I am working my way towards the PIC directly but had some projects and was a little familiar with Basic so it was an easy transition to use the Nano. I find the Nano series economically priced and they seem to do what I need. I did acquire a Pickit 2 a while back but I will need to work through the tutorials to learn how to use it. It is a some day thing..... The Nano looks like a good product but it seems like it has not caught on. The owner is good on the forum and there are a couple of very helpful users but not too much chatter. I do not know much about the PicAxe or other similar devices to compare them fairly.
Thanks
Cheers, Shawn