This was excellent value for money. I wanted to try out watercolour pencils without spending a lot of money on high quality materials. For $5 I got this set and was able to test them. They worked nicely, and created a good watercolour effect (but with much better control than I get with actual watercolour paints). These will be excellent for learning as well as for creating base layers. At some point I may want to upgrade, but this was perfect for getting started.