Side by Side Comparison of: School Smart vs Desert Song

I love this thing! I cannot comment about longevity but, trust me, if it doesn't hold up long I will update. It is easy to use and empty. It has an automatic stop so when my 8 year old sharpens pencils he cannot go too crazy. It works quickly and easily and leaves a nice point.The only con is it only does standard pencil diameters. I have a set of colored pencils for artwork and a few toddler/preschool fat pencils, but I can manually sharpen those bad boys. I really LOVE this sharpener and it came recommended to me from another homeschooler who has had it over a year and has used it a LOT!

I've been doing research for months, I wanted electric pencil sharpener that will sharpen a pencilwith a long point, Where I work we have all brands X-Acto 1800 1818 - they worked but eats up the pencil& some pencils are sharpened one side. I love panasonic sharpeners but are discontinued, Bostitch didn'tdo a good job & motor didn't last for heavy use from day & night workers. For $15.00 more This School Smartpencil sharpener is well made stronger motor & sturdy its sharpens the pencil faster just by pushing pencil done toa long sharp point evenly, the other sharpens above will move when you push the pencil in to sharpen it. It comeswith a bigger container that easy to remove & empty without no mess. I bought this because it has great reviewsfor lasting a long time without no problems this sharpener has Auto stop it detaches from pencil when thesharpener is done & all you hear is the motor with no more grinding the pencil without wasting the pencil.It even does red pencils with a longer point as no. 2 pencils - as for cheap pencils no. 2 may not sharpevenly but still comes to sharp point. This is a well made strong sturdy solid motor This School Smart Electric Vertical Pencil Sharpener is worth paying the extra money it will last longer.spending the 15.00 more & will last longer for heavy use then other brands.UPDATING REVIEW - 03-19-2016I'm works better than all sharpeners stronger motor, long points, you see in staples, walmart, kmart,at my job co workers & bosses have all brands pencil sharpeners come to me sharpen there pencilsto get the long sharp point - which other brands give small point, or sharpen only on 1 side of the pencili have managers & co-workers who want know where i purchased this, They want if for work & for therechildren other brands don't last long for what i was told who have children, this is solid sturdy I have 50people from day & night shift always using it & no problem still giving long even sharp points on all typepencils.Hackerr10

I bought this pencil sharpener to sharpen regular number two pencils and my assortment of prismacolor pencils. I own well over 100 colored pencils and I sharpened maybe 80 in a row before the sharpener overheated. I thought I broke it but when I read the manual I realized I just had to unplug it and let it cool down for an hour or so. I sharpened about 300 pencils that night and the sharpener was still working strong! Despite prismacolor pencils having brittle tips, the sharpener RARELY broke the tips off of them (my manual sharpener broke tips off every other time and could not get a point close to this sharpener). If you are using this sharpener for prismacolor pencils, know that it might get the tips too sharp, making them more brittle when you actually try to use them.I like my pencil tips sharp and if the end of my no. 2 pencil or HB pencil dulls even a little this sharpener gets it right up to speed in less than a second. I even had prismacolor pencils in which I cut away the wood with a knife to expose more lead but they were dull and the sharpener actually worked on those too! I've sharpened charcoal pencils, carbon pencils, from 9B to 9H drawing pencils, oil based and wax based colored pencils, regular number two pencils and even my eraser pencil and it performed perfectly on all of them.I honestly cannot praise this product enough. I guess the only con is that it is loud, the whole house can hear me sharpen a pencil but I gave that up for the quality. I have owned this sharpener for 2 months now and used it roughly everyday and it still works like a charm. I absolutely recommend it.

I was getting angry at Crayola for having such cruddy colored pencils that were splitting in half and impossible to sharpen. Then the light turned on and I realized, maybe it's the sharpeners I had that were the real problem. I was using tiny cheap manual razor blade sharpeners.I set this up and sharpened all of our colored pencils in it. They have a beautiful sharp tip. I have not sharpened one until it turned off on its own though. Just a few seconds and you get a good tip to sharpen with. If you sharpen it too much, it's so pointy that it breaks a couple of times when you start writing with it.One of our pencils was so damaged and split that this wasn't working on it. I had to try to cut the pencil which I didn't do well with, and I ended up with a pencil that's 1/3 the size of the rest. I just pulled out a ruler - a fully sharpened pencil from tip to where the top of the device is measures 2" - so anything 2" or less will be too short for this, you won't have anything to hold and pull it out with when you sharpen it. 2.75-3" would be minimum.While sharpening several pencils, the top of a pencil fell out and I was afraid it was stuck inside. I took the shavings container off - the lead had fallen into it - great, but the shavings were more like dust (messy) and then I had trouble with it staying on while I finished all the pencils. I emptied it when I was done, and the container snaps on tight, which I think I had failed to do among all the mess. I am not having any problems with the auto-stop or anything.I am very happy with this purchase and so thrilled to have such a nice sharpener in my home!!! I would buy it again.

I am using this sharpener in a third grade classroom. Right now we only have manual wall sharpeners. I have trouble sharpening pencils with any speed at all on those wall sharpeners, and the kids really even have trouble turning the handles. Since I am the one paying for this one, I am not letting the kids use it, so I can't speak to how it will hold up if kids use it, but I love it for myself. It sharpens amazingly fast. I have yet to come across a pencil it won't sharpen. These days the kids bring in many cheap pencils that just won't sharpen on many sharpeners. The lead breaks off constantly as you sharpen. Another teacher came in and borrowed this one and was amazed that it sharpened so quickly and sharpened everything. I can sharpen pencils for the whole class very quickly. I am very happy with my choice.

I love this pencil sharpener. It gives a sharp point and quickly shrpens new pencils. It does need to be emptied often but no a problem. It has survived classroom use better then any electric sharpener I've ever had. I even bought a second one for my house it works so well!

My regular plugin type would overheat after about 5 pencils and stop. After many years the main gear broke. Looked around for something that runs on battery, but most seemed under powered or looked like a manual sharpener on a spinner. There are other's that look alike, but this one had plenty good reviews and I went for it.Reasons for 5stars:-Nice high output adapter is 1.5A. Though it's 6V, it may be able to power other protected USB devices.-Multiple settings can be set in between the 3 options given, and you don't have to push down much.-The sharpest is finer than needle point. Which can be dangerous. Adjust down if needed.-The timing estimated is false. You can sharpen in 3 seconds...-Sharpens OLD, and I mean OLD, pencils where the point would immediately break if using a manual sharpener. Only a helical cutter would sharpen these.-Can be powered by anything USB-5V including your TV. The ports on laptops are generally 5V@500mA so it runs a little slower, but still does the job if not pressured too much.-The battery compartment is not used in my setup, but is a handy capability if needed.-Clear shaving bin comes off and goes on easily.-Packaging is a nice storage case.-Great price compared to plugins.-I wouldn't say "quiet". More like "quieter".-Nice rounded feel and sized well. Total size, with adapter and wire, in the case takes up half the foot print of my old junked plugin type.-Plenty colours to choose from.My only concern is the plastic ring gear, but other from that it's good under normal use.

works as advertised. watch yourself, one can overdo the sharpening. ***UPDATE 1/8/16. I'm finding that I have to hold more tightly onto any colored pencil having an off -center core. The sharpened points are perfect for writing and for coloring tiny areas.I'm able to get great color from my Sargent Art pencils in my new Johanna Brasford coloring book!would recommend using ac/dc cord unless necessary to remove.would NOT recommend for a classroom of children under the age of 14.would like to have the option of removing/replacing sharpening blade.

This product has been a life-saver for my family, me, and my hands! With three kids, we are constantly trying to find a sharpened pencil to get homework done or to color with colored pencils. Usually if we find a pencil, we can never find our small manual sharpener. It's. A. Pain. I was the first, and probably most excited, to use this new electric sharpener when it arrived. It comes with a USB cable, that can plug into a computer, or into the AC adapter that is included. It also takes batteries, so very portable. (We haven't tried sharpening while using battery power, but I'm sure it's just as effective). It has three sharpening settings: blunt, semi-sharp, and sharp. I like mine sharp! But for the boys I usually use blunt so the point doesn't break as easily. Once powered, you just stick the pencil in the opening, and within seconds you have a perfectly sharpened pencil. You can actually hear when it's done sharpening, although the blade will continue to run. One of the things I love most about this sharpener, besides it's compactness and ease of use, is the safety feature which prohibits the blade from working if the cover is off (like when you need to discard the shavings). This is a great feature for my family with two toddlers who are constantly trying to be "big boys", and could really hurt themselves if they figured out how to get the cover off! Overall, this was a great purchase!

One of the problems that comes with using colored pencils is finding good pencil sharpeners. One writer said to always have TWO- one electric and one battery operated. They also noted you would need two because one would ALWAYS break down just when you are in the middle of doing something. How true! This little machine has handled both my Prismacolor AND my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils with outstanding results. The points are needle-sharp AND it allows me to use either the batteries or the AC adapter. It may NOT be able to handle some of the thicker pencils (I haven't tried them yet), and I am certain it WILL break down at some time. But, for now, given its price and outstanding results I am well pleased with this little machine. Oh, and I sharpen my pencils once a minute, as instructed by a teacher, so it's getting a workout. To prolong its life I always put through a few graphite pencils each day to clean out the wax/oil pigments.

I absolutely love this sharpener. I recently got into adult coloring and watercolor pencil art. Have spent far too much money on sharpeners that did not live up to expectations. This is the best sharpener around for coloring pencils, watercolor pencils, etc.

My grandkids love it. Let me tell you, they are very into coloring pencils and sketching. The sharpener gets a workout and keeps on going. I like that you can vary the sharpness. That feature actually does work. Also the sharpener will not mindlessly grind the pencil down to a nub. When the pencil is sharp it stops grinding.It does not eat batteries which is another nice feature. The shavings cup is fiddly to get off but if you train the child to hold the sharpener well into the trash can while opening it there should be no disasters.Of course this sharpener works just as well when an adult uses it. It gets the pencil sharpened as evenly as on hundred dollar sharpeners and, believe me, I have tried them. It is not perfect, but it is as good as the best and better than most.

This does exactly what it says. It sharpens pencils insanely fast and keeps the lead centered.It is not always good about automatically stopping, which costs it a star although I would only take away half a star if I could. I've chewed through a couple pencils accidentally because it didn't stop.

Read a lot of review and all e sharpeners have some issues. Finally decided on this one. This thing is strong and fast. Had to sharpen about 200 pencils for the kids. No problem and fast. I had one issue as the bin gets full pretty quickly. It stopped working. I cleaned the bin and it would not work. Basically, something was stuck somewhere. Eventually got it cleaned and it has been working fine since. Just make sure to keep the bin from getting too full.

I'm a teacher, and I go through electrical sharpeners like nobody's business. Most are just not sturdy enough for use by a class of 30 students who mostly don't take care of things. This one lasts longer than others, surprisingly, because it doesn't look as sturdy as other sharpeners. I have bought three of these. One has lasted me two years (amazing!), one just lasted one year (not bad), and I just purchased another one. I've bought several other brands - X-Acto, Bostitch, and Staples, and none even made it through the year.Other pros: sharpens pencils well every time, not too loud, never breaks pencils, and compact in size. Last year I taught math to a group of student from another classroom, and they would sharpen their pencils on their way out of my classroom!Now if I could just find a stapler that could withstand 6th graders...

Purchased this sharpener for my art pencils. It worked GREAT on my Derwent watercolor 3.8mm core pencils (these are the "old" style that is included with the box set not the newer thicker pencils included in the tins with the flimsy trays). My Faber-Castell Polychromos 4mm core pencils did well; however, they did not fit in as easily as the watercolor pencils but they never got stuck and the outer paint of the pencil was not scratched or damaged. This sharpener DOES NOT work well with the thicker Derwent pencils. My Derwent Artist pencils and my Derwent Inktense pencils pretty much had to be forced in, would sometimes jam, and the outer paint of the pencil ended up being chipped and scrated. Since lubing them up with KY jelly is not a solution, I am going to try try and find a sharpener, probably one offered by Derwent, that will work on their fat pencils. Difficult to color in tight places when I can never get anything by a mildly sharp point on any of their pencils.

So far this pencil has pretty much lived up to the overall reviews that were posted on amazon. The one feature that doesn't work on mine is the auto stop. It doesn't stop when the pencil is sharp. Not a big deal for an 8th grade teacher but for some others it might be a problem. It sharpens quickly and at an acceptable noise level. I look forward to years of sharpening. I have students every hour sharpen pencils daily so it gets a workout. If it last 3 years I will be happy. The only other downside it the shaving holder. When you take it out you really have to be over a trash can as shavings go everywhere if you don't. I have had it for about a month and already it has probably been used 1000 times.Update: I've now had this for about 2 school years ans it is still working good. Worth the price I paid.

I have gone through numerous pencil sharpeners both manual and electric.I could never find one I truly liked because they were all ok to start with and then failed as time went on. Other sharpeners that I have used could never give me a pointy pencil. And in color pencils, many broke the tip so the colored tips just break off and it wouldn't be smoothly sharpened.This electric sharpener right out of the box sharpened pencils and color pencils fast and perfectly. They all had very clean and sharp points as I would expect.I had a ton of pencil and color pencils to sharpen and I was able to sharpen about 20 and the sharpener stopped sharpening (over heating). That is expected of all electronic sharpeners.After a cool down it continued to sharpen about 10 more and then I was done.All sharpened perfectly without any hitch. I did empty out the bin during the cool down period.I couldn't give it 5 stars because it does need improvement.1-It looked big when put together but when you actually take the shaving bin out, it isn't that big. And 30 probably would have been the limit before having to empty it.2-The shaving bin does NOT sit flush with the sharpener. There is a slight gap along the top of the shaving bin. When sharpening, some of the smaller shavings get flung upwards came out.Other than that, for normal use I probably wouldn't be sharpening so many at once so hopefully this will last me a looooooong time.If anything changes, I will definitely update this post... otherwise, I am absolutely satisfied for the first time ever with a pencil sharpener.

Fast and makes a very sharp point for my coloured pencils. But it is definately not quiet. That's the reason I didn't give it 5 starts

Use for sharpening colored pencils for coloring. Very good quality, compact size. The Sharp setting isn't as a sharp point as I'd like, but it could the the colored pencils I'm using.

It's nothing out of the ordinary. It does the job and doesn't take up a lot of room.

Bought to sharpen colored pencils for Adult Coloring Books.

Sharpener works well. Larger colored pencils do not fit in hole however (they did in my old Costco sharpener). Standard size pencils are no problem.

Nice and portable. I am using it at home as well as for Sunday school. I recommend this product.

I purchased this sharpener in August 2014 and it died October 2016. While it worked, it sharpened quickly and without mess. This was used a couple of times a week for two years by our family of four, nothing excessive, but then just stopped working for no apparent reason. I believe there also is supposed to be an automatic shutoff that kicks in once a pencil is fully sharpened, but that feature never worked for us –it only shut off when the pencil was manually removed. I'm not sure this sharpener will work for long if used in a classroom setting. Spent a bit more on this one hoping it would last, but the few extra bucks didn't help.

I have purchased two of these units over 6 months (one for the office and one for home use.) Both have the exact same issue: they don't sharpen the pencil evenly. This is not a deal breaker to me, just an annoyance.Additionally I find that these sharpeners cut the pencil at a shallow angle which causes the pencil point to be very fine or sharp. This causes the graphite to crumble when using the pencil unless one is extremely gentle. Again, not a deal breaker.Otherwise these sharpeners are solid-feeling, and have a powerful motor which sharpens a pencil in about 2 seconds. So far mine are working fine and I have no complaints about reliability.

I bought this to sharpen my color pencils after looking at a review online. It does work well, but not as well as I wanted it to. It does exactly what I expected (and was afraid of), it sharpens well enough, but it does seem to "eat" a lot of your pencil. Now, don't get me wrong: MOST of the electric sharpeners will do exactly that. The problem is that I use a lot of expensive pencils and I just had to be careful not to "over sharpen them" and lose all of that money. Anyway, the sharpener does well, it is a little tight for the watercolor pencils from Derwent, but it works GREAT with Polychromes from Faber-Castell.I have a feeling that it will depend on my budget on how much I use the sharpener or not.In the picture, the two pencils to the left: Derwent Inktense and Faber-Castell polychromes were sharpened with the electric sharpener. The one on the right was done with a hand-held sharpener.

I give this a 5 star for sharpening regular pencils and Prismacolor Colored Pencils. But and it's a big but no other pencils fit into this machine. That's why its a 3. None of the other common color pencils fit and some are just a hair bigger. I would've thought there would be some wiggle room for those that are a little bigger. The best sharpener is a hand sharpener with and adjustable head, but takes too much time when working.This is a good brand, and sharpens to a super point, just look for one you can put different sizes in if you need it. My mistake!

I bought this because we were using hand-turn sharpeners that seemed to only sharpen one side of the pencil and the other would have the wood down to the tip. While this doesn't do that exactly, it doesn't create an even cut of wood around the tip like I thought it would for the price. Also, it only has 1 size at the top so only "regular" pencils fit. We have some "fatter" pencils for my young son that I still have to use the hand sharpener for.

Awesome unit, heavy weight, sturdy, sharp and effective, a lot of sharpener for the money. Cannot believe they would put all the effort into such a decent unit and then fall so short on the shavings container door locking mechanism. The shavings door pops open as soon as you begin sharpening. As soon as the door opens, the safety mechanism stops the motor. Very annoying, could have used a bit of QA testing.Improve the door locking tab design and to me this is a perfect unit. It sucks my brand new opener has a thick rubber band keeping the door shut during operation. Deciding if it's worth the hassle to return or keep and deal with it. Consider this before you buy it for yourself.

Does NOT sharpen in 3 lengths as advertised. Broke some pencils by sharpening too fast. Love the color but the sharpener is not doing what it's supposed to.

Stopped working the same day I got it. did great while it worked. Will return and give a 2nd chance.

I am a teacher. This lasted 4 months in my classroom. Disappointed.

Not exactly quiet but works well.

It's a good sharpener but not a great one and it's definitely NOT quiet for the classroom. But it serves its purpose.

Good product. Not as quiet as I hoped. But works.

Have had this two years but only used sporadically, which I imagine is pretty typical. A week ago it stopped working, the mechanism still turns so nothing is jammed but it just doesn't work.

Worked really well all year (I teach 1st grade) and now with only two months left to go it's dead :( I am the only one that uses it, not the kids, so I know it wasn't user error. Bummed.

I bought it for my colored pencils based on positive reviews I read here. I find that it eats pencils and sharpens unevenly .Update: I have completely stopped using this sharpener due to excessive and uneven cut. I purchased it based on positive reviews on this website.I do not recommend this sharpener for colored pencil art. A simple Alvin bullet hand held sharpener is much better and cheaper.

I purchased this sharpener for use in a school library. I bought it in June in time for finals, then it was used just this school year. It has already died. My engineer-mechanic husband took it apart to see if he could fix it, but no luck.

It has some nice features--gets the pencil really sharp, holds lots of shavings and doesn't take up much room--but it is totally annoying since the point on the pencil isn't centered. I've rotated the pencils every which way and tried lots of different pencils. The results are always off the same way. It is far enough off that sometimes the pencil wood sticks out beyond the graphite.I wrote the company. They got right back to me. They let me know that the centering isn't adjustable and I should just send it back either for a refund or an exchange. They say that most are centered just right.It is hard to invest much time in a $20 sharpener. I'm going to try one from someone else.I won't say "Don't buy it." I hope you are luckier than I was.

I had high hopes for this sharpener despite a few concerning reviews. How a company builds a nice sharpener in every way except how good it sharpens is beyond me. We tried 3 different pencils and got the exact results on each one. It would sharpen one side of the pencil really good - but the otherside is all wood. Therefore, you have to turn the pencil by hand to try to get all sides sharpened. The result is you waste a lot of pencil trying to get a good cut. Horrific quality control I guess. One review I read complained about that the sharpener is extremely loud. This is true as well. I initiated a return within about 10 minutes of opening it up.

I bought one Desert Song Pencil Sharpener in black, which lasted a couple weeks until one of my students knocked it off the shelf and broke it. Because the sharpener seemed to work quite well, I ordered a second one in blue. This sharpener has been much weaker than the first one almost from the start. The blue desert song sharpener doesn't sharpen pencils evenly. Lead breaks off easily and quickly IN the sharpener, so that if I go to sharpen several pencils, most inadvertently come out dull because the sharpener already has lead in the tip. I have been extremely disappointed because the first one seemed so super.As a positive, and the reason that this isn't 1 star, is that the Desert Song will sharpen colored pencils quite well. However, as a day-to-day sharpener, this model falls flat.

It was working fine like advertised for the first three months and then it stopped working. Somehow we managed to make it work, but it always stops halfway and never finishes sharpening the pencil. You have to take the pencil out and back in for it to rotate again, but just for a little bit. Then you have to do it again and again until the pencil is sharpened...It literally drives me crazy! I would not recommend it to others.

I sharpened 32 pencils and then it wouldn't sharpen again. When putting the pencil in it would break off the point that was already there. Returned.

Reviews on Amazon generally can be trusted, so I have to think I got a defective model. Well, obviously I did. Right out of the box, the sharpener made buzzing sound with a pencil inserted, but nothing moved. Some shaking, prodding and pencil twerking finally produced some action -- but the results weren't great. One -- it kept stalling. The pencils came out one-sided. The shavings container wouldn't stay in place. So this one goes back...

I purchased this electric pencil sharpener in Oct. 2015. It worked for 8 months, and now it doesn't work at all. I don't usually write reviews, but I work at a church and it doesn't get used very often. Very sad that I have to go purchase another one and waste more money. I had read all the good reviews, I assumed I would get a longer life out of it. Things are not made the way they use to be.

Was great for about 5 weeks and now is just awful. Won't sharpen anything. VERY disappointed. Other teachers in the school have this and it's worked fine for them for a long time. I must have gotten a lemon and it went bad right after the return window :( Would be nice if they'd still replace...

I ordered this as a Christmas gift for my daughter. After just over a month of limited use it no longer works. I just checked to see if I could return it and I am not able to. Very disappointed for the money I spent.

Disappointingly, this sharpener did not live up to the many 5 star reviews it received. It was extremely noisy. The pencils barely fit into the opening -- hexagonal pencils (as opposed to round) had to be put in just right for the sharpener to accept them. There is only one choice regarding size of the opening, so there was no way to work around it. The sharpener started grinding away loudly the second I put the pencil in (before it got anywhere near the blade)and took forever to sharpen a new (unsharpened) pencil. Saving the worst for last, the pencils had very little lead showing (mostly wood), and often had wood coming all the way down to the tip on one side, so the pencil was unusable. I returned this product and am still shopping for a better one.

I bought this item because of the great reviews. It worked very well for a month until it broke. There is nothing jammed in there and the container is empty. I'm a teacher and I am very upset that I have to spend my own money on another pencil sharpener. Very disappointed.

I bought this pencil sharpener for my colored pencils based on the reviews. I only used it several times and then due to my busy schedule couldn't use my pencils for at least 6 months. When I went to use the sharpener again it wouldn't work at all! VERY DISAPPOINTED as it was stored in an area that was safe and there was nothing done to it for it to just quit working.

I'm quite disappointed in this product. It worked a few times. I bought this in January and now it's July, it worked a couple of weeks ago and suddenly a few days ago and again today I tried to plug it in and use it, and it would not work. I know the outlet is working fine and I tried multiple outlets that I use on a daily basis that work fine, but the sharpener no longer works. I've only used it a handful of times, I can count how many times on one hand, that's how little I used it since purchasing the sharpener. It didn't even sharpen a blunt too when I wanted it to, it was always sharp, but I kept it anyway, because it still worked...it no longer works after 5 times of use in 6 months, so I'm very disappointed in this product.

I am a teacher. I purchased this for my class based on all of the positive reviews. I saved it to use for testing week. On day 1, I sharpened 1 pencil. On day 2, I sharpened 18 pencils. On day 3 (today), I cannot sharpen ANY pencils. It is not the electric outlet (I tried 2 others). It is not because it is open (housing is completely sealed). So, it is either defective or just a poorly made sharpener. I do not recommend this product and will be returning it.

was missing parts and didnt work. had to trash it

We bought this product for an elementary school and it did not even last one week before the motor burned out. Very disappointing since it says it's is a high powered motor specifically for colored pencils.

This pencil sharpener does not sharpen pencil at all. It does not matter what level I set.