B.D.
I've not used the wishblade, but I absolutely love my cricut. I found a great website that sells the cartridges for much cheaper and they have sales all the time. www.customcrops.com
Get on their e-mail list and they send you an e-mail whenever they have a sale going on. In fact they are having one now, so most cartridges are under $40.
They are also having a sale on the machines too, and usually have free shipping with a machine purchase. Much better deal than anything I have seen locally.