Don’t you love it when you can let your imagination run wild by making different crafts, design anything to your heart’s desire, and cut them out flawlessly without getting your hands dirty and sore?
Cricut is one favorite electric cutter brands among craft lovers and hobbyists. Primarily, every cutting machine’s job is to replace the arduous task of cutting using traditional scissors.
Cricut Expression 2 is an awesome traditional cutting machine that will support your devotion to arts and crafts. Even if it is already an old-school cutting device, you can still trust its reliability and simplicity when it comes to cutting and designing your crafts.
A Quick Overlook
Cricut Expression 2 was made, keeping in mind all the possible features without compromising on its portability.
So, this machine is compact with a lot of handy features, from which some important ones are described below.
Features
- Cricut Expression 2 includes three fonts, 40 phrases, and 110 layered images.
- It has a full-color LCD touchscreen with an LCD screen protector and stylus, which you can use to view your designs.
- Mat Preview: This allows you to fix and see your images on the mat before the cutting begins.
- Fit to Page: Maximize your image automatically
- The Guiding Brackets allow you to align your images on the mat perfectly
- The Cricut Expression 2 can work with a reasonably wide range of materials, including; light to heavy cardstock, vinyl, fabric, foam, vellum, and thin foils.
- Compatible with all Cricut cartridges (sold separately)
The Deep Dive
Let’s take a closer look at what the Cricut Expression 2 has to offer:
The Design
Expression 2 is smaller and more portable weighing only 16 pounds. But you’ll still want to clear out a lot of room on your desk for it though. Cricut took out the finicky keypad layout at the top of the machine and replaced it with a nifty full-color display. Its LCD touchscreen is all you need to select and edit designs.
While Expression 2 is less cluttered and easier on the eyes than previous machines, it looks positively dated compared to today’s design standards.
Does Cricut Expression 2 Have a Strong Cutting Power?
The Cricut Expression 2 cuts materials well, very well in fact. It cuts significantly larger designs. It’s also good at drawing if you replace the blades with appropriate pens.
Most crafters will find its cutting specs more than enough. Expression 2 surely cuts very well, but its also the preciseness that you are looking for, it will be given to you with this machine.
The only problem here is that you’ll find it difficult to get replacement blades for the Cricut Expression 2 because Cricut no longer sells this model (However I found it on Amazon, you can check here if its still available). Sooner or later, the blades will dull with constant use.
But you can quickly sharpen your Cricut Blade with aluminum foil. Click here to read about how to sharpen your blades if you need to.
Is Cricut Expression 2 Easy To Use?
Even those who have never experienced using a cutting machine can easily operate and work with this model.
Since most of the designs are accessible through the cartridges, this machine is recommended for young crafters (with adult supervision) as well as for the parents who don’t have time for making school projects or even for somebody who is in need of creative ideas.
But this standalone design of the Cricut Expression 2 can at times be both easy and frustrating to use. Yes, you will be able to simply power on the Expression 2, prepare your design, and cut it, all without using a computer. But the problem is that you’re now limited to just this UI and the designs already available in it or in the cartridges you own.
How To Hook Up Cricut Expression 2 To Computer?
You can connect Cricut Expression 2 to your computer through third-party software, which are:
- MTC
- SCAL
I have explained connecting Cricut Expression to a computer in detail in this article (Click here).
In the past, you could have easily connected your Cricut Expression 2 to a computer via a USB cable. But when Cricut discontinued the Craft Room Design software that was compatible with the Cricut Expression 2, it severely limited what you can do with the Expression 2 since it only accepts images from cartridges and the Craft Room library.
It also provided access to more designs than what was available in cartridges. So with that gone, the number of designs you can cut has shrunk from what you already have. Wishing you had a time machine right now to go back, huh?
Performance
The overall performance of Cricut Expression 2 is quite impressive. It cuts very well, and the presence of the LCD screen is also comprehensive because you can do multiple things here without even using a computer.
Suppose you’re doing batches of work such as cards and invitations. In that case, you can be well assured that everything will be well and organized because it has a Quantity and Auto-fill feature. In other words, with Cricut Expression 2, you can easily do your arts and crafts with perfection because of its great features which help in preventing the typical errors of cutting and alignments.
Pros and Cons of Cricut Expression 2
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy to use, portable, and versatile. | No Wireless Cutting |
| There is no such need to be connected to a computer. | Only restricted to the use of Cricut images. |
| Comes with 800+ Images Pre-Loaded |
|
Cricut Expression 1 or Cricut Expression 2?
Who wins the battle of Cricut Expression 1 Vs. Cricut Expression 2?
- A clutch of crafters prefer the simplicity of Expression 1 but Expression 2 has a huge number of substantial improvements over the original Expression.
- Both machines cut equally well, but the Cricut Expression 2 is much more user-friendly and allows you a bit more creativity as compared to Expression 1.
- The original Cricut Expression has a tiny screen and a large keyboard area. However, the Expression 2 has completely done away with that in favor of just one large, full-color LCD touchscreen. The machine also comes with a stylus to operate entirely from the LCD screen if you so desire.
- It also allows you to quickly and easily size, rotate, and flip your images. There’s no need for the annoying keyboard overlays we have to use with the original Cricut Expression machine.
For me, it’s a no-brainer that The Cricut Expression 2 is the clear winner over here.
FINAL VERDICT
Cricut Expression 2 is an older Cricut machine. Even though it doesn’t stand as a winner against the newer Cricut machines, it’s still undoubtedly a very good craft cutter and is still very popular among crafters. It is the simplicity as well as efficiency that matters when it comes to a cutting machine, and this machine provides all of this just fine.
Hence, if you are satisfied with the basic functions of the Cricut Expression 2, then there’s no doubt that you can enjoy using this cutting machine for all your D-I-Y projects.
Beatrix Ainsley (Bea to her friends) is an abstract artist who was heavily inspired in her twenties by the abstract expressionist movement of the 1940s. Since then Bea has acquired three degrees in Science, Education and most importantly Fine Art. Her art works showcase exploring emotion and introspection of self. To achieve this – the use of bold, sweeping, intricate layers of color, and spontaneity of form is enhanced by reflecting on decades of life experiences. Bea has amassed a vast knowledge of art in all its forms, and hopes to pass it on with her contributions here.
