Disclaimer: This review was conducted by Suzy Goodyear. This item was purchased by me as part of my personal collection. Some of the links below are associated with affiliate programs which provide me with a small commission from any orders you may place. This will not affect the price or quality of products you receive but will assist me with the costs involved in running this site. For more details please see our Disclosure Statement.
Basic Description
Dats ® Coloured Pencils are wax based pencils with a round barrel shape. They are sold in a maximum of 36 count packets generally at the discount stores in Australia eg Overflow, Sam’s Warehouse, Choice, etc.
Pros
- Inexpensive pencils
- Pencils are light to hold
- Good color range
Cons
- Inconsistent color laydown across the pencils in the set
- Can feel “scratchy” on the paper
- Some feel overly waxy and it appears more wax than color pigment is being applied to the paper
- Produces some pencil dust when coloring
- Colors are quite muted almost impossible to get vibrant color even if hard pressure is applied while coloring
- Need hard pressure to apply color for some pencils in the set
- No name or number of color printed on barrel
- Color on the pencil barrel is not a very accurate indicator of the color of the pigment
- Wood on the pencil barrel can catch on the blade of sharpeners making these pencils more difficult to sharpen
Price Range
- $ – typically AUD $5.00 / US $3.75 / £2.60 / €3.30 or less
Conclusion / Recommendations
- A cheap starter pack of coloured pencils with a reasonable color range
- These pencils do require a lot of pressure to get the best out of them so if you have any fine motor, hand or arm problems these may not be the best option