The Silhouette Cameo 4 Pro is a professional crafting machine till now from Silhouette. It came after the Cameo 3 and has improved itself in many aspects, including speed and enhanced user experience. But, still, you may have some doubts about the Silhouette Cameo 4, such as whether it is good, whether it is worth buying, and many more. So, we will discuss all the good and bad things about this latest machine. Be on the blog to learn everything.
Silhouette Cameo 4 Pro Pros And Cons
Pros
This is a 24” size vinyl cutting machine. Previously, Silhouette announced the machine as a 20” and increased it up to 4”, giving us the latest Cameo 4 Pro model. Besides this, it also allows users to cut various materials on the market. With the 20” machine, the users such as crafters, retailers or manufacturers would have to trim off the adhesive vinyl roll and adjust the size to load into the machine. But it’s not the case with Silhouette Cameo 4 Pro. This new machine allows users to get ready with their materials without cutting them or the mat.
The roller bar and rollers on the machine have been updated to hold the wider, bigger, and heavier machine. The rollers are made easy to slide and adjust. Matching the 12” Cameo and 15” Cameo 4 plus, the Cameo 4 plus has enhanced features, including high speed and force, making the machine cut three times faster than Cameo 3 with 20 times more force. These features depend on the material you are cutting. These features are applicable when they are appropriate for the tool and material you’re cutting.
The new smart tool carriage works well by auto-detecting the tool in the carriage and changing the cut settings in the machine accordingly. The tool detection sensors are present on both, Automatic Blade and the blue sketch pen adapter that comes with the Pro.
The Cameo 4 Pro has a type B auto blade, and it taps one time to reset to 0 and then taps to blade settings. They help reduce the number of times the blade needs to tap before cutting. We observed that the Cameo 4 and 15” Cameo plus, which use the same auto blade and tool carriage, may get some errors that make the auto blade a con too. When the tool is not fit into the carriage or not adjusting for some reason, it may ruin the cuts.
Also, the mat loading sensor in Cameo 4 Pro is more effective than on the 12 and 15” machines, as they allow you to push the control button and fix the mat, and then within 3 seconds, you need to hold your mat or material with both hands before the rollers take it in. Without the loading sensor, it’s impossible to hold the material, load it right, and reach the load button.
Similar to the Cameo 4 machine, the Cameo 4 Pro also bears a cross cutter present on the Cameo 4. However, you will not use this on every cut, but it’s good to have an additional unique feature that doesn’t disturb another feature.
Moving to the design, the Cameo 4 is longer at 34.5” long, and the height and depth are compact, like the 12” Cameo 4 and 15” Cameo plus. This feature allows the machine to sit in a small space, such as a narrow shelf.
Cons
Along with the pros, there are some cons too. Only the blue sketch pen adapter is available out of the box for the type B auto blade that comes with Cameo Pro, while the 12” and 15” Cameo 4 machines included 4 adaptors separately. The Silhouette doesn’t include black, grey, and white adaptors because the new tools aren’t available yet.
The carriages run by two different types of motors, both designed for specific tools. Hence, the tools are not interchangeable in either carriage, and it’s impossible to use the dual carriages for sketch and cut, foil and cut, and cutting with the two cutting blades on different settings.
However, you can do a sketch and cut or foil and cut by pausing the machine between each pass to swap the tool in carriage 1 and adjust the settings in the Silhouette Studio. The tool storage drawer on Cameo 3, which was removed from the Cameo 4 and Cameo plus, is also dismissed from the Cameo 4 Pro.
Talking about the roll feeder, when it cuts 6’ and 30’ roll smoothly, a 24” X 150’ roll seems too heavy. Unlike other Cameo 4 machines, it doesn’t have an input or a USB thumb drive.
The size of the machine is also a topic of concern. It sounds good to hear that the machine is wide and can cut wide materials, but it also takes up a lot of space. Lacking a Cameo 4 pro stand is the biggest con, in my opinion.
Conclusion
Silhouette Cameo 4 Pro is a solid machine with great potential and advanced software. When it has both pros and cons, the pros are more than the cons. With a good cutting area, it attracts customers to buy it. However, the size may not be convenient for many. But overall, it does more than just a vinyl cutter when considering speed and force. It has won in terms of speed and performance and the number of materials it can cut.
