time for my shop to buy a plotter, our intended use will be cutting custom stencils, and camp stencils. I've been reading up on this but I'm curious what everyone else is using. Any suggestions. Tips. Things to stay away from?

I don't have a shop  so the plotter I have is not top of the line or anything .
I just make decals for cars and stuff  and coloring books for my daughter with the pen instead of knife but I have a 34 inch MH series with stand  that I bought from uscutters I'm very happy with it and their customer service and the software that came with my package works very well and is not a sample or limited trial it came with a full lifetime product key with future updates included . they do sell Roland's and Graphtec if you want a name brand  but I have nothing bad to say about my plotter that I use constantly and its already paid for itself in under 4 months of use . I may add a second plotter that does contour cutting but here is a buying guide

How complex of designs can those two plotters cut? Are you limited to basic block letters and hexagonal designs or are more intricate designs possible? Thanks! Does the software allow you to import images?

Silhouette Portrait

It has SW that allows you to trace an image. It takes some time to do but it's not that difficult. Just about anything is possible.
I've use it to make vinyl stencils for etching and graphics for other projects. They have a store with ready made graphics you can buy if you want. I never used any though.

Here is one project I used it on.  

my mh series has cut everything I have thrown at it ill see if I can upload some pics later. on some of the more complex designs at most I had to do was slow down the cut speed to make sure I got the detail I wanted ... like sharp edge with no round offs of points . you would have to do this with any machine you have to give the blade time to pivot in the holder .

and this is what I meant by Contour cutting is the process of printing an image, or set of images, and then using a specialized device to cut portions of that image, for example, printing and cutting cartoon character stickers on a self-adhesive media...its cutting out ink printed images

Thanks all, next question, recommendations on vinyl that stands up to baking? Appreciate all the responses!