These are tried and true pencils. I have used them for years doing projects and renos. The leads stay sharp. The best things about these pencils that makes them worth the money are: 1: leads are in the actual middle of the pencil so when you sharpen them you get a consistent amount of lead all the way around as opposed to some cheap brands where only one side sharpens. 2: they conaistwntly require one attempt to sharpen where cheap brands have leads that break off in the sharpener. It should not take 3 or 4 tries to get a pencil sharp.