I have one of each and vote for the self healing mat. The June Taylor works but I find my ruler slips more when I use it.

Self healing all the way.

I have a 36" self healing mat which I have had for many years. I prefer Olfa mats for most of my rotary cutting - the June Tailor surface is too hard and I find my cutter slides and gets dull very quickly. Whenever I have a JoAnn's coupon - I only get an Olfa mat - also think about a turning rotary mat - great for squaring blocks!

You will have a more professional cut if you use a self healing mat. It's worth the extra $ to go first class if you can.I have used the white cutting mat and found that it dulls your rotary cutter blade. And you will replace the blade frequently.

I'll be interested to know what others think about the best cutting mat also. I have had Fiskars and it didn't last long at all. I have also had Olfa, which is supposed to be self healing but every time I cut batting on it, whether it's in a quilt sandwich or not, it sticks in the cut and I have to work to rub it out.

I have the large June Taylor mat on my work area; yeah, it doesn't heal, and I'm lazy about changing blades.... so I have a mat that has a 'bubble 'on the end I work on.... wait... I think I see a pattern developing! And I have Omnigrids in various sizes.
I like the big mat for obvious reasons... it's big, my preference would be to have all Omnigrid mats, BTW these (Omnigrid) don't recover well after a 'pinking' wheel, either..... I read somewhere that you should use the same tools from start to finish on a quilt, so I use the big mat mostly these days.... lazy girl.

I would get a self healing mat. God bless. Penny

I bought one of the June Tailor mats because it was cheaper and I really regret it. Three months old and already have cuts in it. My last fiskars was with me for 4 years.

Get the self-healer. If you don't you'll just be buying another one long before you should have to. I prefer the Olfa. I haven't had any that smelled bad, but I know some quilters do complain of that. Someone on one of these threads gave a solution to that problem, I just can't remember what it was.
Be very careful not to keep it in your car any longer than it takes to get it home. They buckle with heat and it's just about impossible to flatten them out.
As for cleaning the fuzz off when it builds up, I just use a "scrubby." The same thing I use for cleaning my pots and pans. It takes a few seconds. 8-)

There is a small hand tool & in quilting catalogs, also & Nancy Z. catalog. JoAnn's also carries it. It is circular and you rub this tool on your cutting mat and it removes ALL the threads and fuzz that is stuck in the cut marks on your mat. You know that you can cut on both sides of your Olfa cutting mat. Somtimes I can cut better w/o the lines on the mat and use my ruler.