Side by Side Comparison of: TONIC STUDIOS vs Swingline

Good size for me and works well. Very pleased with it..and other Tonic products.

Liked it so much I got the 12 inch, too. Straight cuts and easy on your wrists if you have arthritis, also.

I ordered this product to do my wedding invitations myself and wanted a nice cut line. This product cute good with one sheet of cardstock paper, but if you try to do more sheets at one time it doesn't work very well. As far as getting the job done, it is a nice tool to have and is very compact and easy to move around and take with you places.

I mainly used this guillotine to cut laminated photos. The laminates cut smoothly as long as you hold the lamination tightly in place against the board. I bring the slicer down quickly and it slices the laminate with no pull unless I don't hold the laminate down. This cutter is not meant to cut multiple sheets. To cut something smoothly, you can really only put one sheet of anything in at a time. It has a plastic ruler next to the slicer that helps to keep the paper from flapping when cutting. The board has straight cross lines to help you see when something is straight or not by its alignment to the lines. The slicer is smooth and when it comes down there is a piece of plastic/tray that sticks out under the slicer to help hold the sliced paper so that you can clean up the cut pieces easily. I feel very safe with this cutter and it has everything that a regular cutter has such as the measuring board, cross alignments on the board, a handle to bring the knife up and down, a plastic ruler/guide along the edge to help hold the paper down (not tightly, but to prevent flapping), a sharp knife and smooth movement. The advantage of this board is that it's light, portable with a handle, has a slight tray-shaped plastic that sticks out to hold cut pieces and inexpensive. It can cut up to the length of a regular sized office/typing paper.

Love this paper cutter. It's small but still practical. I use it to cut sample stickers for my Perfectly Posh business. A standard sheet of paper will fit in this horizontally but not vertically. Since I do not need anything to fit vertically, this inexpensive paper cutter works just fine for me. Makes creating sample stickers so much faster!

This thing is awesome! I make cards out of recycled cereal boxes, and this cuts right through the thick cardstock texture and makes even, straight cuts. I did end up taking the plastic safety piece out though. I found that using it made the cardstock slip around during cutting and made everything look uneven. Holding it in place myself (as long as I'm really careful to keep my fingers away from the blade!) works perfectly. I do think that I will either need to replace or sharpen the blade eventually though. It's not made of the highest quality metal and I've noticed a bit of dulling after using it for several months. But for the price and for the purpose I'm using it for, this guillotine is perfect.

I love this paper cutter! I have used the same style, but in a larger size for the past 5 years in my elementary art classroom, and it had been in use for many years before that. The arm stays up until you're ready to pull it down, and you don't have to worry about pulling the arm in while pulling it down like you do on some other cutters. I can cut up to 5 sheets of thick drawing paper at a time, and do not have to worry about frayed edges. It can handle the mass quantities of paper I cut year after year for my 750 some students. I highly recommend this cutter for someone who needs a cutter for frequent/daily use.

Precise, sturdy and professional, you can't go wrong with it. I bought 3 before this one, they were all lousy trimmers, this is the one to look for If you're looking for a perfect trim that can cut through thick card stock paper or thin layers of plastic.

I am an art teacher, and this is equivalent to what we have at work. I got it for my personal home studio and I am pleased. If you do any serious work with paper, get the 24", not 18".

I was looking for a paper cutter that would do a good job on cardboard to make parrot toys with. This paper cutter is excellent. I use clean cardboard boxes and cut them into shapes to make parrot toys. I would definitely buy this cutter again. It slices through cardboard like a butter knife going through butter.

If you want to cut large photo prints or other art work, a 24 inch board will do the trick. For me, this need arises due to an Epson Stylus Pro 4900 - 17 inch large format photo printer.This cutting board is made of solid wood like what I remember from school days in the 1960-70s. Heavy duty stainless steel blade and a surface with standard half inch gridlines etched into solid wood. We didn't have any safty gaurds at that time. As one reviewer noted, the safety fence can easily be removed, but I shutter at the thought of removing a finger for that convenience. I think about my wife or that ocassional visitor; I can't predict the future, but accidents are always possible. I recommend keeping the safety in place.Nothing complicated about it, but it is NOT a toy. It might be too large if the majority of your needs are limited to letter sized stock only. But I doubt you're reading review with that in mind.

Although this tool costs slightly more than competing products, it is WORTH the additional cost. Reason? read through the reviews for other products, and read the details about this one. The swing arm is dye cast steel. That is a big deal! I can see the precision and feel the power in my cuts on this Swingline. Also, I have every intention of using this tool regularly, and don't expect it will wear out or fall apart. Even the maple is gorgeous - no cracks or unevenness. The wood grain makes me happy. I bring work projects home so I can use my ClassicCut Ingento.The one thing I've done to improve my experience is purchase an aluminum drafting t-square. Since the 2'x2' space is so large, it helps me to have a second ruler and another point of contact for my paper stack. I got along fine without it, though - so I'm sure that it's simply personal preference.

The cutting is wonderful. Look the overall size of the cutter for storage, travel and taking up space on desk while in/ou of use. My only wish is that the cutter was about 1/2" or 1/4" wider so there was a marking for 5" in width.

a little too small

Simple tool that does the job. Cuts thick stock easily, but not cardboard. Wish it were a little wider, but for the price, a very useful tool.

affortable paper trimmer, i tried 5 pcs of papers, but not all of them are straight. it works only for 2 papers

This works really well to cut coupons. I just wish it was longer because you could not fit a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet paper in here without first cutting some of it off.

This is the neatest little cutter. Very sharp and precise. Great for cutting 4 x 6 photos. The only thing is that you must disassemble the back of the cutter (a few screws) and put a weighted item in it so when you lift the handle, it sets firmly on the desktop. I was trying to think of what I could use to weight it down and it came to me. I had a box full of change (coins) and put them in it. It worked out great!!!! Stays in place anytime I use it and a great way to save your money! I would recommend this product to everyone!

Good product but does not cut 100% square. It does cut clean

A fine cutting board, sturdy, sharp, straight cuts, and the size accommodates our 12 x 17 sheets too. Perfect for multiple departments and multiple projects in our church. Only reason for the loss of a star is the surface guide marks are a little pronounced on the new model (vs our ancient well-smoothed used model). The lines seem to snag the paper as you work the cuts - sliding the sheet is not smooth at this point. A definite good investment!

Cuts well and square as long as you firmly press down the paper while cutting. Otherwise the paper will skew a bit and cause an uneven shear. I use one of the wide clear plastic sewing rulers to hold the paper firm against the surface of the trimmer while cutting.

This works great! Sharp; and accurate - a much improved replacement to what we used to have. A good value!

could be better. the cut is a bit rough when cutting multiple sheets at a time. and the guide is not very accurate or square, which may not be an issue for most people. but i'm very detail oriented and these shortcomings are a bother. i'd still recommend this over the plastic versions.

The branding of this guillotine trimmer is a giant mess. It's not made by Swingline, but its "made to Swingline Standards" in Taiwan by a company called ACCO. I guess Swingline has licensed their name out, or something... There is also this card included that notifies you that you "may have been expecting a GBC brand paper trimmer, but noticed that instead you have received a Swingline trimmer." I don't know what this GBC brand is, its not mentioned anywhere else on Amazon, the trimmer, or the box. And its also not "really" a Swingline trimmer, like I said the brand on the bottom of the trimmer is ACCO. Its not a big deal I guess but it seems like the rights to this trimmer are getting swapped around a lot, its strange and the Amazon listing is misleading.It seems well made however. It cuts very well, straight and precise. The key is one fluid motion, don't be scared. Also don't jam a ton of paper in there to cut, its not meant for that. 3 to 5 sheets of regular paper or 1 or 2 pieces of thicker types at the max before things start to go wrong. obviously, it cuts better the closer to the spring that you are.It is not exactly like the trimmer pictured on Amazon, it lacks the letter molding on the handle, the handle is completely plain, kind of boring and disappointing. The cover over the spring is not clear like the picture, it is opaque and the same color as the handle, no biggie I guess.Make sure you look around in the packaging for the rubber feet, and attach them. I had to dig through a dumpster to find the box for mine once I realized it had them.

I've used this since November 2016. Pro's: the cuts are clean and after several months use the blade is still sharp. Cons: I think if it was wider and marked to 5.5 inches it would be helpful to card makers as many cards are 5.5" x 4.25". I find it frustrating to have to pencil mark my cuts at 5.5". Other reviewers have noted the guillotine blade gets stuck half way, which I have also noted when making long cuts. It is sturdy, has held up well but its use is limited and I would not buy this size again. I recommend the larger sizes.

nothing special about this cutter - just like all the rest

GET JAM FROM TIME TO TIME

Wish it would handle a regular size sheet of paper - but is too short. We make it work - but it is more work to get things cut right. Blade seems to be very good however....

This is not the strongest guillotine I have even encountered but for my small project it worked perfectly. It is a bit flimsy but for the price point I have nothing to complain about as it does its job and takes up very little room, it is also super light which I appreciate!

Sharp cutter, however, you can't cut more than 3 sheets of 74 gsm/20 lb paper at a time. More than that, it gets 'jammed'. For my purposes it is functional for the price.

This product cuts really well, but has a few shortcomings. Fit and finish are not great; the ruler and platform grid lines do not match, consequently cutting accuracy is compromised. Mounting hardware, and varnish are cheap and/or poorly applied. Specifically the ruler could leave you with a splinter or two. Lastly, the rubber feet fell off during shipping and I had to reattach (glue them) once again.If you require cutting accuracy you should likely look elsewhere. If you are simply cutting things that require a quick simple cut, this paper cutter will likely work fine. Since it's new, I cannot address it's ability to withstand regular use, or if the blade will dull quickly.

Very sturdy. Cuts well. No frills. Does the job.

Something was misaligned so I had to be careful to get a straight cut and not line my paper up with the edge.

We bought this cutter because of its safety features. Had to please the insurance company. The paper has to be lined up with the grid, not the backstop as it sets the paper up a little bit off. It works fine if you just use the grid lines.

We cut labels printed from our VERY precise laser printer and each label has cut lines. This trimmer does not cut down the line exactly (when lining it up against the ruler). It really goes off the longer the sheet. However, we've gotten used to adjusting our cuts a bit and the blade is nice and sharp -- very sturdy and industrial feeling. If you need precision, don't do it! If you're okay with eye-sighting finer adjustments, then it's the trimmer for you.

This is a heavy duty paper cutter that I purchased to cut paper for making paper beads. There are a few small improvements that could turn this into a 5 star cutter. It would be better if the measurements on the board were in 1/4" inch measurements instead of only 1/2" and 1" increments. . There are no measurement guidelines where the cutter is which makes it difficult unless you have marked the paper before cutting. The information states that it cuts multiple sheets but I found that it moves the bottom sheets making the size inconsistent with the top sheets.

I have several paper trimmers but opt d to get this one after the rave reviews. I have to say I like the layout and it's easy to line up your paper and it cuts pretty nicely but seems to get stuck almost halfway through the cut.Too bad as this seems to cut much straighter than my large cutter that is the same style different brand. I also wish the end went to 5.5 instead of 5.25. Would be perfect for A2 cards. I bet I can figure out a way to make it workOverall I like the style and the cuts are straight but I can tell the sticking halfway through the cut is going to be annoying.

This thing is bulky and does the job of a much cheaper paper trimmer... I mean like a dollar store trimmer! I was wholly unimpressed with it's performance, it's hard to store and more complicated to use than a Fiskars model that's cheaper, you can replace the blade on and has a larger, more accurate measuring surface. Don't waste your money.

I have a very good quality paper trimmer but I thought this would be really quick when making lots of straight cuts. It's my fault that I did not purchase a larger one - this one is too small for my purposes. But the real issue is after 24 cuts, I noticed my cuts were beginning to look a bit ragged. I cleaned the blade, tried thinner paper and the cut was still inferior. Tonic is known for good products but I am very disappointed with this. Now it sits on a shelf unused but it probably should just be tossed.

I'm disappointed in this trimmer. I can only cut up to 4.5 inches wide.

almost impossible to get a straight cut

The blade is not as sharp as the old one we had. Nice clean look but cutting with it is not very helpful.

It does not cut straight.

If you are doing any serious cutting I would not suggest this guilotine. unable to cut straight line, and does not cut #80 paper very well at all. If you are using regular copy paper it might be worth the purchase. Very unhappy with this product.

In short, you'll not get a square cut, let alone a straight line, out of this paper cutter.Pros:1. Nice and heavy so it remains completely stable during use.2. Lots of easy-to-see lines for measuring.3. Looks expensive.Cons:1. Cuts are just awful. To try it out after I set it up, I grabbed 4 sheets of regular ol' paper (like you put in your printer). I backed it up against the blade and the guide on the back, made sure the paper showed lined up in every direction (lots of lines make that possible). I held the paper in place with my left hand spread out and pressed down on the 4 sheets of paper, and I pulled the blade handle down while (in accordance with the little sign on the cutter, pushing firmly to the left on the handle. The result? Half way through the 8 inch cut, it began creating a fuzzy edge which terminated in torn corners of every sheet. I compared each sheet to the next. Obviously none were straight, but not one sheet was the same as the next. And YES I had the handle pressed firmly to the left. I tried it with one sheet of paper. Only slightly better. I tried it with a sheet of cold press watercolor paper. No improvement. I tried it with two sheets of nice, thick Copic Sketch Book paper, and it was absolutely the worst. Even though the paper was small enough for me to keep both sheets in place with my left hand, the paper began bunching up. The cuts left in the paper had nothing much to do with "a straight line".I tried smooth Bristol. Actually, I thought my first cut was straight, so I cut a second strip to the same measurement. Ha! Neither of the two strips was squared on any corner, and each was different.In case you think the problem was a blade adjustment, I can hear the evenness of the steel blade as I push the handle firmly to insure the blade and the steel guide are connecting.Had to send it back. Going to try a Premier this time. I'll let you know.

I had to remove the built-in ruler, and using a square, I had to re-position this ruler so that it was actually "square" to the cutting blade. What good was this product if it did not cut square? Swingline must be outsourcing like much of America's Companies. What a shame too. Swingline use to be the very best you could buy. Not anymore! Keep searching....

Serious waste of time and money. I bought this to cut out all of my wedding inserts. Paid $65 dollars for my inserts to be specially made and printed from Office Max...then went home to cut them out with this paper cutter, and it ruined half of the papers. It does not have a sharp edge AT ALL...it gives the paper an appearance of being hand torn...even when you cut one paper at a time! Huge waste of my time and money!

After only 14 cuts of #80 paper the edge became ragged. Cleaned the blade, still ragged. Disappointed.

This is broken

Returned, mushed cards rock edges. Did not work for my application.

i really wanted this to be awesome, it's small, easy to store, and lightweight.it was not so awesome.after 5 sheets of paper (plain copy paper) it would only bend the sheets, it would no longer cut them.it's headed back to amazon tomorrow for a refund.

this papercutter does not cutthe blade is covered with epoxyit tears the paper apartvery very unhappywhy cant you just send me an arm with an actual blade

Wow. What an inaccurate paper cutter. This machine completely ruined a project by giving me the false hope that it was accurate. It is not. The ruler guide doesn't match up with the inscribed grid of the cutting board. The closer it is to the blade the more inaccurate your cuts will be. I was using single sheet of 100# cardstock when I found that two of these papers stacked on each other was producing inaccurate cuts.One would think that a specialized machine, such as a paper cutter, would do its one function well. In this case, it does not. I highly recommend one look at other cutters/trimmers if they want accurate, no-brainer cuts with their art/craft projects.

First of all this thing is massive. Second of all, it looks nothing like the picture. The picture looks almost like the handle is made of wood. It's all a beautiful rosewood color with lovely staining... this monstrosity arrived and it's ugly, giant plastic, and does not look too well made, and for the price I was really shocked.

bought this used and when I lifted the handle for the first time it locked in the up position. I had to take it apart, re thread and put new bolt in it. and it also cuts on an angle and I've had to put marks on it so I can cut strait. buying new would probably eliminate all the problems I had. It cuts well as long as I keep pressure on the arm against the cutting surface. very angry about it, but I'm stuck with it since I had to take it apart and modify it just to get the arm to come down

I purchased this cutter because of past experience with these cutters. What a mistake that was. I am a photographer and I do a lot print cutting after the print has been mounted on very thin two sided adhesive. I must have made a 100 test cuts with the adhesive on test prints. Not one and say again, not one print would come out square after the cut. There was always one side that was off. I ended up purchasing a "Premier" 12" cutter and it works perfectly with the adhesive on the back of the print.If you are just cutting paper or photos I'm sure that the Swingline would have been OK. I have also tried a roller photo cutter and they are fantastic, but by introducing the adhesive, it would gum up the cutter guide bar and it had to be cleaned. This took to much time for the cleaning process.Thanks to Amazon's great return policy, this cutter was returned and exchanged for the Premier cutter. Hope this helps with the type of cutter you may need.