The Craftex brand is not a bad brand. From much that I have heard, I would put them on par with Grizzley in the States. If budget is not an issue, I would point you at a Oneway1224 in a heart beat.
The CX814 looks like it is easily equal to the Rikon. The add on extension is a nice add on. If you are just looking to get a small lathe to start your introduction to pen making, and budget is a concern, you might consider the King 1218V. It is a couple of hundred cheaper. It's available at Marks Machinery in the west end of Kanata.
Marks Machinery - Eastern Ontario's most reliable source of new and used machinery.
www.marksmach.com
I helped another guy in Ottawa get started in pens recently
@MJS613 , and he went with the King. So far he's happy with it. His final decision was based on price, because of all the extras that you will need.
If the budget allowed, I would likely go for the Craftex because of its larger capacity. The bed extension is nice, but its to bad you couldn't get $200 in tooling instead.
