Comments about X-Acto Self-Healing Mats:

I bought this for my Paper Cutting projects as I needed a larger size and I figured X-acto, for use with their knives, would be ideal. The self-healing properties are not anywhere close to the smaller mat I got with a very cheap circle cutter.(I threw the cutter away and only use the mat). With all of my tiny cuts, I need it to heal much better!

Comments about X-Acto Self-Healing Mats:

First off, I'm one of the people out there who research most purchases. I try to compare features that aren't normally mentioned on product pages. For instance, while shopping for an 18"x24" cutting mat I compared the obvious (color, average customer reviews, price, etc.) to the not so obvious, like layers and thickness. First off, besides the larger size, I decided I needed a cutting mat with good contrast between the guidelines and the mat itself. Until I received this mat, I was using a smaller (6"x18") Fiskars mat for my cutting needs. It handled cuts of all types fine, but the size showed it's limitation very quickly, and the orange guidelines on the dark gray background made lining up the edges of items to be cut somewhat difficult.

So after looking around at the various cutting mats available, it came down to this one, an Alvin and a Dhale. I ruled out the Alvin because I really didn't want a green mat. The dahle mats look and seem very nice, and have great reviews (in fact I have a black one on the way as well), but only the black one seemed suitable for my needs; it has a black background and light gray guidelines. The blue Dahle is nice, but I don't feel there's enough contrast between the background and the guidelines. A shame really, because blue is my favorite color. As for the transparent Dahle, they really need to give that one an overhaul, as there is nearly no contrast between the background and guidelines. Blue guidelines would make the transparent Dahle much more desirable, and more importantly, useful and functional.

So after ruling out the Alvin, and blue and transparent Dahle mats, I ordered the X-Acto. As for the cutting mat itself, it's absolutely fantastic. It's a nice light gray with light blue guidelines. The contrast is perfect. It's a 5 layer design, like most of the better brands. What really surprised me is the thickness. This cutting mat is twice that of my Fiskars.

I am completely satisfied with my purchase. If you need a good, thick, reliable cutting mat, give the X-Acto brand a good look. My Fiskars has served me well, and still has a place in my workspace, but it's taking the bench while the X-Acto becomes my front runner.