I'm sorry but I won't waste money on poor quality colored pencils. Like others I also use Prismacolor with students. The Art Stix are good, too. I don't have the time or energy to sharpen them :-), so I teach them how! We use hand sharpeners at the table and we do use xacto knives, also. They are in plastic containers and the lids can be used to keep loose ones from rolling off the table.
creatively,
Linda Kieling
(middle school in Oregon)