Thanks Mark, interesting, I read the articles by Sheila Landry which links from that site, the one on tuning especially is valuable info.
If I do go for the EX 21 it will be the Axminster model rather than Excalliber. http://www.axminster.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=ex-21
It is identical but with a couple of additions including a NV switch and is £150 cheaper to boot. It's made on the same production line in the same factory in Taiwan.
The equivilent Hegner is out of my price range unless I go to a smaller machine as I definitely want variable speed and I would need to add a quick change blade system as well though that isn't too expensive.
The confusing thing is that they have very different mechanism in that the Hegner swings the whole arm whereas the EX 21 is just the end bars. Unfornunately there's no way to put them side by side for comparison.
