If you are looking for someone creative, I absolutely put my hand up and say … not me. So what business do I have reviewing a Cricut Explore 5? It turns out, that even someone like me can turn out some impressive results.
Full disclosure. I attended the launch of the Cricut Joy 2 and Explore 5 a few week ago down in Port Melbourne. You can check out what Lis thought of the Joy 2 here.
This is definitely not my first rodeo – that was with the Cricut Maker 3 back in 2021. When that first landed, I daunted by it. And it turns out, my fears were completely unfounded. So five years on, the team has reviewed a few models in the intervening years, I thought it would be a good time for me to see how Cricut has evolved.
Cricut Explore 5 vs Cricut Maker 3: What’s Different?
The Maker 3 doesn’t see daily use, but it has come in extremely handy when I need to do little projects with Arraiya. Vinyl decals, stickers, temporary tattoos, just to name a few. It is a beast of a machine that can handle over 300 types of materials.
| Feature | Cricut Maker 3 (2021) | Cricut Explore 5 (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 6.9 kg | 4.8 kg |
| Dimensions | 56.2 cm x 18.1 cm x 15.8 cm | 54.1 cm x 16.5 cm x 14.2 cm |
| Cutting Force | 4000g (Commercial Grade) | Standard (Hobbyist Grade) |
| Max Materials | 300+ (includes wood, metal, fabric) | 75+ (vinyl, paper, iron-on) |
| Max Speed | 20.3 cm/s | 28.7 cm/s |
| Available Tools | 13 (Rotary, Knife, Engraving, etc.) | 6 (Fine-point, Deep-cut, Foil, etc.) |
| Best For | Heavy-duty 3D crafts & sewing | Stickers, vinyl, and high-speed crafting |
The Explore 5, is part of Cricut’s “new era” product line, with particular focus on user experience and speed. And this is demonstrated straight out of the box with a pretty generous selection of materials and tools bundled into the package.
In the box, the inclusions are:
- Cricut Explore 5 Machine
- Premium Fine-Point Blade
- Scoring Tool (new) – Redesigned tool for the 5-series used for making fold lines in cards
- Power Adapter & USB Cable
Cricut now includes enough material for roughly 30 projects right away:
- Smart Vinyl: 6 sheets
- Smart Iron-On: 4 sheets
- Transfer Tape: 6 sheets
- Value Cardstock: 10 sheets
- Printable Vinyl: 3 sheets
- Insert Card Sets: 2 sets (includes envelopes and inserts)
- Black Dual-Sided Marker featuring both a 0.4 mm and 1.0 mm tip
And tools, don’t forget tools!
- Portable Trimmer
- Light-grip mat
- 2×1 Card mat
- Weeder
- Spatula
- Paper ruler
- Scraper
A few things to note:
- The pen for the latest generation of Cricut machines are not compatible with the “legacy” pens. If you have invested in a large collection of them, you will need to purchase a Legacy Pen Adapter.
- Everything under the materials and tools list, with the exception of the pen, were not provided with the Maker 3. I say Cricut has nailed the first impression experience, and speed to get projects started.
Setting Up the Cricut Explore 5 and First Impressions
Coming from the Maker 3, the Explore 5 is a little different. There is no cover lid anymore. Just the front tray which drops down and assume the starting position.
There is no power button. It’s at the wall point (or extension board). When you plug the DC barrel in, it’s powered on. No USB-C power here sadly.
Connectivity can be either USB, or Bluetooth. For the sake of convenience I used Bluetooth for all my connections. The unit usually sits on my dining table, and my laptop stays on my desk.
The Cricut Design Space is an essential. Visually it has remained largely unchanged from when I first started using it back in 2021. There has been fixes, enhancements and varies additions made to it.
The first time you fire it up with a new machine, it will ask you to activate it against your account. It will also download any firmware updates that is available for your unit.
All you need to do after that is to pick a pre-made design and follow the instructions.
Whether it’s a greeting card, or a cute vinyl design, the Cricut Design Space has plenty of options to choose from. Just a heads up, some of these require the subscription, but there are also plenty that don’t.
I consider myself reasonably switched on with the Cricut space. I have had a few years, a daughter and partner who likes to ask for custom designs, to help me get decently good at it.
If you are a little handy with drawing programs, resourceful with search engines, or even genAI now, you can really create something that is uniquely yours.
For example, my partner is super keen on seeing the Bangtan Boys (BTS) in concert next year. I put together a little design to spell out the name of their new album Arirang and printed it off on iron-ons. Now she has her own custom BTS t-shirt.
As for me, I have been eyeing off a particular t-shirt design for a while, but never actually ordered it because of concerns over material quality, and that the design isn’t quite perfect for me. A few hours (well more than a few actually), using a combination of graphics packages, lots of Googling, genAI, I put together my own spacecraft timeline t-shirt design. If you know all the designs, pop it down in the comment below.
The Cricut iron-on material comes in a plethora of colours, so you can bring your creation to life. As you can see with the Arirang design, it uses two colours.
To achieve this I had to split my image file into two colours and cut them separately.
Once that was down, cut and weeded, it was a matter of ironing the design onto my own t-shirt. No stressing over the quality of an online store because we checked these ourselves first.
I don’t have a Cricut EasyPress on hand, and this design pushes the limits in size anyway. So we went to the tried and trusted iron method. This also gave me better control as we applied the two colours separately.
At the launch party, I also created a little congratulations card for my daughter, who got elected to the Junior School Committee. Very proud dad moment.
The best part of the Cricut templates is that they are all customisable. You only have to pulled them into your own project and then make the changes you want.
Cricut Explore 5 Performance and Speed
One thing I have noticed, is just how much quicker the Explore 5 is compared to the Maker 3.
To achieve the best speed, you have to use the smart materials and without the mat. The smart materials have a stiffer backing to help the material roller grab onto it.
To my ears, it also sounded a little quieter. Or I am just losing my hearing due to age.
Cricut Explore 5 Problems and Design Space Frustrations
I don’t really have anything for the machine itself.
In some ways going to the Explore 5 is a bit of a downgrade – the Maker 3 is a fantastic workhorse that can handle substantially more materials and much greater cutting pressure.
But for me using it at home, the increase in speed was definitely something I noticed. Plus, yes the Maker 3 can do 300+ materials, but I only use half a dozen!
After all these years though, I still find Cricut Design Space a bit clunky and non-intuitive. I could almost mistake it for iTunes in UI unfriendliness.
There are many quirks, that you will eventually get used to – looking for your own creations, projects, bookmarked stuff from others.
I pushed the limits with my spacecraft timeline design. The Design Space really had difficulties keeping up with me erasing blank spots and I found myself constantly toggling the preview to see what I have to go over again.
Honestly I think the UI could do with a bit of an overhaul from a useability perspective. On the other hand, it does do the job. Just need to get used to it.
One particular feature that always gets my goat though, is the auto sequencing of elements when you go to make it.
Once you have finalised your design in Cricut Design Space, you save the project and send it to the device. This brings up the cut page where you can move your design elements around.
The issue here is, you have it done beautifully in the Design Space. You hit the Make button, and the Design Space goes and reorganises everything for you in what they consider the optimal arrangement for the cutting.
I concede that the intent is to make the cutting process more optimal, however, it just completely messed up my layout and design. And it is also rather horrible at optimising space usage.
Generally I will either have a complete design, where everything has already been place in the exact position for cutting and transferring; or I am doing something like stickers and jam packing everything in place to reduce material wastage.
Yes the more season Cricutters will say, weld your elements! Yes I can do that, but if Cricut decides that my design is over the maximum cutting size, then I have to unweld it and then figure out how much over I am.
I do wish that in the Cricut Design Space, I can turn on guides for print and cut – so I know exactly the size my working area. This will help reduce frustration on my part.
Should You Buy the Cricut Explore 5?
The Cricut Maker 5 is a genuinely useful gadget to have at home if you are always looking to create something unique and special.
The RRP for this bundle, which includes the materials and tools listed above, is A$449. But at time of publishing it is down to A$359.20 at Spotlight. That is criminally cheap for what you get.
Between a few of the DRN editors, we have done plenty of custom stickers, tattoos, fridge magnets, iron-ons, greeting cards, Lis’ famous luggage customisation for her South America trip last year. Flocked material. We have really put the Cricut machines to the test.
For those wondering what I did with the Maker 3, I took it up to the school to have it in their STEM and Art room. I thought it would be a fantastic experience for the children to have the opportunity to create something and bring it to life. And just to prove my mettle, I also volunteered to get the teachers started on how to create their own projects.
If the team over at Cricut is having kittens, it will be operated under strict adult supervision.
DRN and Arraiya’s school would like to thank Cricut for providing the review units.
