SusieQOH

Prism, I recently bought a Quilter's Select and love it. I use different rotary cutters and they all work well with it.

Antiquelover

I went on line and bought the Quilting Bee. No odor and it is thick. I bought a small one to see if I liked it and went back and bought a larger one. No complaints and I would recommend it.

IrishNY

I love Quilter's Select, both the mats and the rulers!

Chris G

I understand the issue with the new mats, but the people who work in the stores have no idea what the companies who make the products have done that changed them. Please don’t hold them responsible.

QuiltE

I don't hold them responsible for changes by the manufacturers.

However, as a good LQS/vendor, I do expect them to be knowledgeable,
and ask questions so they can inform, we, their customers.

No, I do not expect them to have all the answers!!
In those cases they can always say ....
"That's a good question, and I do not have an answer. I'll try to find out for you."

It's only the basics of Common Customer Service!

crafty pat

I have used mine for so many years I can not remember when I bought it. It always good for me. I was girted two from someone at times and they are nice but I always go back to my Olfa. If I had to buy a new one it would be the same.

SewingSenior

The first Olfa I bought was 25 years ago and I didn't need to replace it but I did buy a bigger one about 3 years ago. The newer mat is already showing signs of wear and will soon be making my rotary cutter more difficult to control. I'm thinking I'll change brands later this year when all the DIY projects around here are finished and I can get back into my sewing room.

Eisy

I have several mats and always go for the Quilters Select. Really like that one best.

Prism99

Thanks everyone. Based on the comments here, I considered Olfa, Martelli, Alvin, and Quilters Select. I wanted a really large mat, so that ruled out QS (largest is 24" x 36"). I actually purchased the Olfa 3-section 35"x70" mat on sale at JoAnn's and brought it home before seeing that Martelli was having a half price sale on their mats (today is the last day). I have liked Olfa in the past, but have some doubts about Olfa thickness and quality these days, plus I saw some drawbacks to linking the 3 sections together. I would have ordered the Alvin on Amazon because the price was so good, but I did a search on "stink" and saw that recent reviews complained about it. So I ordered the XL Martelli and will return the Olfa. One thing I noticed at Martelli checkout was that shipping was going to be $20 for the XL mat alone. I went back and added a 60mm tin storage can for $5, and that bumped me up into free shipping.

My biggest hesitation about the Martelli mat are its colors and lines. Too many lines can be visually confusing to me, and I'm not sure I like the big squaring logo on both sides -- something I personally will probably never use.

When I realized my old cutting mat is just "not cutting it" anymore, I did not realize deciding on a new mat would be so difficult!

SusieQOH

Prism, what do you have to spend to get free shipping? I wanted to get the round one but shipping is 16.00 ouch!