Paper cutters and trimmers come in all shapes, sizes and designs. What makes one trimmer better than another? A lot of it has to do with the build quality, reputation and price. Carl, manufacturer of several different paper trimmers, has developed a reputation for making great trimmers at an affordable price. Is a Carl paper trimmer a good choice for you? Let’s find out.

To begin with, about 90%+ of Carl’s paper trimmers are what’s known as rotary paper cutters. They use a small pizza cutter-like blade that rolls around in a specially designed cutting head. This wheel rolls across paper, cutting it in the process. Rotary paper cutters are known for being accurate and ideal for use in photography, and perfect for scrapbooking purposes. Carl also makes a few different 2 and 3-hole paper punches as well as an entry-level corner rounder.

I would consider Carl to be on par with most entry to mid-level paper cutters, such as Fiskars. The quality isn’t up to high-volume cutting levels, like Rotatrim, but they work great for home and small business use.

The Carl RT-200 / RT-218 and the DC line (DC-210, DC-238 & DC-250) of paper trimmers are by far the most popular trimmers available. These cutters feature interchangeable blades that are extremely popular for crafts and scrapbooking. Some of these interchangeable blades include:

• Perforating Blade
• Scoring Blade

The RT-200 / RT-218 and CC-10 include unique trimming blades such as:

• Deckle Cut Blade
• Shortwave Blade
• Pinking Blade
• Scallop Blade
• Squiggle Blade
• Victorian Blade
• Colonial Blade
• Wave Blade

This combination of different blades, interchangeable blades and overall reliability make our Carl paper trimmers a hit. I even purchased an RT-200 for my wife for her own photo-trimming projects.

So is the Carl line of paper cutters perfect for everyone? I wouldn’t recommend Carl paper trimmers for print shops, copy centers or larger businesses, but I would certainly recommend them for home use, school use, small-business use and other occasional cutting projects. Carl paper trimmers look great and are very portable.

You can find our selection of Carl paper trimmers here and our entire selection of paper cutters and trimmers here.

Are you a scrapbooker or need a paper cutter for cutting down paper, photographs and card stock using interchangeable blades with different cutting patterns? One line of cutters you may want to consider using is the Carl RT-200 or the Car RT-218 rotary paper cutters. I have personally used these cutters and this is my review.

I originally got a Carl RT-200 for my wife as a Christmas present. She really liked it and ended up asking me to buy a few additional cutting blades. The Carl RT-200 comes with a straight blade, but optional blades may be purchased. These blades include a scoring blade, a perforating blade, a scallop blade, a Victorian blade and many more. In all, there are about 11 blades you can get for the RT-200 and RT-218.

My wife primarily uses the RT-200 to cut down photographs, but has also used it to cut down patterned paper. You know, the paper that you get at craft stores that has flowers and stuff printed on it. As a guy, and being pretty unfamiliar with the scrapbooking world, I don’t know the exact terminology for this stuff.

My wife has had the RT-200 for about two years now and it still works well. The blades themselves are very easy to change out, so if for any reason a blade does go dull, no problem. I’m not saying my wife is hard to please, but if she still likes the cutter after two years, it’s a pretty safe bet many people will as well.

The RT-200 and RT-218 aren’t designed for high-volume cutting. They are primarily targeted towards hobby, scrapbooking and light-volume use. For the price though, they are great little cutters.

Both cutters are rated at cutting 10 sheets of standard 20# paper at a time. The only difference between both models of cutter is the cutting length. The RT-200 has a 12-inch cutting length and the RT-218 has an 18-inch cutting length.

Having used these cutters myself, I have to say that my overall impression is pretty high. Both the Carl RT-200 and RT-218 easily compete with (and exceed) Fiskars, Purple Cows and other popular hobby cutters.

You can find both the Carl RT-200 and RT-218 rotary paper trimmers here. You can find our entire selection of rotary paper cutters here.