that makes me a little biased- HOWEVER- those of you that know me a little know I like to  be honest- so what I say, I do actually think is accurate and fair.

So—

What is it? It’s a machine with the capacity to take A4 sized folders/dies. There is no die or embossing folder known to man that it can’t cope with. (I wish the same could be said for me and my kids 😉 ). It will take any manufacturers dies & happily chomps through fabric, foam, light chipboard, cardstock etc. If you can get scissors through a product, then you should be able to use the X-Press for it (dies allowing).

One of its greatest features is that you can fold it up. Most of us don’t own craft studios (sigh!) and so space is at a premium. This folds up and down as much as you need.
Ok- here’s part 1 of the walk through ( before my phone dies and I had to make part 2!)
Part 1
And after …
Part 2
Yes- I’m squished down trying to fit into the frame (no rude comments please!) and I guess I should have smartened myself up a little but here’s the lowdown:

Pros
A4 machine- stack up loads of dies in one rotation. Saves you getting RSI (!!) & will handle the bigger A4 folders and dies.

No more ‘sandwiches’- just a dial that will allow for every different thickness of cardstock without having to add multiple shims etc.
Cuts a variety of materials

Great product guarantee. This is important. Having worked for them- they are brilliant at sorting out queries- and of course, I’m like your 24 hour help line too 😉

Able to use dies facing up or down (although  the manufacturer shows them facing up & the cutting pad will be much less expensive to replace than the base pad.

It’s a nice neutral colour. Some recent machines have colours & designs that are pretty let’s say ‘bold’!!

No electrical elements to stop working (we all know of difficulties this has caused)

Cons

Pads are not see through- although I’ve heard a whisper they might be bringing out transparent pads- which are so good for placement & partial cutting of dies (such as in Joy cards etc.)

So- in conclusion- the lowdown… this is an investment. It’s not a ‘pop out and buy with your pocket money’ piece of kit but its well worth its price. It’s priced at less than the eBosser- roughly £50 below both RRP’s although obviously you’ll find different places doing different deals.

Do I think its a good machine- yes. I love it so much, I gave my Big Shot to my Mum!!

Better dash- I’ve another post coming about my jaunt to Bournemouth!

See you soon, x