Xcut Guillotine Paper Cutter 13"-

Since neither the Tonic or Scor-Pal 12"guillotine paper cutters seem to be available any more, I tried the X-Cut version based upon the strength of others' reviews. What a disappointment! This thin plastic marvel looks OK but delivers nothing in the way of function. Small pull-out bars at top and bottom of the unit, supposedly to support large sheets of paper, are inconvenient to use. The ruler stamped into each bar is very hard to see even with direct overhead lighting. The blade itself does Not cut a consistently straight line on cardstock and is totally useless with lighter weight papers. The clear blade shield holds paper down firmly but will not allow you to get close enough to trim away fine cuts. Anything less than a 3/8" cut does not happen. The absolute deal killers are the rulers marked in black mounted on the top and bottom of the units base. Continental measurement is on the top with American inches on the bottom. It proved surprisingly bothersome to change long standing work habits, looking to the bottom to measure and line up the paper. But the final straw was the black tic at 5.5", a standard indication of half an 11" page, off by over 1/8th inch. If you can't trust the measurements of a ruler designed to size cut pieces, why keep it? With way too many hassles encumbering this product, It went back in a hurry.