What is the Difference in Cricut Machines? [Head-To-Head]
Cricut is a company that manufactures and sells all sorts of smart cutting machines and press machines for home crafters. These machines are some of the most powerful tools in the market. You can customize t-shirts, greeting cards, stickers, and more using these machines. A Cricut machine works like your household printer. Instead of printing, it uses blades to cut a design on a sheet of materials. The press machines are the smartest heat press machines. They heat up to the accurate temperature required during the crafting process. Let us see what the difference in Cricut machines is.
Key Difference in Cricut Machines: Cricut Explore 3 vs Maker 3
Let us look at the differences between these two top-end Cricut cutting machines.
Overview
The Explore 3 and Maker 3 are Cricut's new cutting machine models. Both devices can cut, engrave, draw, and emboss on various materials ranging from leather to card, vinyl to wood.
Additionally, both machines are equipped with a fine-point blade as standard and are good for most projects. One of the major differences between the Cricut machines of Explore 3 and Maker 3 is the number of tools and materials they support. Explore 3 comes with six tools, while Maker 3 has 13 accessories. However, they both support cutting Smart materials, meaning both machines can use a cutting mat. Also, they both can use a Cricut Roll Holder for lengthy materials.
Further, both are compatible with making use of Design Space. This app lets you access the Cloud store, create your projects, and manage materials, even accessories.
Materials and Tools
The Explore 3 can cut up to 100+ materials. The most common materials are textured vinyl, cardstock, sticker paper, heat-transfer vinyl, infusible ink, and foil transfers. To these 100 materials, Maker 3 can cut 200 more materials.
Further, Maker 3's material collection includes leather, felt, chipboard, aluminum, and wood. As mentioned, the Maker 3 supports over 13 tools, while the Explore 3 supports only six. However, both machines can support pens and markers, so you can write with different fonts and draw different designs. Another important feature of Maker 3 is its Adaptive Tool System.' The new tool system lets users easily change the blades, exclusive to the Maker line.
Performance
The difference between the Cricut machines of Explore 3 and Maker 3 is that the latter is more powerful and faster than the former. However, both the machines are quiet and quick compared to their old models.
Further, the Explore 3 has a standard cutting pressure and can cut upto 2mm thick materials. Maker 3 beats Explore 3 as it can put pressure ten times more. It means Maker can cut more materials and thicker up to 2.4 mm. Also, the cutting pressure in the new Maker is 4000 gf, so cutting and engraving are easier for this machine.
EasyPress 3 vs EasyPress 2: Difference in Cricut Machines
Let us look at the differences between these heat press machines.
App and Bluetooth Connections
The EasyPress is manual in operations because you can only use built-in buttons to control the temperature and timing. On the other hand, the EasyPress 3 does everything like the EasyPress 3 but just a little more with the convenience of a phone. It means that EasyPress 4 comes with built-in Bluetooth connectivity. So, you can automatically send instructions to the machine for temperature and timings settings.
USB Port & Firmware Updates
Both machines have a micro-USB port, mainly for firmware updates by Cricut, which you have to do manually for EasyPress 2. However, for EasyPress 3, you can update the firmware through the Cricut Heat app at your convenience.
Colors
The EasyPress 2 machines are available in three colors- Mint, Raspberry, and Rose. The EasyPress 3 comes only in Mist color. So, if the color is a huge breaker for you, then EasyPress 2 is your machine. But if not, EasyPress 3 has a lot of additional features.
Conclusion
The Cricut has much to offer regarding the range of machines in cutting and heat press categories. However, in this blog, we exclusively focused on the difference between the Cricut machines of Explore 3 and Maker 3 machines and also EasyPress 3 and 2 heat press machines. Each machine has its pluses and minuses, and you must decide which suits your needs best.
FAQs
1. What can I do with an EasyPress 3?
From t-shirts to coasters, iron-on on wood, embellishing earrings with iron-on, and creating pillows using Infusible Ink! Also, a lot more projects that can't be mentioned here. Further, the press machine has an in-built Bluetooth connection so that you can set the temperature and timings from the mobile. Additionally, you can even update the firmware using the Cricut Heat app.
2. Is Maker 3 better than Cricut Maker?
The Maker 3, as the newest model, can do more than the Maker. It is also faster, allowing you to complete your projects more quickly. Maker 3 can cut selected materials without a mat. It has more cutting speed and force and an adaptive tool system.
3. Can I connect Explore 3 wirelessly?
You can connect your Explore 3 wirelessly using its built-in Bluetooth adapter. To do that, you need to go to the Bluetooth settings from your computer/mobile and select to pair to a new device. Later you need to power the Cricut machine and wait for the computer to find it. Once the computer finds your Cricut machine, you need to pair it, and then you can work with it using Design Space.