Buy an accuquilt go or baby go
 

I have arthritis in my hands, and I love tools. How easy is the handle to operate with these machines? I use a lot of pre cuts to keep the cutting down.
How do you choose which dies to buy? Is the money worth it? What are the positives of each cutter? Thanks for any input.

do a search.. there are alot of threads started on the accuquilt..

I love mine.. if i had the money and space i would of gotten the studio.. I do not have arthritis so i cannot comment the ease or lack there of regarding cranking the handle..

they do make an electric one tho..

I also have arthritis in my hands - one hand is braced because of it.

I thought that the Accuquilt would be the answer for me so I tried it out at the LQS - not for me. Too much to get the fabric just right and then try to hold it and crank.. I suppose it would get easier with time.

Make sure you try it before you buy it.

I found an ergonomic rotary cutter that works great for me and I lean on the ruler with my other arm Works for me.

I'd go with the go; mainly because it'll do more and more layers. Chose your dies by what you do and then expand. If you do a lot of 2" squares though you might want to get the 2" strip and then cut the strips into squares or rectangles. One of my first (besides the variety one that came with my machine) was the rag quilter; love it. I buy a lot of flannel and make up a lot of blocks and put them in a tote and then when I need a blanket; I pull out my tote and chose my blocks as needed and I have a quilt in no time. The snipping is already done.I just bought the tumbling block. I also have some for applique on the back of those raq quilts. You can get some good buys on ebay on the dies and if you see a pack that you like but have a few of them sometimes they'll switch some of them out for you. It'll save you alot of money on the pre cuts; what size of precuts do you normally buy. Maybe that would be the answer to which would be one of the first dies to buy.

I'd go with the electric sizzix, no cranking

I just joined this forum, and am interested in more comments about the Accuquilt Studio, or the electric sizzix. I have ergonomic issues with the cranking, and am interested in Dolphyngyrl's comment about the electric sizzix. Thanks!

I had a Go and sold it, but kept my dies. I bought a Sizzix Big Shot Pro and I use the Go dies with it. The Sizzix machine is SOOOOO much easier to crank than the Go, it also has a more comfortable handle. The down side is it is not portable; it is a heavy piece of equipment. You'll need a dedicated place for it.