Side by Side Comparison of: Purple Cows vs Sparco

Great for the home card-maker. Guillotine cuts perfectly and easily;vast array of blades all work well, except 1, but I've only yet tried it on regular paper, so it's not yet a fair review. For the dollar, you'll not be disappointed.

This thing is great so far!It's a multiple position piece of equipment. You can see it's a guillotine on the right and a roller on the left. The base board can be split, so you actually have two cutters that join in the middle for a sturdier base.The guillotine cutting edge has a nice hand guard that helps to hold the paper down on the left (inside) edge. If you're just making a quick cut and don't hold it down like you're supposed to (tsk, tsk), the cutting action activates a small spring which does the same. So, in theory, your paper won't move too much as you cut through it. It worked great cutting through 6 pages when we tested it.The roller works just as well. I didn't expect it to come with all the different attachments. It came with six additional cutting wheels, which are super easy to swap in and out (just a push, twist, and remove). My wife was just looking for a simple, high quality cutting wheel. These added options will let her do all kinds of fancy trimming. One I liked is a scoring option, in which it doesn't cut all the way through. I joked that she can now make her own coupons.My only complaint is that, though there are two spots for storing extra cutting wheels on the board and the other four wheels came on a small plastic carrier, there isn't anywhere to store all of the wheels it came with, nor the 4 wheel carrier. I'd prefer to keep them all in one, cause I feel like that the four wheel carrier might wander away.

For the price, this cutter has a lot going for it.1. Knowing ahead of time that there are some structural issues means I am keeping the box and will handle it with care.2. The Guillotine blade worked well on fairly heavy card stock. This was heavier than just heavy paper, but not thick enough that you could see much edge.3. When the blade got dull, cutting aluminum foil really did sharpen it quickly.4. Guillotine blade did not work well on glassine "paper". Would have been better to use thin vellum as interleaving instead. Regardless, the rolling blade worked very well!5. Every easy to use. Has all the cutting alignment tools you need. I am quite pleased.6. I am intrigued by the various alternate shaped cutting blades for the rolling blade. Will have to experiment with them.7. The final test will be to use it to cut fabric and test if the aluminum foil trick applies to the rolling blade. If those work, it doesn't get much better!

Great product. Love the flexibility of 2 separate cutting machines in one with the added bonus of extra blades. I have several trimmers in my collection and this has quickly become the favorite. The guillotine arm cuts much better than heavier duty models we use at school.

I love the product and it works very well. However, I was just reviewing my receipt and find the I was charged a VAT of $3.19 which is not applicable when the product is shipped to the U. S. and I would like that local tax refunded. VAT does not apply to export items.

This trimmer is such a good deal for the price. I like that it has two different methods of cutting, plus the blades that can cut several different designs were a great bonus! I used this trimmer to cut 200 wedding invitations and cards for wedding favors--it was accurate, easy to use, and has held up great! I haven't even used all the features. Again, great value for the price.

Cuts well but as several reviewers noted, it is hard to determine where the exact cut will be. I am getting better at using it but it also takes quite a bit of hand/arm strength to use.I have tried some of the specialty blades and they did provide interesting edging.

This is a great trimmer. I love that you can do with rosary and guillotine cutting with the same device. I tend to use guillotine more often but love the option. It is quite sturdy and gets lots of use. I have a business where I cut vinyl designs daily and need them trimmed. I even cut 3 layers with transfer tape added.

No doubt a good cutting machine, but somehow for me, not the ticket. It has a lot of blades for various specialty cutting requirements, and both a guillotine blade and a rotary blade, but that was not enough to offset the fact that I could not keep paper from skewing a bit when I used the guillotine, and the rotary cutter allowed only a couple of pieces of paper to be cut at any one time. I'm pretty sure the fault was with the operator, and I have since been able to correct the skewing problem by using a rotary cutter which runs along double-bars made by Fiskar. I think the Purple Cow is a good machine, but my success rate for true cuts has risen markedly since I switched.

I bought this paper trimmer after tiring of using scissors to cut my classes supplements. It's sturdy and works well enough. I will say that it is a little on the cheap side, it doesn't have real stainless steel accents, but it works well enough!

I love the size and weight as it is not to small and not to heavy. I am a little disappointed in the accuracy of the cuts. It is not accurate on straight cuts and cuts at a slight angle. I mostly wanted it for straight cuts so that's a bit of work for me , and yes I did follow directions on getting a straight cut.

I love everything about this, except for that fact it doesn't always appear to cut straight (may just be a user error, ha!) but the blade seemed somewhat dull from the start. Still gets the job done.

This product is okay. Made with cheap quality but will do the job for daily projects.

It doesn't cut perfectly. I have to hold down the paper really hard so it doesn't move and I don't get a weird cut.

It still isn't exactly what I wanted.

I purchased this trimmer to cut my coupons with. It works, but it has its flaws. You have to pull the handle a little to the left to get a clean cut.

Shipping was 3-5 days.Its built of a plastic base with a thin metalic sheet that is embossed w/paper sizes. The Guillotine is heavy duty metal and cuts great-metal to metal-pretty cool. The Rotary trimmer is awesome- blades are a little flimsy- but replaceable.It Did Break--> it got knocked off my desk onto a carpet ground and the guillotine plastic blade guard and metal push down bar broke off & I cant find a replacement part anywhere. It still cuts great, But will not be at my desk anymore for fear of someone being stupid LOL.I would have been happier if it was prime eligable or free shipping...but overall I'm ok w/purchase.I like it(as for what it does) but will not recommend it to others because its got parts that are not that durable.

I like the safety features on the rotary trimmer and the guillotine. However, the trimmer will not cut anything heavier than copy paper and even then it is not dependable. If it does cut, it often looks as if it were chewed. This cutter is not at all suitable for card making or scrap booking. It is also difficult to line up the paper to cut where you want it to cut. The directions that came with the cutter suggests moving the paper about 1/8 in. to get the desired size, but they don't say which way to move it and you cannot see where the blade is as it cuts the paper. There are a lot of line and measurements on flat area, but if you place the paper against the straight edge, the trimmer or the guillotine doesn't go to the end so the paper is not cut completely even the copy paper. This item is a complete waste of money.

The materials and construction are very weak/cheap. The straight edge cutter with interchangeable blades, does not even cut through one sheet of paper. I'm not even able to use this item for the task for which I purchased it.

Not sharp enough. Thicker pages get caught and torn. Also hard to see exactly where it will cut.

The guillotine seems to work fine but my issues are with the rotary. One of the springs does not work (right out of the box) so clamping down my papers does not work well. I would return it, but you can tell it is VERY cheaply made and I assume the same issue would arise with a new one. I have found the rotary also seems to only cut 1/2 papers and simply makes an indent on the 3rd. This had high reviews so I really expected better.

RECEIVE BROKEN

I returned mine, but I like the idea of this gadget. I couldn't get mine to work in my favor. The cutting wheels would only cut thin paper and the cutting board side was just down right awkward to use for me. I am not saying that this is not a good product. I am just saying that it was not good for me for my projects. I tried hard to get it to work for me if only for the rotary trimmer to know avail.

Not a very good product does not cut well or does it cut through thick materials and you also can't tell what you're cutting until you cut it don't waste your money and do not buy this product please don't make that mistake

So many good reviews and my experience this thing is a piece of junk. The blade isn't even a blade just a piece of flat metal. I bought to cut a thin piece of laminated paper and it will cut about half. I have tried everythingDO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY

I had trouble getting the rotary trimmer to complete my cuts. I had tried it a week ago and had problems, but thought maybe I needed to put it on a harder surface. I put the cutter on a hard, very flat surface and I still had trouble. I would not recommend this to anyone.