1) Best price and service at OS, no questions! I have had it for exactly 2 weeks now. 2) Blade installation was really simple once I stopped reading the manual which doesn't simply tell you to pop it into the slot and turn the lock to the right. I saw you tube video and it was a snap. 3) Mat was way too tacky and manual doesn't say to remove tack by rubbing it on a low lint pillow or something. My first cut was good but the white residue left over by CS was a mess. Plus the blade setting was set according to the instructions but it gouged through the mat right off the bat. 4) Loading the mat was complete guess work, why no instructions on how to align? If I place it such that my 8x11 mat sits between the two white rollers, it seems to work. There are 3-4 guide lines on the machine front left but no markings on them, not sure what they are for! 5) There are markings for letter size and A4 size material placement on the mat. Align your top left and right corners of paper on the mat using them, they are hard to see but there. This will ensure perfect placement of paper on the mat. 6) Software installation is very easy and using it is intuitive. I haven't played with print/cut or other advanced features yet but will soon. 7) Free 50 designs will come through after software installation and you click on recent downloads (or is it import to library? sorry, can't remember). 8) I cut intricate vines/leaves on Coordinations textured cardstock, it came out very well but for one of the smaller sizes. I had put several sizes on one 8x11 CS to avoid wasting CS. 9) Tried a Moroccan lattice background (very detailed) on regular patterned scrapbook paper. The setting was at 3 and it didn't cut anything. I set it to 4 and then it did a beautiful job. So their blade setting recommendation is not an exact science, it's trial and error. 10) Machine is light and portable, make sure you have room on the table for the mat to go back and forth, without it being obstructed by your laptop or wall etc. 11) Silhouette should post some basic videos on their site to show basic placement of material on the mat, mat loading, blade installation etc. They are seriously lacking in that especially for new comers to die cutting world. The DVD that comes with it is not that much more useful especially regarding mat insertion. They just say align between the rollers but you could align exactly the left edge of the mat or you could load with half an inch off as they show...sigh! I have it figured out now with trial and error. 12)You can even cut .svg files WITHOUT designer edition of the software. Just use inkscape. Google for instructions. Of course you can trace and cut any jpeg too if you didn't know. Oh, and you can turn a regular cut file into a print and cut file. How cool is that? 13) Categorizing and tagging free designs is not well designed in studio software. Even the silhouette store bought designs have pnc (print and cut) on some files and not others! You can't change tags for those either. Free designs on the net can be easily tagged or categorized when you import them into your library from your HD. 14) I am already ordering a spare blade/mat because they will be consumables. Shop around for good price, enough price variation out there.