| These are refillable mechanical pencils with .5 lead. In general I prefer mechanical pencils because they don't require sharpening, which can be a big hassle. I like .7 lead best because while it is not too thick, it is thick enough that it doesn't break too easily. The fact that these pencils have .5 lead is their only defect in my eyes. I find that .5 lead breaks too easily. I don't like mechanical pencils that aren't refillable because I feel like I'm wasting the pencil when I throw it out because there is no lead left in it. These pencils come with three sticks of lead already in them. The eraser works well. It leaves no smudges, and erases easily. To advance the lead one just pushes on the top of the pencil. The only problem I have with this pencil is one I've had with every mechanical pencil; when I use up all of the eraser, I can't put lead in easily anymore. To put more lead in I have to feed it in through the tip. Other than that, I can't see any reason to dislike these pencils. They work well and give me no reason to complain. Loggie-log-log-log |