First of all is there a difference in the two? My friend wants to get one of these cutters just to cut strips; she really doesnt want the numerous different dies. Does anyone have a cutter similar to this and do you like it? Is the crank hard to turn? I appreciate any information from the quilt board members on any of the cutters. Thanks! Sherry

I have one and it depends on how much fabric that you put on the cutter to cut.It gets harder to turn if you put too much fabric on at one time.You can judge it for yourself.As far as the two being different,I don't think so.I hope this helps.

I have the Go! I dont know if there is a diffrence, I am not familar with just the plain Accuquilt. The Studio is more expensive than the Go, and nicer, you can get more stuff fot it!
The crank on the Go isnt hard at all, I really like it, just wish they had more dies, but since your freind doesnt want those, it wouldnt matter.

If she just wants to cut strips, I have to ask if she has tried a June Tailor short cut or quarter cut. These work very well for most people and are a *lot* less expensive (and take up less space) than an Accuquilt Go!

The Go! is the portable home die cutter; the Studio version is much more expensive, not portable, and takes up quite a bit of dedicated space. It is really meant for fabric shops (so they can cut yardage to make up kits) and serious quilters.

I have the Go! and like it for cutting strips, but if I just wanted strips I would have stayed with my June Tailor cutting mat. For the Go!, I still have to rough-cut the widths to run through the cutter and it's still important to line up the fold accurately. My cutter was fairly stiff to operate at first but has gotten easier with use. For strips, I run only a doubled layer of fabric through at one time. I stop one-third of the way to adjust the fabric (stretches when cut crosswise, which is the easiest way to rough-cut the faric) and stop again two-thirds of the way through to adjust the fabric again; otherwise the fabric stretches so much that wrinkles get pressed into the strips. One pass through the cutter makes several strips; how many depends on the width of the strips being cut.

HTH!

She has been rotary cutting for years, but I think some arthritis is causing her to look into alternate cutting ideas. I love my June Tailor Shape Cut, I use it all the time!

I have the Studio, it's a lot bigger than the GO, so you'd need to plan for additional space. It's also rather heavy, so you don't want to have to move it around.

The dies for it are also much larger than the go dies, and take a lot of storage space.

Saying that, it's a breeze to cut through 8 layers of fabric with it, and the handle cranks quite easily.

The shape makers by Joanne Taylor are really good for strips. I've had mine for years and love it.

I have MS. DH bought me the Go with all the dies available. We just returned it. By the time all the prep work was done, I could have already cut WAY more by hand. The Go wasn't really meant to cut more than two layers of folded fabric, meaning four "slices" for lack of better terminology.

The whole thing took up far too much space, and as far as I was concerned, was more of a hassle than it was worth. Money wasn't the issue, but not being WORTH the money paid WAS. Cranking that handle can sure cause you shoulder issues.

What one loves, another despises. JMHO.

Did you mean the Alto Quilt Cut and the Accuquilt? I have the Alto Quilt Cut. It's okay but for the money I prefer the Accuquilt Go.

Just checking into all of the fabric cutters on the market, Thanks for mentioning the Alto, will check on it too.