I believe there are free things in the Cricut Craft Room. Click on the tab at the top of the forum page & check it out. I think the mini is specifically for the craft room so should work well for you there. I haven't tried it yet. I use my Gypsy for designing. Good luck!

I finally checked out Cricut Craft Room & it seems easy enough to use. I think you will like it. I think I'll hook up one of my machines & give it a try.

Since you have the mini you have to be connected to the computer so you can get digital carts from cricut.com for a few dollars, some are just a few images but still you won't have to pay the prices that you quoted. Most ppl don't pay that much for carts. Really its not scam, all Cricut machines use cartridges.

I'm always surprised that people are surprised that the Cricut cartridge based cutting system requires cartridges.

I hope you can return it if that's what you want to do, but I think if you shop around for carts, not only will you get some of them for very little money, but you'll be happy with how easy a Cricut is to use.

I certainly get that reading the packaging may not give you all the details of a Cricut. . .like needing cartridges. But, I wouldn't buy a $100+ item without reading a little about it, checking customer reviews and comparing brands and prices at other stores and online. That's the part that surprises me.

CCR has lots of free images for the Mini & you also have the fonts & basic shapes which are free too!

I never pay full price for carts & I have about 100 regular carts & 15 Imagine carts. I go on e-bay & get them cheap!

Yes, but I think people expect packaging to state what things are needed to use the product (i.e. requires 4 AAA batteries, not included, etc.) And I think that is a realistic and probably legal expectation.

Mary

I believe you *can* get individual images, on CCR. So if you only wanted one or two images you could buy them without having the entire cart.
Of course, I think the whole cart is part of the fun- playing with different features, especially. I'm not sure if a single image bought off CCR offers all the shadows and outlines, or if it is just one shape.
Maybe I was being silly, but before I bought my E three or so years ago, I did a ton of research. I didn't have a lot of money to spend (or especially to waste), so I looked into every part of the machine- how much are mats/ blades, how often I need to replace them, how much are carts, etc...
I have eight carts, and use them a lot. I spent $20 on each (including Hello Kitty) when they were on sale. I never paid full price (HK was around $90 at the time).
I knew what I was in for when I bought the machine, and have not felt cheated or disappointed. I am sorry your experience was not as good. You can try returning it at the store you bought it at. Maybe look into a non-digital diecutter, like a cuttlebug? Although the Cuttlebug doesn't offer any size options like the Cricut. The machine would be around $60, each die about $4-$10 with alphabets running well over $100. So your investment would still be for a lot of money, only with way less options to cut. But at least you'd be buying dies instead of cartridges, if that seems like a better deal