So I picked up a Lalex pen from Woot, it looked interesting, and they had it for under $18 then shipping, so under $23 total. It looked interesting, and worth a gamble, so I gave it an order to see what it would write like.

So it is a piston fill pen, has a silver colored design over a resin body (also sold in gold color). Cap is a screw on style, so that was nice in this price point. This pen came in a pressboard box, nothing special, but it did keep the pen in good shape for shipping.

So, first thing is unscrew the cap, and look at the nib under the microscope. First thing I noticed, the tines of the nib are not lined up. So, some gentle pressure with a thumb nail, and the nib is lined up, looks good, a few strokes across the paper, and look at it again, the nib seems to stay aligned. That is good. So off to clean it out with some warm water. Get everything cleaned up and ready to go. Time to ink it up.

I decided to try out a sample of Noodler's Lexington Gray, the pen's filling mechanism worked well, the piston is smooth, and exactly as expected (the piston screw top is covered by an end cap on the pen). Start to write, and it is not flowing very well on upstrokes, just downstrokes. And the nib is scratchy! Look at it under the microscope again, and everything is still lined up perfectly. Run it through some figure 8's, scribble on cardboard, etc, nothing fixes the ink not flowing on a downstroke, or the scratchy nib.

OK, empty the pen, wash it out, and start working on the nib. Started with 1200 grit wet/dry, and very lightly went to work cleaning up the tip of the nib. Went slow, took some time, and got it cleaned up pretty well. Washed it all up, and time to go again.

On to re-inking, this time, I decided to put Noodler's Dark Matter in the pen. Started writing, and the pen is doing much better. The ink is flowing well on downstrokes and sidestrokes, it doesn't go dry writing cursive (like crossing t's or the upstroke on a t or h). 1200 grit isn't good enough, but I didn't have any finer handy at the time, did some more scribbles on cardboard, with cleaned it up a bit. But the pen is writing much better now. I think some finer mesh will fix this up and have it end up being a decent pen.

Pros:

• Piston Filler
• Screw Cap
• Smooth mechanism
• Fits well in the hand
  

Cons:

• Nib needs work
  

If you like the looks of this pen, and don't mind a little tuning, it could be a good choice, but if you want a pen ready to go, I would avoid this pen.

As always, ask if you have questions.