Hi Jim
I am obviously biased as I am about to sell my hegner, same model you describe, but in my opinion it is an excellent starter saw, and beyond. I don't know much about the axminster saws, I did buy one before the hegner, but it had to go back as I had problems with the clamps not holding the blades.
I like the variable speed and it is definitely useful to me on a regular basis, don't think I would like to be without it now.
As you may have seen on earlier posts, I have recently bought a multicut 2 se, and the jury is still out as to whether it was really worth the extra outlay, although I haven't used it a great deal as yet.
Whatever you decide to buy, you will be sure to have loads of fun, the variations are endless, I have been scrolling for over 4 years now and still learning new techniques and finding new patterns to intrigue me all the time. This is a nice forum and lots of help and advice available if you should ever need it
ps just notice that the axminster doesn't have a slot cut into the table, which would suggest to me that blade changing would need to be done by threading the blade up through the hole in the table, a bit on the fiddly side?