Our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award winner is the gold standard among electronic die cutting machines. The Black Cat Cougar offers industrial strength capabilities in a desktop package. It can cut most any material in a single pass, has an astounding 13-inch-wide cutting bed, and does a lot more than just cut. Its only weaknesses are a hefty price tag, hefty weight, and some weak customer support. Its amazing capabilities will astound you, though.
The Cougar die cutting unit, working in concert with its companion software, can help you cut exactly what you want, how you want. You will be able to designate things like the pressure on the blade, as well as blade depth and speed. This die cutting machine can be set to cut as slowly as 1 mm per second so you can get very precise finished products. You can crank it up to as fast as 600 mm per second when you are in a hurry. This machine is designed to do as it is told. The blade holder can accommodate almost any diameter tool you like, and that will give you a ton of flexibility.
This die cutting machine comes with SignCutPRO, a software application that will tell your Cougar exactly what to do. It does not have any designing tools, though. You will need Inkscape or similar software to create your original designs. The Cougar die cutting machine comes with Inkscape for that purpose, but you have a lot of options for designing. CorelDRAW and Illustrator will also work just fine, for instance. We love the design freedom this affords users for crafting. If you can create it in one of these design programs, you can cut it. That is certainly not the case with some other cutters, which have designated sets of patterns that you have to buy. That adds to the cost of your die cutting machine over time. Once you buy a Cougar you have access to an unlimited number of designs, forever.
Through the included software you will be able to instruct Cougar to cut text in a curve or other shape and cut specific lines in a specific order. You will be able to weld characters together with ease and have the cutter automatically place as many patterns as possible on each page to save paper.
Hefty though it may be, the Cougar die cutting machine is not the heaviest in our lineup. At 18 pounds it is not completely unmanageable. It does have a carry handle and onboard tool storage to make it at least a little more travel-friendly. Another thing that makes it roadworthy is its ability to function with or without your computer. This is a marvelous feature. A USB memory port allows you to instruct the Cougar to cut based on contents of a jump drive. This goes way beyond the cartridge-driven systems. They only hold the included patterns. The Cougar die cutting system can offer you an endless supply of patterns, accessible with nothing more than a jump drive.
This unit’s heftiness is somewhat justified. It takes a tough die cutting machine to cut through everything the Cougar does. The body of this little powerhouse is constructed of high-strength aluminum alloy. It cuts more but also weighs more. That may or may not be a worthwhile trade-off for you.
The high-resolution LCD backlit display and silica gel buttons will make it easy to control your Cougar with or without your computer, and three pinch rollers will keep all your media stable while the Cougar does its work.
When it comes to cutting the Cougar is virtually unstoppable. With 900 grams of pressure it will get through an amazingly long list of materials. The usual suspects are of course on that list – cardstock, vinyl, velum, etc. – but consider the family of projects you can create when your die cutting machine can carve precise shapes into rubber, leather, sponge and even faux fur. You can create your own rubber stamps, promote your business with a set of customized magnets and create amazing scrapbooking layouts. We like the versatility of the Cougar in its feeding options. You can cut large quantities out of any material that comes in a roll or you can cut one page at a time.
This is not a table saw, of course, but you will be able to manipulate thin metals, sheet magnets, balsa wood and stiffened felt. The Cougar die cutting system will conquer even light clay and cotton fabric, if it is properly secured. You could create your own purses, t-shirt prints and glass etching patterns. In the crafting realm at least there is nothing the Cougar can’t tackle. The Black Cat forums have enough ideas to last a lifetime if you come to the end of your own reserve of ideas. We saw all sorts of intricately carved ornaments, paper flowers, lamp shades, kirigami creations, pop-up cards and gift boxes.
This die cutting machine does much more than cut, which it does extremely well. Add a pen and have the Cougar draw something for you. Plug in an embossing tool and have the Cougar imprint very specific patterns for you. With the engraving tool you add even more options. It will also punch holes or distress items. All of the added capabilities make your project options practically endless.
We wish all of the manufacturer sites associated with our favorite digital die cutters were more professional, organized and user-friendly, and that includes the Black Cat Cougar sites. Black Cat’s main site directs you to its distributers on various continents – That’s Scrap in the U.S., Thyme Graphics in the U.K. and Cut Above Crafts in Australia. They are all pretty weak in terms of organization and helpful information. That’s Scrap does not even have a toll free phone number.
The truly helpful customer help is available only on Black Cat blogs and forums, and on those it is buried under layers of friendly but often useless chatter from Black Cat owners.
We did get some helpful responses via email from That’s Scrap, but in all cases we wished for more professional, better organized help for those new to the Black Cat realm. This is not the type of machine you will likely pull out of the box and start using right away. We suspect that most people will experience a steep learning curve.
Black Cat is a very high quality die cutter. It also draws, embosses, engraves, punches and distresses a very long list of materials with ease. If you have the means and think you will use it on a very regular basis, this is the die cutting unit for you. However, we’re not convinced the large price tag is worth it for all the people in the market for a personal die cutting machine. For a small business owner it definitely would make sense. For serious craft enthusiasts it may also be worth it. This is not a machine you will buy and hope to upgrade in a couple of years. This is a machine that you will use for years and years, probably updating only to another Black Cat Cougar – they also come in 15-inch and 18-inch models – if you need a wider printing bed. These are quality machines built to last.
