The Craft Robo Pro is the big brother to the smaller A4 Craft Robo. It's a robust, heavy duty, semi-commercial machine, and if you want portability then it's certainly not the ideal choice: it looks huge if you are used to the neat little Robo. Like it's small brother the Pro has an optical eye for "print and cuts". The Pro is bigger, faster and quieter, and has a more powerful motor. You do need to make sure you've not only got space for it to sit, but that you've got enough room for the A3 carrier sheet to move at the front and behind.
Although people do use the small Craft Robo successfully for small businesses, it is really aimed at the hobby market, and the Pro is much better suited for continuous use and business purposes.
The Robo Master design software is shared by both machines; the Pro's controller software is similar but much more complex, and some options can be set directly via a control panel on the Pro itself, as well as from within the controller software. The two machines have different drivers, which means sometimes software upgrades and releases may be out of step - the Pro versions may be a little behind those for the small Robo!
Where the little Robo has a blade which has the cutting depths set by using different coloured caps, the Pro has a different blade and holder, which is adjusted for depth by turning a little blue knob on the top of the holder. There is also a second optional blade holder (with a red knob on top), and blade for heavy duty cutting. (See FAQs for suggested settings.) The Pro's much more powerful motor means that it can cut much thicker material, and cut it not only much faster, but also more quietly!
The Pro will cut paper, card, thin magnetic sheets, acetate, flex, flock, etc, also take vinyl on rolls if you wish to do this, and a small set of rollers are included for this purpose. It will additionally cut some brands/colours of (unshrunk) shrink plastic (possibly requiring two/three cuts), and Graphtec have confirmed that it is OK to cut this material. It can cut thicker media (including THIN chipboard) with the heavy duty blade set.
The Pro comes with an A3 carrier sheet but it can cut up to 15" wide; however the specifications say 375mm x 50M maximum cutting area. The carrier seems a lot flimsier than the A4 size and is rather floppy; it also seems to lose its sticky much faster than the smaller ones. Since both sizes can be used with the Pro, you can use the A4 carrier sheets for smaller items.
The green Craft Robo pen holder will also fit the Pro, but is not included. Instead a small black ink plotting pen is supplied.
The cost of consumables (holders, blades and A3 carrier sheets) are considerably more expensive than similar items for the small machine. However as the blade holders are a one-off purchase, only the blades need to be replaced.
Be aware, when comparing prices, that those for the Pro are most likely to be quoted without VAT, which is standard business practice, so please check this carefully.
Detailed specifications for both machines are provided on the Graphtec website, and the Paperthreads forum has a detailed comparison chart for most of the craft type computer cutters including the Pro and the little Robo. There is also a site dedicated specifically to the Craft Robo Pro. (See links page for URLs).