We go through a box of 96 ct. pencils every 3 months (4 kids in elementary school). Here's the thing, there are some really good pencil sharpeners out there, but at the end of the day, if you buy good pencils, any newer sharpener will work well. The one I use, today, cost me $6.00 at Office Max last September. It's a motorized, battery operated, sharpener but the sharpener part is one of those cheap, plastic, single blade deals. It's set at a good angle and when it goes dull -- like they all do -- in about 6 months or so, I'll throw it out and spend another $6.00. If I put any pencil in this thing that's lower quality than the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils I buy, the lead snaps off before it gets sharp, but I've never had that happen with anything at least of that quality. And I won't pay more than $6.00 because regardless of how much I've spent on a sharpener (my last was about $50), they go dull in about year and have to be thrown out.