Side by Side Comparison of: ACCO Brands vs Purple Cows

I bought this model paper cutter about 5 years ago and used it to cut everything that I could fit under the bar. The blade dulled, this is a reorder, wow the price jumped, guess I might have to slow down on cutting plastic sheets and other non paper items.

Great for home office and crafts. Been using it moderately for several months now, cutting vinyl and paper. Blade has not lost any sharpness. Glad I went with Swingline! I have never been disappointed in any of their products!

I really like this paper cutter so far! I decided to buy this due to the "wooden" base, compared to the plastic base of the model below it. I'm hoping because I got the wooden base, this will be sturdier and last longer than a completely plastic guillotine. I've not used it a lot because I've only had in for a few days, but I have chopped some papers up and I have no complaints. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I don't like to cut more than two pages at a time because I'm scared I'll mess something up, so I haven't tried more than two pages at a time, BUT I will say that the two pages have come out perfectly, so I'm very happy thus far. Works well and accurately.

I have been wanting a paper cutter for a long time and love finally having one. It really improves the experience of working in my home office. It's not the kind of thing you need every day, but when you need it, you really need it. I went ahead and got the longer one for that moment I want to cut legal and I can't, that hasn't happened yet but I'll be glad when it does. Appears to be totally square and accurate as far as measurements go, and the blade is super sharp ... once when my cut was a little off (my fault, not the machine's) I had to try and get a tiny extra sliver of paper off ... I was shocked when it totally did that with no problem. Yay for this paper cutter!!

This is needed if you are cutting pictures you print from your PC or anything you want a true straight edge to. But be extremely careful as the blade doesn't care what touches it it will slice it with just the lightest touch as the 3 I've gotten will testify to just grabing the wrong place to lift the blade for the next cut. I swear all it took was touching it and going oops a little farther up is the handle, damn. The other cutting boards of a lower price I have seen them in the art stores and they just aren't good for cutting one piece of paper at a time and you have to be sure the blade is tight against the bottom blade so it doesn't give it a crease rather than a cut. But this is only good for say 6 pieces of 20# or 3 card stock if you put weight on the board so they don't twist on you but this will bare the weight, the others will not.

I bought this for my wife and I, as we both own businesses and we needed something to occasionally cut paper for gift certificates and marketing materials. We use this in a light duty kind of way, and for that it works PERFECTLY.It was very fairly priced, and feels to be better crafted then more expensive units we priced in stores. Its very high quality, sturdy, and cuts like a laser. It does not feel cheap whatsoever. I believe it will last us indefinitely.I recommend this product if your looking for an affordable, quality, light to medium duty paper cutter. I honestly don't think you'll find a better product for less money.Oh yes, I forgot to mention it is made by Swingline, which makes some great products. I didnt realize this until I opened it, and I'm very please it is!*************************** UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2012***************************I wrote my original review on this product in December 2010. I've now owned this cutter for a total of 1 year, 9 months.It still cuts and looks as good as the day we received it. I am extremely satisfied with this purchase and the price I paid. If you're looking for a quality, sharp, accurate paper trimmer; this unit is definately highly recommend by me.I'm a very pleased, very impressed, and very satisfied customer.Thanks Swingline. We appreciate quality products at fair prices. Please keep it up and never give up on quality.[Please Vote!]I hope this review gives you some insight and help with your choice, and a little knowledge from an unbiased owner. If so, please click on "YES" below this review to vote it as helpful. Thanks!(Thanks for the questions, comments and votes fellow Amazon shoppers... keep them coming too!)

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.

I wanted something that was going to hold up better than other plastic/crafty versions I was looking at. This is a solid trimmer. The weight is nice, and it's definitely more on the industrial size. I'm not a huge fan of how the measurements are printed on the wood. The metric measurements are above the imperial ones on the wood cutting platform, which means that if you're trimming something only a few inches wide that it's hard to lined up just right. I'm a perfectionist, though. The blade is sharp, but I think mine still needs some breaking in. There's just a bit of resistance when I cut, but it's almost like the blade is attached a little too tight. I'm thinking it will loosen up over time. Overall, the quality is good, and I'm glad I bought this instead of a less expensive or flimsy craft store version.

I use it to cut luster photo paper (69 lbs). It does the job just not straight. Like one reviewer, I too used my steel square and found that a curve began at the 2 inch mark. I have the Swingline 12-inch ClassicCut with no complaints but needed the 15-inch for larger paper sizes.Yes, one hand is needed to hold down the trimmer while lifting the handle but not a deal breaker for me.I will continue to use for now but will spend more money in the future for a better product.***Update 12/11/2014***After now using this product for about 3 months, I bumped my rating up 1 star. The board is full of gridlines which I should have used in the first place. Now, my cuts are decent. I sometimes see a slight (very, very, slight) curve towards the bottom of my cut but I can live with that. I guess I was just being lazy relying too much on the product alone and not using the grid to properly align the paper.

Alright I was researching these things for a while trying to find a good one, and there were many posts about these things not cutting straight or whatever.I got this and lo-and behold the paper wasn't being cut straight- BUT WAIT.All I did was change where I was cutting from, instead of hunched over a coffee table, I did it standing at a desk and things were cutting perfectly.It's just about angling and possibly pushing the paper too hard against the top leaving the paper to get angled a bit. It's user error, it's a straight blade that comes right down- not much to go wrong except if you are leading the bar and bending it a bit.The one issue I had was when moving it about, one of the rubber feet dropped off, another kinda got slid off, however that's from moving this thing around, which it wasn't meant to be doing.It cuts paper, not a boat load at a time but it does the job.

I researched a lot of trimmers that were available on amazon. The other reviews were very helpful to know which models to avoid. This is very handsomely made and reliable.They say the blade is sharp. Definitely! I almost cut myself just lightly touching the blade.My only complaint is that small items are hard to measure accurately with English units. If the edge being cut is less than 15cm, only the metric measurements are plotted underneath the item. I guess I can work around that by extending the English lines I need with my pen so that I can be accurate on small items too.Another minor issue is that when I cut 7 or 8 sheets, the blade prevents me from lifting up the part that falls on my table until I raise the blade again. Even so, the cut is clean.

The quality of this paper cutter is excellent. The blade is very sharp, and it cuts amazingly well. It even handles thin craft foam sheets without any problems. That said, I didn't give it 5 stars because of the alignment grid lay-out on the board which I see as a slightly annoying design-flaw. The top fourth of the board is marked in centimeters and the bottom three-fourths is laid out in inches. As a result, the vertical lines do not align with each other all the way down the board. Granted there is an inch ruler along the top base of the board that can be used as an additional guide, but I like to line my papers up along one line all the way down. (Personally, I would prefer a grid with lines 1/4" apart. Perhaps a centimeter grid overlay of some sort would solve the problem for those people needing to accurately cut in centimeters.)

I needed a paper cutter to do small jobs like cutting photo sheets and similar projects. Did not need anything really big time, just competent. This unit fills the bill just fine. I've cut multiple sheets with good results and even cut a piece of corrugated cardboard to make an easel for a mounted photo. No problems. Nothing fancy but sharp, clean cuts. Stays in place when you use it and conveniently, the cutter arm stays up between cuts. Solid machine much like the larger, similar units I worked with in the photographic industry. Recommended.

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.

The trimmer is a good size, not too big, not too small. Blade is sharp and stable. However the supporting/safety bar under the bed was badly positioned, too far out, so the edge of the paper got caught when cutting. I took off the bar and the cut is fine now. However, I now have to be very careful when picking up the trimmer not to get my fingers cut on the blade.

We went with the Swingline because it is a trusted brand, but I am very disappointed in this product. In less than two months of little usage, it screeches like nails on a chalkboard every time the handle comes down and I believe this is probably related to it no longer cutting straight. Attempts to find the issue and oil the pivot point have been unsuccessful in correcting the issues.

Not the best quality but hey.. I'm not working in an office or for the church committee. This was for the few straight cuts I need every so often. It cuts smooth but if there is a complaint - it is the grid on the platform. I can't use the lines to make sure I get a good straight cut with the right angle. So I tape a piece of lined paper on it and I now have no complaint. Cutting is the most important, the safety lock for the cutting arm is the next. I fixed the 3rd. Works for me and it is just fine without a huge investment.

The first thing to know about this trimmer is that you cannot replace the blades or the board’s blade edge. I first thought, "The lack of the manufacturer offering replacement blades kills this product and I will never buy another item from this manufacturer". But I also had to alter the weight, "I didn't get the feel that I wanted out of the machine until I epoxied a 5 pound weight to the bottom of the cutter to keep it from lifting up when I pulled up the handle"! I did teach myself a trick after customer service basically told me that it was a disposable trimmer. I should give a 1 star review due the lies that were told about getting blades or more importantly, not being able to get it to cut when it wears out and that I needed to replace the whole unit. Bollix! Well DO this step by step and it will operate like brand new. 1) Take the three small screws out of the back that hold the ruler edge guide to the front and remove the front guide and flip it over. 2) Using two 17mm wrenches, put one the inner nut to hold it in place and back off on the outer nut several turns. 3) Tighten the inner nut about 1/2 a revolution and flip it over and move the cutting arm up and down to see if the get that tight cutting sound like when it was new, cut a piece of plastic bread bag and if it cuts without missing some spots it is tight enough and the outer bolt can be tighten against the inner nut and then you can reassemble the machine for a like new cut PERIOD.....TAKE THAT SWINGLINE>>>> AN UPPERCUT@@

This is an attractive and well constructed paper cutter and I really wanted to like it. BUT, the upper bar is not quite square with the cutting blade on one I received. It is fine for cutting coupons and whacking off the reply of a form letter, but I will unfortunately have to return to my rotary for fine work to get truly square corners. This is unfortunate because I wanted to get a good home guillotine cutter.It has one on other annoying feature; the grid on the top of the support surface is metric (maybe this was designed for the Canadian market), and although the upper bar and the support surface below the metric area are scaled in inches, you are pretty much out of luck if you want to accurately measure/cut something less than about six inches wide without lining up the edge on the lower grid.Ultimately, this cuts well, and with a little care (and time) in measuring on the lower half it is actually quite acceptable. I am tired of returning items that do not meet the performance criteria of products made in the past, so I will keep this for what it is, but there are cheaper alternatives that probably work just as good.

My advice, don't burn the box like I did. It turned out that the first one that came had a bulge along the top edge where you push the paper. So I sent it back, which didn't cost me anything, but is quite annoying, especially since I had burned the box it came in along with a bunch of other cardboard. The replacement is OK. It doesn't cut nearly the stack of paper that's advertised. I use a lot of 28 lb. glossy paper and can only cut about 7 sheets cleanly. You will get a slightly ragged edge if you try to force more sheets at a time. Maybe I'm a fatalist, but I figured a cheaper cutter would just be worse, so I'll keep this one. Seems well made though, it's solid and all that. The feet are a little problem, just little squares of rubber that have stick-um on them. Mine came off already, and I just pushed it back on. I have it and it works, but I can't say I'm crazy about it, hence 3 stars.

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.

This paper cutter is easy to use and has a sharp blade, however, it is a little crooked - the lines do not line up with the end, so if I want a correct square, I have to do the measurements/angels myself. I wish I had spent a little more and gotten a higher quality, accurate cutter.

Solid paper cutter but the top plastic ruler is not lined up with the measurements on the wood, and crooked. I contacted the company who told me that it isn't a "precision" model so there was nothing they could do.

despite having a ruler at the top and using it, whenever I cut paper, it comes out crooked. Maybe it's the bade that it comes with.

I would give it a 2.5 if I could. The blade itself always did what I needed, but the top plastic edge is actually slightly curved meaning you cannot put the paper against it to hold it steady - you HAVE to hold it against the grid marking, or your papers will all be cut with a slight angle. I added a small piece of clear plastic along the top to make a straight edge where I could still see the measurements, however it was still not perfect and I am a perfectionist. I made 200 save the dates and just as many wedding invitations with this - and the slight differences between layers drove me nuts! I ended up evening out the layers with a razor. However, the blade continued to do well after cutting thousands of cuts of heavy cardstock, so if you don't need perfectly straight edges this is a good quality blade.

Cuts well - just not accurately. The lines on the surface are NOT parallel to the blade - off by 1/16". Also the top bumper edge that lines up the paper has a bump in it at the 2" point - so if you use the left side as the bumper you get one angle on the cut and if you use the right side you get another angle. I use it for card making so an accurate cut is important. I can't return it to Amazon - past return date - so I called Swingline. Would you believe they told me they don't guarantee the accuracy - "as long as it is within specs." They are replacing it but don't guarantee it will be any better. Would not recommend this trimmer!Update - Six days after I called Swingline I received the replacement - and it IS accurate. No bump/curve in the top edge and the lines are exactly parallel to the blade. Great service - I will continue to buy Swingline products and I take away my "not recommend" comment.

I purchased this to replace a cheaper plastic trimmer where the blade went dull after 6 months. Based on the reviews and brand I had high hopes for this trimmer but it's a pretty big disappointment. I used it to trim photos and I've found that the photo paper tends to move away from the blade as its cutting. This means a border-less photo ends up with some white that shouldn't be there and you have to shave more off the edge to get rid of it. On my first day using this thing right out of the box I cut 10 photos and this problem occurred 9 times. I've never had this type of problem with a trimmer before and never had this happen once with the cheap plastic one that I replaced. The blade seems plenty sharp--it's able to shave off a small amount from the edge when I recut to get rid of the unwanted white but I shouldn't have to cut the same edge more than once in the first place. There's some sort of design flaw with this thing, possibly involving the safety bar which keeps your fingers so far away from the blade that there's too much give when the paper is being cut. If you're using this for office functions it might be OK but if you're going to buy it to trim photos I would think twice. Some people might think this must be a high quality product since it includes a 10 year warranty. Think again. That warranty EXCLUDES THE BLADE, which, realistically, is probably the only part of the trimmer that you would ever need the warranty for. I guess if the base spontaneously cracks you're covered but otherwise the warranty is basically a worthless marketing ploy.Added 02/18: After using this thing for nearly three weeks I'm disappointed to say I like it less and less. So far I haven't had a single photograph that this thing has cut cleanly on all four sides. Not one. I may be purchasing yet another trimmer in the near future and I strongly encourage people to stay away from this one if they plan on using it to trim photos rather than cut documents. This is a very bad photo trimmer.

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.

This cutter just arrived and it is a total failure. The very first cut out of the box failed. Two of us tried multiple cuts on a single sheet of comptuter paper. It only folds the paper and does not cut. I would give it zero stars if I could. The Amazon staff were wonderfully helpful with the return. Thank you very much!

Very disappointed in this product. The measures on the front didn't match the markings on the main bed of the cutter so I couldn't use that to hold my paper steady. Not having anything to keep the paper steady made it very difficult to get a straight cut. The cutter was also advertised as "wood base" but it's a "fake wood" which also disappointed me. I won't recommend it. I returned it for a refund right away.

The product did not work. I would cut paper and the top half was sharp and cut nicely, but the bottom half would not cut at all and tore the paper. I notified the Swingline Company to see if I could get a replacement blade, but they are discontinued. Swingline sent me another trimmer and it works the way it is supposed to. I am very pleased that Swingline stands by their product, but I am very disappointed that I ordered a product from Amazon that did not do the job it was meant to do.

Here's my story. It's been two months since I purchased (9 weeks). I used this trimmer for one project, put away in the original box and stored. Just pulled it out for another project to find that a screw has migrated from the platform and caused the plastic frame to spread. The blade got ruined when I raised it and tried to lower it. I tried to contact seller...but apparently they don't stand behind a manufacturing defect that occurred 9 weeks into my ownership. I did contact the manufacturer and they are going to send a replacement. Hopefully no problems with the new one.

Very disappointed with this cutter. This cutter was purchased for use in a school office environment to replace a cutter that was 8+ years old and had lost its sharpness. The blade on this new unit is nice and sharp but papers get caught between the blade and the board, bending the papers and not allowing them to release and drop safely to the table top. In a thicker stack the bottom papers bend while the top papers cut decently, but not always straight. We are returning this item.

Should have sent it right back. The surface is not flat, the stationary blade is about 1/16 inch below the table so it won't cut anything straight. I thought I could fix that with spacers under the blade but find the blade and handle that lifts and lowers is not straight so it will not cut straight no matter what I do. Worse than the old one I was trying to upgrade.

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.