Another question for those with kids returning to school. Do the schools in your area still use regular pencils or have they switched to all mechanical ones? I had to buy my neighbor kid two packs of mechanical pencils for school because she said the teachers told her they're switching to all mechanical pencils because it's too hard to have regular pencils and having to sharpen them all the time. But WHY then were the regular pencils included in the back to school sales if nobody's going to be using them? I remember a few years ago when I had to go help get them enrolled, they had a pencil dispenser, like trying to get a tampon in a ladies room, put a quarter in to get a pencil, if THAT isn't robbery I don't know what is. But this is ridiculous too.

I personally HATED mechanical pencils, I could never get used to them and the leads or whatever they use now, always broke whenever I tried writing with them. So how that's seen as an improvement over these, and what, is the school too cheap to pop for an electronic sharpener or something?

No kids in school, but I like mechanical pencils,you never have to sharpen them and I like a sharp pencil.

I've had this for years. Works great. I think a standard pencil uses .5mm lead. This is .9mm so I don't have any trouble with it breaking.

It really didn't matter to me which one I used.

My favorite kind of mechanical pencil though was the one with multiple tips, when one tip would run out, then you'd take it out, push it through the back and a fresh new tip would come out.

Mechanical were all the rage when they first became popular, but now....I really don't care. As long as it's sharpened.