i see provo craft is up to scare mongering again

[della]

So can the gypsy still be used if the firmware is not upgraded?

[firstcut]

You can not register it without the latest firmware as of today. Not sure if that will always be the case. After you register it, you can use it forever without updating, but you will not get the new features and right now it can't do much of what was promised so you will want at least the first big update. You can also use it without registering it, but you won't get the points, free apps (there are none yet), etc.

[della]

Ok so I have pre-ordered the gypsy and I have Scal but I also have 2 cricuts. Should I cancel my gyspsy order? Or just use scal on one and gypsy on the other? I want to be able to register it without losing the ability to use SCAL at all.

[balletcostumemom]

The vast majority of us would never write in anger nor be disrespectful to make a point. However, I do feel it's important that they know that people like me would have absolutely never bought Cricut without SCAL or a similar product and I don't count DS as similar. If PC had such a product, I would have bought theirs but so far they don't have one. I've had my Cricut less than a month and again, it was purchased over other products because of SCAL. And yes, I do still buy cartridges, I just don't buy font only cartridges.

I went through this same sort of thing when home embroidery machines first came on the market. The embroidery folks didn't want you to do anything but purchase their cards and fought against anything else tooth and nail. In the end, people very quickly traded in their machines on professional models so they could design for themselves or download professional embroidery designs you could already purchase online. And they found themselves playing catchup to try and keep their bottom of the line machines sellable.

I certainly don't want Todd to get into trouble. However, it is also important that the almost $550 I bought in the Expression machine, cartridges, mats and the SCAL be put to good use, or that money should have been spent on different products. That's all my wish is. I don't plunk down money willy nilly.

[Sweetness4713]

You know something?? it's a dog eat dog world out there.. There is always going to be competition.. I mean ProvoCraft needs to accept the fact that if they aren't going to provide then someone else will.. I wouldn't even admit to them that I own SCAL.. .As was said.. It could cause further problems for Todd...

[AnointedHands]

Being a person of limited means, I don't understand the hoopla over the Gypsy. Add a little money to $300, get a netbook and you not only be able to see what you are doing but you will be able to do other things also. The Gypsy screen is too small for me to actually create and you can only use DSS which limits your creativity immensely.

I haven't even upgraded to the new version of SCAL. All I do is cut using SCAL. Everything is designed in INK. I feel out of the habit of having to have the latest and greatest...my money stays in my pocket until I REALLY need to spend it.

Althea

[sensationallychic]

I second Althea's opinion. I too haven't upgraded as I design everything in ink and only use scal to cut.

[GrammyKrausse]

Annointed Hands
The other day I saw and add for the new HP notebook, one of the smallest made, was onsale for what they said was 199. Unless my old ears are getting older by the minute it would be better to have that even if it just has enough memory/ram to run scal then to buy the Gypsie. Or don't get anything. I'm to the theory where would you use it that you couldn't take your laptop? Definately not sold on Gypsy.
Grammy

[sandyj]

I actually took the comment "up and coming design products they were going to produce would make scal useless" to mean they were coming out with their own version and not because they were out to mess out SCAL. Just mho.

Although I only use SCAL to cut and do my designing in ink and corel, I DID upgrade and it was worth every penny. Most of my designs have multiple cuts, such as cutting lines and scoring lines that have to be sized and layered together correctly. While I COULD do it in 1, SCAL2 makes it so easy I can't believe it. And being able to have multiple pages in one file, PLUS being able to have layers that you can turn on and off - a total dream come true.

I have one other machine, the Robocraft, and I never use it. I wanted it because you can (in theory) cut around graphics but I can't get the stupid thing to work right. And it's not only me, all the googling I did trying to figure it out found tons of frustrated people having the same problems (oddly enough, we ALL have threatened to 'throw it out the window', lol!). Now that THAT problem has all but been solved for the Cricut, I am pretty much complete.

Frankly, I've never bought a cartridge and probably never will. It came with 3, but other than plugging in ''Schoolbook' to get SCAL working, I have no use for them. I did cut one of the bags and found out that I don't like how they design the fold guides and never did buy the only cartridge I was interested in which was the bags and boxes one. Without SCAL, I would be Cricutless.

[Funkay Monkay Mamma]

Thank you, everyone, for the information.

In my opinion PC needs to take lessons from CE. They need to drop their prices, then they would have nothing to worry about because they would sell even more and they also need to work on their customer service because right now they do not have anything that is even close to "customer "service. The only ones being serviced are the big shots at PC, who are lining their pockets with our hard earned cash.
Having SCAL is not what stops me from buying carts, the price is! Nearly $100 for a cart is outrageous! I do still buy one if there is enough on it that I like and then I only purchase when they are on sale, I just don't ever buy the font carts.
If PC does in fact go after CE, then CE needs to make their own Cricut like machine. I would assume it being CE the machine would be at a resonable price. If PC made a SCAL like product on the other hand, Lord knows they would charge $300 for it.
I too shall now step off my soap box.