I wanted to let you all know I got my cougar up and running last night in the wee hours of today. I haven't done the signcut side yet, I am doing first work on the mtc side with KKK plug in for knifepoint. I got a successful first cut, but my darned cricut mat was wayyy too sticky, which I will fix today. My first cut is nothing special, just my scalloped mirror - I previously hand traced that image and knew it was a low-node vector, and I wanted something really simple for first cutting. Came out wonderful - just bent in a place or two from my inadequate mat. I intend to work more with very simple, low-node shapes and once I am really comfortable, move onto more complex images. After that, it will be moving onto heavier materials.
Even though I have much to learn, just working with this machine for a little while tells me that I now have a machine for life and the power it has is simply amazing. Because it took me a while to learn my gazzy, I am giving myself alot of time to learn and understand my cougar. I am normally the kind of person that wants everything yesterday, but on this I am going to take everything slow.
I really, really like the size of the 18. It fits on my desk. It gives me the flexibility of size without being hard to place to use. I also have the option of placing the 18 on a folding table I got from costco for $20+ and I can even place that under my desk (on the folding table which opens to different heights) if I wanted to free up work space on my desktop. I wished I did have the space for the 24 for the ultimate flexibility in terms of cutting size, but I had to go with what fit into my space. With all these boys around, there's not much left over space for me (sigh).
In short, I am really happy with my purchase. Once I gain alot more experience, and progress to the matboard stage, I will be sure to post again once I meet my goal.
Pat