I have been scrapin for a long time. I remember the days when the only way to cut out a shape or letter was a huge industrial diecut machine or a paper punch. So, when I first herd of a Digital Craft Cutter I was thrilled to say the least. The original Cricut was the first Digital Craft Cutter I was aware of. I bought one and also started to sell them. at Treasured Memories  "ScrapbookingTM.com"  With that being said, I had a decent amount of hands on experience with the Cricut and Cricut Expressions. I have seen many technologies come and then be refined later and this is what I found with Cricut I didn't like having to buy a $50.00 cartridge to get one font and a few shapes, but that was the only game to be found.  Then I was shown the SILHOUETTE. The Silhouette does not use a cartridges it plugs into a computer like a printer and will cut all the "TrueType Fonts" installed in your computer in any size from 1/4" to 10". The Silhouette can also cut any shape you either acquire from Silhouette USA or import in from a clipart file or a scanner.

Here are the key differences

1) Cartridges or Freedom with the emphasis on FREE:

The biggest difference between the  Cricut and Cricut Expressions  and the  Silhouette SD is cartridges.  With the  Silhouette there are not external cartridges required.  You simply connect the  Silhouette to your computer and use your existing fonts or images.  Should you desire to purchase designs and other items, you can, But the key is that you don't have to.

With the Cricut  and Expressions without cartridges you can't cut a thing.  You have to buy each cartridge to cut the font and/or images associated. At this time, you can not hook up the Cricut Expressions to your computer to cut fonts or images.

Thus, Most people have a computer and most computers now have a large collection of  fonts and clipart,  Many have a laptop that you can take to crops or use when away from home.  So, if  you don't wish to purchase all the needed cartridges then the cutting machine for you is the  Silhouette. 

If you don't want to be connected to your computer, don't have laptop that you can take to crops when away from home, or don't mind buying cartridges, then the Cricut or Cricut Expressions is your choice. Note the Silhouette SD does allow you to cut without a computer but you did have to be at a computer to setup what you are cutting. The SD only will cut your pre designed layout that you saved to the SD card, So the SD does not give you the ability Cricut does to decide what you want to cut away from a computer.

2) What will the cutter do?:

The Cricut Expressions will cut any letter or shape you have purchased a cartridges for, in sizes from to 1" to 5 1/2". You can buy a kit to use on your computer to create word welds but now you are no longer free from the computer and if you think using a computer is hard this is not use full to you and the kit is almost half the price of the Silhouette.

The Silhouette can cut anything you can imagine... if you know your way around a graphics program like Photo Shop or a hundred others. The software that comes with the Silhouette has a import function that allows you to bring in a jpg or many other pic file formats and then it will put the cut lines on the shape for you. This ability although fairly complicated takes all boundaries away. If you can find a pic of the shape or you can scan the shape you can cut it. You can do complex word welds with multiple fonts or mix in shapes with the word welds. The only limit is your imagination. If you don't know much about a graphics program then the software that comes with the silhouette is still easy to cut letters with all of your true type fonts, make simple word welds, even word welds with shapes in them and of course cut the shapes you buy from Silhouette USA. You can get shapes several ways. 50 shapes come with the machine. You can buy CDs with shapes and fonts usually about $50 each. You can download 1000s  of shapes one at a time from Silhouette USA for $1 or less each (Prepaid Download Cards) are available for purchase at discounts up to %50 off" that cuts the price down to less than $1 per shape). Silhouette USA also offers Monthly unlimited download memberships. How many Shapes can you download in a month?

3) Cutting size:

The Silhouette SD can cut up to 9" x 40". I was quite excited about the extraordinary long cutting size as I like crafting with vinyl besides paper. The vinyl allows me to do lettering for windows, Phrases for walls, glass etching and of course Scrapbook Albums.   The Cricut Expressions, on the other hand, can cut 12 x 12.  It is nice to be able to cut a full 12 x 12 size but realistically the only thing I would do in a full 12 x 12 is a frame, so I like the cutting size of the Silhouette the best.

4) Ease of Use:

  The Silhouette SD If you are all ready computer savvy  it's simply connect to the computer and go.  If you are computer challenged It could be a long bumpy ride. However, once you figured it out it is easy.  The instruction manual while clear, needs to be clearer. One funny thing, the software calls the Silhouette SD the Craft Robo instead of the Silhouette. I'm thinking that when it was first designed, that was the name. But test markets showed that no woman would buy a cutting machine called the Craft Robo so they changed it to the Silhouette but they neglected to change the software.

The Cricut and Cricut Expressions is so easy a child could use it. So if you're tech challenged and don't want to spend time figuring out how to cut your image or title, and don't mind paying for cartridges go with the Cricut. 

5) Size:

The Cricut Expressions machine body is big and heavy. Whereas, the  Silhouette SD is light and medium sized, smaller than a regular sized printer and about 5 inches tall. 

6) Price and Value:

Cricut Expressions Basic with out any cartridges,  lowest price found online as of  Sept. 10 2010 is $249.99 plus shipping at  www.amazon.com.

Cricut "Original" Basic with out any cartridge, lowest price found online as of  Sept. 10 2010  is $102.99 plus shipping at www.amazon.com.

Silhouette SD With all software, cables, blade and mat lowest price found online as of  Sept 10 2010 is $249.99 Shipping included at www.scrapbookingTM.com.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. I really like the Cricut Expressions for the ease of use, ability to cut 12x12 paper but having to buy multiple cartridges would seriously cut into my budget. Because I'm a font junkie, I've got 408 on my computer and only because I limit myself, otherwise I'd probably have many, many more and I am good with Photo Shop. So, gave my Cricut to my Daughter and I went with the Silhouette.  Hummmm Lets see... that would be like a cricut with 364 Font cartridges. Lets see at $50 per cartridges that is $20,400 I've saved in fonts alone. Oh yea cricut doesn't have 408 cartridges available. I think hands down the best value is the Silhouette SD.