Reddit reviews Excelsior Mini Lathe

Solid No.

It's basically junk. This same design has been rebranded a billion times as the entry model lathe from just about every single company.

Besides that, it's not a great design either. The two steel square tubes are not great for rigidity. They have a tendency to increase vibration. The head stock / tail stock does not have any morse taper at all. Without the morse taper, you can't use accessories like pen mandrels, and drill chucks. You can still use a regular scroll chuck though. It's also not as accurate as a cast iron lathe would ever be.

The general design of the headstock and tailstock is not nearly as good/strong as other lathes. The tool rest, and tailstock do not have a cam lock, this makes tightening them incredibly annoying. Both the locks have to be turned from below, and there isn't much room for your hands. Sometimes they can't be tightened in the position you want because there's interference, when this happens you have to unscrew the handle and rotate the nut to change where the handle will end up when it's tight. This is very frustrating.

Besides all of this, it's overpriced at $300. Grizzly sold this same model for $160.

This is another rebranded model, but it's a solid design.

https://www.harborfreight.com/5-speed-bench-top-wood-lathe-65345.html

Or from Amazon, but it's more expensive. It's the exact same lathe, just different stickers. You can use a coupon and get the Harbor Freight lathe even cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/Excelsior-Mini-Lathe/dp/B001DT1MR2/ref=lp_9022386011_1_10?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1511150657&sr=1-10

Or you can get a larger lathe from Harbor Freight at basically the same price as what you were looking at. Even cheaper with a coupon.
https://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-x-33-3-8-eighth-inch-wood-lathe-with-reversible-head-34706.html

Both of those Harbor Freight lathes are well regarded around here, perfect for a newbie.

I use a Nova Comet II, it's basically the same as the benchtop model, but with an electric variable speed motor.

Thanks. I am using this. It's a decent entry level lathe. The biggest pain is changing the speed; you have to manually move the belt to a different sized wheel. Better lathes have a knob to adjust the speed. I can't complain though, I got this for 100 bucks at a garage sale.

If you want a lathe, I'd try to buy a used one. They're very sturdy and not much can be damaged on it.

For the kind of pen you linked, you'll have to carve it. The lathe is mainly for symmetrical pieces

Nope....this one I guess it was on sale when I bought it because it was only $200, so far as I remembered. Meh...maybe my memory is off a little.