Today weāre comparing two of the most famous tools in the scrapbooking world, Cameo 4 and Curio, this is āCameo versus Curio". Who will win the battle?
Actually, after testing these two machines and working with both of them for a while, weāve come to the conclusion that there is no one better than the other. Theyāre different machines with some similarities that offer different possibilities and utilities. That's why we recommend you to stop and think about it twice before buying one! We make it easy for you as youāll only need to read our post to understand their differences and then, you could make the right choice for you.
As you know by now, both the Cameo and the Curio are Silhouette machines and are desktop cutting tools. They look similar to a printer, but their function is to cut and sketch.
You won't need to make big makeovers in your scrapbooking corner, because just like a normal printer, it only needs to be connected via USB cable to your computer.
As we said, both cut and draw with great precision, shapes, and letters in different materials. Cameo 4 cuts up to 3mm thick while Silhouette Curio does it between 1.8 and 2mm.
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Both share the same cutting program and Silhouette designs. Besides, they work in the same way and the pens and the pen holder ā the accessory that allows us to draw with any pen or marker we want ā are compatible with both machines.
Ultimately, theyāre tools that will help you to create templates, transferable for fabric, or even customized cuts that are very useful for our scrap projects or for any DIY weād like to make.
But then what makes them different? Let's find out!
The cutting surface
The Cameo becomes a very interesting machine due to its 30.5x30.5 cm cutting surface, which with the extended cutting base can reach up to 30x60 cm. Having so much space is really useful to be able to use alongside, the 30x30 cm scrap sheets of our favourite collection or to make boxes or cards in relief.
Silhouette Curio has a working area of 15x21 cm, which with the extended platform, can reach up to 30x21 cm.
Keep this in mind when choosing your machine, think about the projects you usually do and what you would like to use it for.
The use of vinyl and cutting blanket
The cutting pads are incorporated in the kits of both machines. They are essential to place the material and moreover, it allows us to cut the pieces without our paper moving all over the place. That way, we can have a perfect cut. In all materials, itās necessary to use it, except in the case of vinyl. This material can be inserted directly into the rollers and the depth of cut can be precisely adjusted.
Thereās another difference between Cameo and Curio. Silhouette Cameo can work with vinyl up to 3 cm. without the cutting blanket. In Silhouette Curio, itās necessary to cut the vinyl in smaller pieces and place it on the cutting mat, large designs arenāt an option with this machine.
Different cuts
Cameo and Curio have as their main function to cut drawings or silhouettes in different materials. While Cameo 4 has a cutting depth of up to 3mm, the Curio has a cutting depth of between 1.8 and 2mm thick, which are obtained thanks to the deep cutting blade (weāve previously talked about it in this post). With this extra accessory, we can get to cut materials of up to 2mm. of thickness like EVA rubber, cork, leatherette, cardboard, thin wood, acetate, fabric, etc.
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The deep cutting blade offers us new opportunities when creating details for our projects and itās you should take into account if your crafts are not only focused on scrap and you work with more delicate materials.
Features: embossing, dotting, and engraving of materials
With both the Cameo and the Curio, we can draw and cut, but with the Curio machine, we can also have some extra features to be taken into account because of its extraordinary and professional finishes.
Curio allows us to emboss ā whether we prefer doing it in a thinner or thicker option, we just have to change the tip of the accessory-, make dots ā that is, create perforation patterns on metal sheets- and engrave.
Simultaneous work
With the launch of the Curio, a new function was introduced that would be incorporated later into the new version of the Cameo 4: the double hollow carriage. You're probably wondering what the use of this new feature. The answer is very easy, Curio machine will give us the possibility to work simultaneously and combine its different features, for example, we can draw with two sketch pens at the same time; cut and sketch; cut and engrave; emboss and pluck and all in one pass. You win in speed and effectiveness! The double carriage of the Cameo 4 will allow us to save time and effectiveness since the machine isnāt designed to perform all the functions that the Curio is capable of.
In short, as you can see, both are very useful and versatile machines. They share functions, but they also have different features that make them unique. Therefore, our advice is to think about the use youāre going to give to them, the needs you have and, from there, choose the one that best suits you.
We hope this post has been useful for you and remember that if you decide to buy a Silhouette machine, you can read our post about how to start using it because we know itās a topic a lot of you are very concerned about since the amount of doubts we receive about it.
Finally, we say goodbye with this summary table with data from the Curio, the Cameo and the Portrait 2 (the little sister of the Cameo) with everything weāve talked about.
