Amazon Basics Pre-sharpened Wood Cased #2 HB Pencils
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2016', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "At the end of the school year, I always buy a pack of pencils to replenish my depleted stock. (I teach 7th and 8th grade English). Last year, I bought 144 golf pencils for about $8. It was a great investment, because a lot of times, I have kids who ALWAYS forget a pencil. They aren’t the ones who necessarily need a pencil, because more often than not, they would lose the pencil again before they made a mistake. However, despite having 144 of them, I ran out in late April, with about two months still left in the school year. I will buy another pack of those golf pencils for the students who perpetually borrow a pencil, but I quickly learned that every so often, I had a student who really needed a pencil, but wasn’t someone who made a habit of bringing nothing to class. Likewise, these were students were the ones who didn’t need it for a few periods, but truly needed a new pencil for them to keep for weeks. Unfortunately, I didn't have any “real” pencils, and when I saw these AmazonBasic pencils on sale (96 for about $6 – regularly they’re less than $8), I knew I needed these as well.\n\nI’m actually really picky about my own personal pencils. I have a favorite brand, and I have a favorite brand of erasers to put on them. Nevertheless, I was really excited to try out these pencils because although they didn't have the price tag of a Dixon-Ticonderoga, they still worked really well.\n\nQUALITY:\n\nThese are just your every day, basic pencils, but that’s how I like mine. I hate pencils with that plastic film with a design printed on them. With “cute” pencils, you aren’t paying for the pencil, you’re paying for whatever logo is on it (like Frozen or Star Wars). When you sharpen those ones for the first time, the film splits and then the cute design ends up peeling off. However, these AmazonBasics pencils were easy to sharpen, and they were nice to write with. Sometimes, pencils are prone to have the graphite split so there is a strange press on the paper, resulting in “double” writing. I wrote for a bit with the pencil and even as it dulled, it still wrote nicely. You can note a small letter I wrote to test it; it is the third image.\n\nERASER:\n\nAnother thing I hate about cheap pencils is the garbage erasers. As a teacher, I write most things in pen, but I always do my grade book in pencil. If a student turns in something late, I need to erase the previous grade to change it, and I can’t stand having left over marks from a bad eraser. Now, as I mentioned, I have one specific brand of erasers which are honestly God’s gift to humanity, and I always slap one of those bad boys on my pencils, but this really wasn’t bad as far as erasers go. I mean, it was still obvious that I made a mistake, but I also press into the paper like I’m trying to cut a hole into the table underneath. I write DARK. I have many students who press lightly. As well, if I were drawing, I would draw lighter. In the third picture attached to this review, there are two instances of erasing. The first is over “film” in fourth line in the first paragraph. The other is the second paragraph, titled “Eraser test.” As I mentioned, I write so dark that it’s difficult to erase to the point where it doesn’t appear that there was a mistake at all, but I also think your average person wouldn’t mind. I can clearly make out what is written over the erased bits, and no annoying parts of the eraser were left behind (like a giant pink smudge… Ugh, I hate that the most).\n\nSMUDGE TEST:\n\nSpeaking of smudges, I don’t frequently smudge my pencil work because I’m right handed. However, I have left handed students who turn in work that is barely legible because they drag their hand throughout their writing constantly. Thinking of them, I wanted to test out how badly the graphite smudged on a hand. The results are the fourth picture. Now, this wasn’t just me carefully dragging my hand over the paper; I really pressed, TRYING to smudge the words. And yeah, I did smudge it a bit, and yeah, I did get some graphite on my hand. However, this is NOTHING compared to some of the other pencils I’ve seen. As you can see from my hand, it was minor, considering I was literally pressing hard on the paper, trying to get the graphite on my hand.\n\nOVERALL:\n\nThe bottom line is that a 12 pack of any type of pencils can go for over $2. In fact, a lot of times the “cute” pencils are the most expensive, but they’re the worst as far as quality. If looks aren’t a thing you care about, but do care about quality, these are the best deal. A 96 pack of Ticonderoga pencils can range from $14-$20 (depending on packaging and color and where you’re buying them). I always use Ticonderogas as the standard for the perfect pencil because I used them throughout my childhood; my mother was literally born in Ticonderoga, NY. However, the AmazonBasics are the best bang for your buck. Are they cute? Is your kid going to be inspired by the cool Frozen or Star Wars logo? No. Because this is a standard, BASIC pencil. They’re just yellow. But to be honest, those “cool looking” pencils always lack quality compared to something like this. The simplicity is what makes these pencils so great; they’re just pencils. They know their function, and they get the job done. These are definitely going to be my “good” pencils from now on, especially to give out to kids who really are responsible with their supplies."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': "Great price for order decent pencils although I'm a pencil snob. I purchased these for my children's classrooms, and the students will likely use them up quickly, bite the end off in day one, and never notice any small flaws.\n\nThe erasers are a bit wobbly compared to my favorite brand pencil. This may cause the eraser to break off with young students vigorous erasing. They also don't sharpen quite as smoothly in the electric sharpener. My picture shows the Amazon pencil on the right with more of a rough cut wood. The Ticonderoga is the left pencil which sharpens easier. Lastly, I had to press the pencil slightly harder in paper than my favorite pencil to get the same look. However, these Amazon pencils are way better than most other store pencils and better than all dollar store pencils."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I got these pre-sharpened pencils for convenience, because 50% of my kids don’t bring pencils, and waiting for them all to sharpen new pencils is excruciating. The pencils are great for that. However, when they get dull and I attempt to sharpen them (in a hand-crank sharpener—my electric one broke earlier this year) they do that infuriating thing where the lead breaks/falls out and the wooden part sharpens at an angle, over and over. Super frustrating.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'As a teacher I need pencils to last, the first pencil I sharpened went down to less than half. It’s less than half and still it’s not sharp—it broke again.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I'm very impressed with these pencils. Being a Math teacher we go through a lot of pencils. On a side note I'm a true pencil snob.... love my Ticonderoga pencils keeping those pencils for testing only. Definitely buying more Amazon pencils and the eraser is not bad at all. It erased completely didn't leave that annoying smudge."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I was so excited to buy these for my classroom, but I would never do it again. They will not sharpen in the wall mounted hand cranked sharpener, which is what the students typically use. It just chews them up. Even when I use my heavy duty electric sharpener there are problems, mostly because you often get sharp wood but no lead because it is off-centered. I am so disappointed. I was trying to make my life easier, but these definitely didn’t help!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': "These are not great. The lead breaks constantly. I always check the lead before giving it to a student--it would break. I'd sharpen again. Another broken lead... I'd finally get the lead to not break when I tested it, but the student would be back again minutes later with broken lead. Now I have 150 pencils that are not useful for the classroom. So frustrating!"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2016', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I teach at an inner city school and we have very few supplies, including pencils. Even though they cost a lot, I usually get Ticonderoga pencils because they hold up, but I decided to give these a try because they are so inexpensive. We've been using them for about 2 months now (about 50 kids) and they have held up really well. They don't need to be sharpened until the point wears down, the lead does not just fall out like it does with some other inexpensive pencils. These have been a lifesaver."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'These sticks are awesome! I bought them for my boys to use as daggers since they are already sharpened. As one of them went to slash the wall, it left a gray streak as if to say, "Ace was here" Later we realized that the sharp end would also leave the same grey streak on all types of cardboard, wood, paper and canvas. Awesome product, I know, but I am about to blow your mind. While my kids were using the pink end made for rub burns they found out that if you rub it against the gray streaks, they magically DISAPPEAR! I know this is crazy! It\'s like a box of 150 little stabbing time machines! I can\'t wait to buy more when my homeschoolers run out of these.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "These are really bad.\n\nI just got these in the mail and I’m sitting here using an electric pencil sharpener on them, sharpening them for my kids school supply lists. I never thought I’d write a review on pencils, but these are so bad I had to pause to write a review.\n\nIncluded is a picture of the Amazon pencils (first pic, the badly sharpened ones) and then a picture of cheap grocery store pencils (the great looking ones) I’m sharpening with the same electric sharpener at the same time. Massive difference.\n\nI feel bad even giving these to my kids teachers, I'm returning them. :/"}]