[Kat1lpz]

Someone offering me a cameo 3 at $130 & yes i will buy it but need to know this first. Cos i heard issues on the mat after sometime

 

[vanitee]

Don't know about the 3, but I have never used a mat in my Cameo.

 

[into the T]

you can buy cricut mats in 12"x24" size

they come in a pack of two
cut one at 14", now you have 3 sizes of mats

you never have to worry about shifting vinyl/paper with a mat

i never cut without one after wasting a few pieces of vinyl from shifting

 

[Dekzion]

The mats are to protect your cutting strip (dont know why they call it a cutting strip, it should be called the strip that the blade operates over) your cutting strip should remain unblemished if you use the correct depths for the material you are using, i.e. only cut through the vinyl, not the backing paper as well.
Of course when you are cutting decals from a long length of vinyl you are unable to use a mat, but at all other times it's best to use it as like Edward says, it stops the vinyl from possibly moving askew. and it's a must for getting fine detail cuts.
mats should last a long time, the glue is the first to go but can be replaced by cleaning the old glue off, which is a double sided tape basically, and giving it a quick spray of 3m remount spray

 

[into the T]

i think it was either you Dekzion or Mgparrish that makes their own cut mats out of acetate? and 3m re-mount/re-positionable spray

or go to the dollar store and buy those flexible kitchen cutting mats, painter's tape the below settings all the way around and then spray

draw two lines in permanent marker at 3/4" in from top and 3/8" in from left
these are the edges to place your material to cut

 

[Dekzion]

I have, I got some celluloid, it isn't very thick, just a couple of mill, and cut it to the width of a cameo sheet and a bit longer the sheets are 330 mm wide and 19 inches long so leaving them as long as they came (can't remember) worked for me, and yes the 3m remount works well and can be washed off with hot water and a bit of detergent before spraying again. don't let your rollers run over the glue, it can offset your cut as the circumference gets bigger.

 

[into the T]

in studio go up to the help tab and click manual, this will give you everything you need to know
click tutorials for some quick and easy to follow tut's

i would recommend looking at the designer edition add-on (allows svg import and many other helpful tools)

v4 is a big improvement, esp. with floating panels
here is a pic of my setup