The GBC Accucut A300
rotary trimmer is also being marketed as the Swingline Smartcut Lite.
Although these two cutters have different names, they are identical.It is designed to be an economical solution for home offices and small offices that are looking for low volume paper cutter.
Overview:
The GBC Accucut A300
rotary trimmer is also being marketed as the Swingline Smartcut Lite.
Although these two cutters have different names, they are identical.
The
A300 is a personal rotary trimmer that is designed for trimming paper,
scrapbook pages, presentations, desktop publishing projects and more.
It is designed to be an economical solution for home offices and small offices that are looking for low volume paper cutter.
Strengths / Features:
The
Swingline Smartcut Lite offers a 12" cutting length that is ideal for
trimming documents as large as 11" x 17" in size. It can also be used
to trim 12" x 12" scrapbooking paper.
The Accucut A300 has a
ruler along the top of the trimmer that offers both imperial and metric
measurements. It also has an alignment grid printed on the base of the
cutting unit. This alignment grid is ideal for helping to ensure that
you get straight cuts every time.
The cutting blade on the
A300 travels along a transparent cutting guide that allows users to see
exactly where the blade will travel. This helps to ensure the most
accurate cuts possible.
The Smartcut Lite comes equipped with
a stainless steel round cutting blade that is capable of cutting up to
10 sheets of paper at a time. However, the trimmer can also be equipped
with a perforator blade for perforating paper or with a wave cutting
blade for adding decorative edges to your paper.
The Accucut
A300 has a convenient easy grip handle that travels along a metal rail.
In order to cut a document you simply need to press down on the handle
to engage the blade.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The
GBC Accucut A300 is made primarily for personal and home office use.
For this reason, it is made almost entirely made of plastic. The GBC
Accucut A400pro is the same size and offers the same cutting length as
the A300 but utilizes metal components instead of plastic ones. The
plastic components make the A300 far less durable than larger
professional grade rotary trimmers.
Although the Smartcut
Lite is rated to cut up to ten sheets of paper, it is really not ideal
for cutting more than a few sheets of paper at any given time. It is
really more of a trimmer than a cutter. A guillotine style paper cutter
is better for cutting small stacks of paper while a rotary trimmer is
best used for trimming laminated documents and other materials.
The
A300 uses a special cutting mat that is placed underneath the rotary
cutting blade. The cutting mat helps to ensure the quality of trimming
provided by the trimmer. The cutting mat needs to be replaced or
reversed on a regular basis in order to ensure high quality cuts. It is
always a good idea to keep an extra cutting mat on hand in case you
need to replace the mat on your cutter.
Recommendation:
For
organizations that need to trim a few documents or want to add either a
decorative edge or a perforated section to their documents the Smartcut
Lite is a logical choice.
However, it is important to
recognize that this is a paper cutter that is designed for personal
use. The plastic construction of the A300 makes it a decent choice for
scrapbooking and craft projects. However, it is less than ideal for
commercial applications or any type of volume trimming.
It is
also important to remember that the Smartcut lite is designed as a
trimmer and not a cutter. For any type of volume cutting, a guillotine
paper cutter is a better solution.
This review was written by Jeff McRitchie who is the director of marketing for Mybinding.com
Jeff has written more than three hundred articles and more than two
hundred reviews on Binding Machines, Binding Supplies, Report Covers,
3-Ring Binders, Index Tabs, Laminators, Laminating Supplies, Paper
Shredders and Paper Handling Equipment.