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I have a Hegner 18" Vir and a Hegner 22" Poly Max belt driven. I use the 22" nearly 90% of the time and love the saw. I have had it for about 16 years with only the blower going out on it. I have owned just about every Scroll saw made and if I were to buy a new saw, it would be another Hegner. Well worth the money spent

Pros 1. Design is very very simple so there is very little to go wrong. Because of the simplicity, repairs are usually possible by owner. 2. Even though a tool is required to change the blades, those with weak hands can still get the blades as tight as needed. 3. There is almost zero blade travel. Blade travel is incredibly bad if you are using spirals and going left or right. Kerf could be a wide as the travel. 4. The saw is never obsolete. The design hasn't changed significantly in 20 years (they changed the blower hose and added a table insert. New parts still fit 20 year old saws.) 5. Advanced Machinery is good although they are the only support choice (In the U.S.). 6. If you have to use a Wrench to change blades, the Tuff Wrench is great and easy on the hands 7. QuickClamp for the top clamp is Awesome! Wish it would work on my Excalibur. 8. Buy a Hegner and you get to join the cult of Hegner. Don't believe it is a cult? Keep an eye on the comments here :-) 9. Since they last forever, they stay around, and you can usually find these on Craigs list for a fraction of retail. 10. 7 year warranty on the mechanical parts of the saw. 11. Quick Tensioner upfront, quick and easy to use. Cons 1. Both of my Hegners have more vibration than my EX. Running on a concrete floor minimizes this tremendously. Another friend also has both saws and he says his Hegner and Ex have similar vibration. 2. Cost: yes it is well made, but is it not made of gold. The saw, and the parts are way way too expensive, period. 3. Uses three different blade clamps for different blade sizes. Middle size clamps work for most operations, but in my usage, they will not hold the smallest blades, requiring an additional purchase from Advanced 4. This is not a top feeding saw. You can cheat and remove one of the clamps, but the top arm does not raise enough for top feeding as we normally understand it. 5. Clamps can pop out and go flying when a blade breaks. 6. Blade changes require a tool. That said, going between holes in fretwork does not require a tool because the top QuickClamp is toolless. 7. If the Hegner does break, as rarely they do, you will have no local support options. 8. Table is much smaller than any of the high end competitors. 9. Warranty on any electronic related part is only one year. The motor alone cost more than the Dewalt 788.. ** View Fretwork bottom feed process, then stick around for blade change process: ***Read Warrantee Carefully: http://www.advmachinery.com/t-warranties.aspx

The blade insert got me problems too. Saw a suggestion somewhere to attach a playing card to the top. It has worked so far and I was a bit creative, sort of. My stepson suggesting using the Ace of Spades,so it would look 'cool'. He may have actually been right, but I will deny, deny, deny if he ever gets wind of that. LOL. Here's a pic of the updated insert.

Still on pursuit of that portable scrollsaw, this is the 9th scrollsaw I've taken home since starting this hobby,and this is the worse piece of Junk imaginable. Proxxon, you should be ashamed to ship products outside your country and tarnish the reputation of great German engineers. I was warned by a friend that these were bad, and I read the bad reviews and thought, "The saw can't possibly be that terrible." I was curious, and got it cheap on ebay. I needed a portable saw, and it is definitely portable. Summary: The design of this saw is beyond poor. This saw makes the latest Ryobi look awesome, and that is saying something. You can trust me and just take may word for it or your can read the following write-up of the suckiness. 1. Plastic Case. This really makes the saw feel cheap, but admittedly, the saw arms were more rigid than I expected. 2. Looks like motor came from a childs toy and feels weak like a toy. Didn't take much to bog it down. 3. Bottom blade holder is beyond reach of your hands, You have to remove the side panel, guide the blade down through the hole in the table, and into the hole in the shaft/clamp, while using a tool with long shaft to tighten the screw in te barell style blade clamp. Since there is a wide variance to where the blade can be clamped in, finding the center of the clamp will rely on your visibility through the side panel, which is tricky. In order to see the bottom clamp clearly, I had to turn the saw on its' side to look through the "cave like" access panel that is in the side of the saw. (Yes, really) 4. The second worse thing about this saw is the tensioning mechanism. It was crazy trying to get blades in this saw in a way that I could get enough tension. I kept having to adjust where the blades were in the clamps, then depress the clamp into the hole while trying to use their feeble tool to tighten the screw. What a mess. 5. If your doing small hobby parts or christmas ornaments, the size might be ok. I'm a coin cutter, so it was definitely big enough for that, but for most mainstream projects, the table will be way to small 6. The worst thing is that once the blade is loaded and tensioned, It cuts like crap. Seriously. There is a roller built it for stabilization, if you can believe that. If you use this saw, you will need that to make it "more" usable. Though I'm highly critical of this saw, there were a few positives. 1. The vibrations are within reason, especially at lower speeds which is surprising for a saw this light. I must mention that was without even being fastened down. Add a little mass, and magic will ensue. 2. The saw is so small, and weight was so light so you could take it anywhere. You can carry it with one finger. 3. The noise was minimal. 4. If you were using a spiral, you could use the miter gauge or other guides to make "perfect" cuts. Some folks see that as silly, I kind of like that. 5. Can cut thin Balsa with ease, and other materials with some patience (a little sarcasm) 5. If you are really looking to dissuade someone from this hobby, give them this saw as it will perform that task flawlessly. (just a bit more sarcasm) To be absolutely fair, if someone was using bigger blades on very soft wood where changing blades/tensioning task was much less frequent, this might get the job done for someone doing piddly stuff.