Product Comparison: Cricut Explore Air vs Cricut Explore Air 2

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Cricut Explore Air Wireless Cutting Machine

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Cricut Explore Air 2 Personal DIY Cutting Machine

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General Specifications

About the Product

Cricut Explore Air is the ultimate electronic cutting machine for DIY projects and crafts with embedded Bluetooth® for wireless cutting. Cut over 60 different materials with ease and precision to create anything from cards and invitations to party and home décor.

Cricut Explore Air 2™ is a DIY speed machine. This smart cutting machine cuts and writes up to 2x faster than previous models and helps you make projects with over 100 different materials.

Brand

Cricut

Model

Explore Air

Explore Air 2

Origin

China

Key Specs

Type

Electric

Number of Cutting Blades

Cutting Area

12 x 12 in.

Clearance

3 mm

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Cricut Explore Air Wireless Cutting Machine

Decent cutting job at detailed small cuts. It was able to handle it all, but you will need a really good blade.
A real work horse. Mine has cut through at least couple hundreds of images and it is still running. Set up is easy and it's fun to watch it cut.
Easy setup, simple to use, sharp clean cuts, perfect lines when using the pens, no cables…. I could go on and on.
Excellent cut quality. I've also had experience with a Cricut Expression 2 and a Cricut Explore and have never, ever had to replace a blade, even after 2 years! I've used the Cricut Explore Air to cut a variety of projects - intricate, vinyl, iron on, you name it!
I've successfully cut on a wide range of paper and vinyl products. I mostly cut on adhesive vinyl. After using daily for about 4 months, I thought my cuts weren't quite as precise, although paper cuts were still great.
This is awesome! The only draw back is the additional cost of cartridges for templates if desired but you can import your images with a little practice.

Cricut Explore Air 2 Personal DIY Cutting Machine

Cuts very intricate details with ease. Easy to use interface. Fast cutting/drawing.
This Cricut was the right one for me. I have do so much with it since I got it, and you'd be amazed at all the little personalized craft projects your friends and coworkers will bring to you once they know you have one.
Love this machine! I use it all of the time! It is very precise. The print then cut feature is amazing! I could never say enough good things about it.
It's ok. Cuts great and cuts lots of materials. It is very simple and easy to use my 8 year old can use it on her own from the designing to the cutting.
The tools are minimal to design with. There isn't much creative freedom with this machine. Creating complex designs hard time consuming and tedious due to lack of tool options.
It's not even been a week and i'm having issues, sometimes it ruins a paper and doesnt cut correctly, or it just marks the paper while its on cardstock, other times it disconnects mid cutting, i was really excited to buy this machine but now it just takes too long to cut one thing.

Size & Weight

Height

5 in.

6 in.

Weight

11 lbs.

21 lbs.

Width

21 in.

22.2 in.

Depth

8.5 in.

7 in.

Features

Cutting Materials

Paper, Cardstock, Vinyl, Fabric, Magnet paper, Heat transfer material, Photo paper, Copy paper, Rhinestone template material, Vellum, Leather

Paper, Cardstock, Vinyl, Fabric, Magnet paper, Heat transfer material, Photo paper, Copy paper, Rhinestone template material

LCD screen

Built-in Scanner

Yes

Wireless Cutting

Yes

Accessories Included

USB cable, Power cord, Accessory Adapter, Pen & cardstock sample, Cricut 12 in. x 12 in. StandardGrip cutting mat, German carbide premium blade

German carbide premium blade, USB cable, Power cord, Accessory Adapter, Pen & cardstock sample, Cricut 12 in. x 12 in. StandardGrip cutting mat

Extras

Embedded Bluetooth® for wireless cutting, Dual carriage for cutting and writing or cutting and scoring in one step, Upload your own images for free (.svg, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .gif, .dxf), Cut over 60 materials from vellum to leather, Smart Set® dial for easy material settings, Free Cricut Design Space™ online software and iPad app, Cut Smart® precision cutting

Up to 2X Faster. Select Fast Mode when you need to make every minute count, Create on your computer, tablet, or smartphone, Embedded Bluetooth® for wireless cutting, Cut 100+ materials from vellum to leather, Smart Set® dial for easy material settings, Upload your own images for free (.svg, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .gif, .dxf), Thousands of designs and ideas to kickstart virtually any project, Upload and use your own image files or fonts for free

What customers say about "Features"

Cricut Explore Air Wireless Cutting Machine

Lots of images for you to use at the image library. And designs are often updated. So you won't get bored of what they have offer online.
EASY TO USE. If you've never used an electronic cutting machine before, the ease of use with the Cricut Explore Air is a great place to start!
The ability to design and cut wirelessly! I mean, you can literally sit on your iPad on the couch and design something, pop into the craft room when you're ready and start cutting!
When it works, it cuts beautifully. Clean precise cuts, so long as the images you use are high resolution or already vector SVG files. I feel that the cricut files are expensive, and there are a lot of great cheap or free resources on the web.
Mat really goes out fast. Be prepared to buy multiple sets.
Online software is sometimes a pain to use on Mac because Safari don't like Flash player. Also, because it's web based, it's not that stable.

Cricut Explore Air 2 Personal DIY Cutting Machine

Absolutely Love Love Love this machine! So easy to use with the Cricut design studio. The best feature is the dial for what type of paper you are using. No guessing how much pressure you need as it does it all for you.
Amazing product for DIY for fraction of the cost. I made my own onesies for my friends baby shower and everyone was stunned that I made them. Its so great to personalize things with the Iron-on Vinyl.
love that this machine has the ability to use a pen to write content. I also like the fact that this machine can still use cartridges.
Admittedly, it can be difficult to cut small intricate images and words. I've found the "print and cut" feature a good solution to this problem. That feature allows you to print an image off on your computer and simply have the Cricut cut out the shape of it. I use this technique to make stickers.
The Cricut software needs an always-on, active internet connection to work. Generally speaking, this isn't a problem, however, it does limit your ability to "fire and forget"...as in, send a design to print and walk away with your computer or turning it off.
There is one downfall and it might be something I am doing wrong and that is using the Scoring Tool. It really doesn't score very well. Can't see the lines on the paper of where to fold, so I put one of the cricut markers in the carriage to draw the lines on where to fold.
I bought this on valentines day for my wife. Here 2 weeks later, she gets a notice that she can no longer use the software without paying $10 month. She gets on chat with Cricut and they confirm it. So this machine is now useless to us.

Warranty / Certifications

Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

1 year(s)

Other Information

Manufacturer

Link

Manual

Download