Dahle Vantage 18e Paper Trimmer

This paper cutter is a good investment. The blade does not feel sharp but the cuts are clean and neat. Also, the measurement grid is very accurate. I cut and size photographs and photographic paper so I have to have accuracy and clean cuts and this cutter performs very well. My only complaint is the handle locking tab. The handle is cheap plastic and the tab is part of the mold. Right out of the box, the handle would not lock as per instruction. After inspection I found the cheap plastic tab had broken off. I found it laying in the packaging the cutter came out of. This is a very poor design and now the handle does not stay down. Please see provided pictures.

This paper cutter is excellent! It's heavy and heavy duty, durable, it's designed well and cuts paper so smoothly. It's easy to use once you get the hang of latching the cutting arm. I'm very pleased with my purchase! Highly recommend!

What can I say, it's a paper cutter. But it is the nicest paper cutter I've ever used. The blade is extremely sharp and goes through paper like a hot knife through butter. I really like how it clamps paper down and holds it in place along with providing a safety guard, how it has a measuring device, how the blade locks into place when not is use, and how sharp the blade is. Well made device.

Just got my new cutter today and it is perfect for my use, I sell gift tags on Etsy and cut them apart by hand. Easy to position paper, slices cleanly, will slice the thinnest (like 1mm) slivers so good for quilling if that is what you need it for. I love the bar that holds the paper DOWN alongside the cutter edge, so that there is no fanning or paper lifting up ahead of the blade. There is no blade like you imagine, just a big rectangular bar that comes down and slices cleanly. If you accidentally hit your hand on this edge, it is virtually impossible to cut your skin, like I did too many times with my old bladed cutter. Also, awesomely, I can see where the blade first comes in contact with the paper, easy to reposition slightly if needed. Some cutters have the blade handle obscure the view of the paper when it cuts so how r ya sposed to know if the cut is exactly where you need it? It has a nice weight to it, but easy for this old lady to carry around the office. Only issue is the flat bar that secures the paper in place is bent, see pics. It still holds the paper just fine, but it curves. I don't see an issue and don't plan on returning (what a pain!) but I just wanted to document it here in case it becomes an issue later. I highly recommend this cutter.

I got this for commercial use because we spent a ton of money on product labels that came out misaligned and I couldn't have them all go to waste. Trimming them properly seemed like the more sensible option, but we didn't have anything that could make such small cuts. I saw this 18" Dahle Vantage German cutter and thought it would be worth trying for the price. I was just in the middle of using it and had to stop and get on the computer so I could write this review. I can't believe how thinly this thing can cut. We're talking about shaving off edges almost as thin as a human hair - consistently too. We've been using it here for business for a couple of days now and I still can't get over how well it works. On top of the performance, which you'll notice immediately the first cut you make, you can tell it is built right. Kind of like how USA-built products used to be about a hundred years ago. You definitely get your money's worth with this thing and I'll buy more of their products if they make anything else we could use.

This 18" cutter is beefy and accurate. It will make good accurate cuts in challenging materials. It cuts mat board cleanly. It will cut 15 sheets of copy paper. It will cut thin laminating film and thin dry mount film. The latter two are challenging because some cutters will cause these to fold over between the guillotine blade and anvil blade rather than cut. (this is the problem that drove me to buy this new cutter) A guillotine cutter should never be used on foam core. I tried foam core and it will work if you put it face down. The back edge of the foam core will be a bit rough but the (face down) top edge will be clean. The design is interesting and different from other cutters. The guillotine blade is very thick (5/16") steel and bowed (see picture 2 showing the blade all the way down). The blade has a 1/4" lateral bow; at any point in the stroke the blade is only contacting the anvil at one point. This is an exaggerated version of the bow in a scissors. Other cutters have do not have boldly bowed blades. This bowed blade design really seems to work very well. As I mentioned the blade itself is massive. Other cutters have heavy blade handles and thin steel blades. On this cutter the actual blade is 5/16" thick and the anvil is 1/4" thick steel. The blade is not actually all that sharp. If you grabbed the blade it would not cut your hand or finger, but it cuts paper, mat board, and films very cleanly. I suspect the bowed design is part of the ability to make a blade work extremely well without needing to be super sharp. The blade and paper clamp will remain up in any position. This is very handy for paper positioning. You can slowly lower the handle to get the clamp to engage, remove your fingers with the blade staying up, and then complete the stroke to do the cutting. You will not need to use a shoulder to hold the handle up while positioning or clamping the paper. I was able to trim very tiny slivers off of a photograph as one needs to do to correct slight boarder errors. A 1/32" sliver was easy and I could even manage almost down to almost 1/64". The base is steel which is nice. It about the right balance of weight to keep the unit stable and light enough to carry. An added plus is the magnets stick if you are doing some fancy paper positioning or want to hold a drafting triangle to the board. (Want to try cutting Octagons perhaps?) I am not excited about the scale or grid. The scale is 1/4" and the grid is 1/2". I prefer a much finer grid and ruler. Obviously you can use any ruler to supplement the scale on the cutter.. I found it easy to print off a grid and scale to my liking with a large format printer and double stick tape them to the base. If that is too much trouble for you, then you might just get a big sheet of graph paper that has a grid to your liking and stick that on the base.

I bought this from Amazon Warehouse and wasn't expecting a like new unit but was surprised when I opened the box. It arrived poorly packed in its original, albeit beat up box, but was in perfect shape. It had been slammed around in the shipping box too but it had no damage. I'm not using this for cutting paper, but to cut 1/42" wood veneer for large scale parquetry projects. As such the cutting edge has to be perfectly square to the fence at the top of the unit. Although some reviewers had issues with it being out of alignment, this one was right on the money. The fence is adjustable if it's out of alignment. The unit cuts very well. Making hair thin cuts has been a breeze with this unit, better than the sharp edged guillotine trimmer that I had been using. I've used it with heavy weight paper with the same results. I've not tried cutting 15 sheets as advertised, so I can't say if it can do it, but when it's not pushed to capacity it is extremely accurate. My final test was to cut two pieces of heavy paper stock and then put the cut edges together to see how straight the cut is. The cut is perfectly straight. Using the trimmer is a little different than some other trimmers. The blade will drop until the paper clamp contacts the table, so you have to swing it up to almost vertical to keep it out of your way when setting up. The clamp isn't aligned to the blade and it has a lot of movement side to side, making it difficult at times to keep your paper aligned if it isn't against the top fence. I've learned that holding a finger or two down on the clamp helps keep it in place while cutting odd pieces. The swing blade is curved and isn't as stiff as a standard trimmer, so you have to pull it straight downward without pushing the blade away from the fixed blade or you'll get ragged cuts. All in all, this is a good trimmer for craft work as well as light duty office use. It's built like a tank so it will take some abuse, but light enough and thin enough to store easily. And the cut quality is excellent.

I ordered one unit, but requested an exchange due to problems with it. Amazon sent me a replacement that arrived promptly, but it had the same problems. I adjusted both of them, but am considering returning them both, since a product shouldn't require this much adjustment out of the box. Pros: the metal base is heavy and has well placed rubber feet so it won't slip on slick desktops. The handle is sturdy. Overall, the unit is slim and doesn't take up a lot of desk space or when stored on a shelf. Cons: the cutting blade mars paper with flakes of black paint that break off the cutting surfaces as they come into contact (images 1, 2), the guide bar at the top of the unit is not square with the base, so it can't be used to make cuts that are equal in width at top and bottom (images 3, 4 - note where the bar falls relative to the numbers printed on the base), the printed grid on the base is off by 1/32 of an inch, so you have to place your paper over the grid line 1/32" to get cuts at the expected length (can be hard to do consistently, because you can't see the line beneath your paper -- see images 5, 6), and some units come with grease, pits and scratches on the base (images 7, 8). Out of the box, this 12" paper cutter will create ragged cuts and embed tiny flakes of black paint on your material, so you need to make dozens of cuts along the entire cutting edge to ensure the blades are clean before you make cuts on your final material. There is no way this unit can cut through 15 sheets cleanly as advertised. I wouldn't put more than 1 piece of card stock or 3 sheets of copier paper in this cutter at a time. Next, you'll notice that the pieces you cut do not have an equal width along the length of the cut. This is because the aluminum guide bar at the top is not square with the base. To correct this, you'll need a Philips screwdriver, a small carpenter's square and a small C-clamp. Loosen the 3 screws under the guide bar a turn to a turn and a half. Then place your square against the cutting surface (you'll have to raise the handle) and push it against the loosened guide bar. Clamp the square in position, making sure it doesn't slip as you do so. Then push the guide bar against the square as hard as you can (the screws are in a track that you're going to have to flex a bit to get them in the right position). Once the bar is flat against the square, tighten the screws, making sure that the bar doesn't move as you tighten them. The next two issues cannot be fixed by the user. First, the grid's inch markings are not accurate. I checked this against my square and a metal ruler, both confirmed that the grid is overall 1/32" too small. You'll simply have to get close to your material to gauge whether your paper is 1/32" past the grid marking you want to use. Else, pre-mark your paper and don't rely on the grid. Second, the replacement unit I received was actually poorer in quality compared to the first. The base was smeared with grease from the blade hinge and there were several pits and scratches on the metal base. It's not a huge deal, but sliding sheets of paper is less pleasant when it catches on a small hole or rough patch. I wouldn't have a problem using this paper cutter to create small slips of scratch paper, but definitely not for any job requiring precision - making invitations, trimming photos, cutting pages for handmade books, etc..

I love this guillotine. It is sturdy and cuts beautifully The cutting action is smooth. The safety mechanism is good. When the cutting arm is lifted the safety rule lifts with it. When the cutting arm is brought down the safety rule clamps down cleanly to protect your fingers. When you receive the guillotine you need to pull the arm gently to the right to release it for use. When cutting has finished gently put it back into its resting position. It was a considered purchase for me but I am so pleased I bought it.

Me agrado el producto, es lo que esperaba para algunos trabajos de recorte de fotografías. Se ve que es de buena calidad y que debe de servirme por largo tiempo

Very happy with this trimmer. I use it in a school setting with older students, and they find it easy and safe to use. Papers stay more secure when cutting that with our sliding trimmer. Recommended!

Muy bien la traje para un familiar, dice que está muy satisfecha con la compra

Very disappointed, Does do the job easier than the roller cutters I have used before cuts through 10 sheets of paper easily. The low star rating is because the cutter blade handle is damaged so it cannot be locked into a safe down position, the adjustable paper guide does not lock into a straight position so the paper has to be lined up every time for the same cut on the next batch of paper needing the same cut. Would have returned but as shipped from USA the transport costs meant I may as well just work around the problems.