Others say...

"Died after one month"
It was great while it lasted. Small, sleek, did the job. But that was only one month - then for no diagnosable reason, it stopped sharpening and would only make a loud, whirring noise and break off the tips of the pencils. Changed batteries, cleaned blades, nothing worked. Not sure why the technology of the pencil sharpener should be so difficult.

"Not durable"
It broke after six months under normal usage. This seems like a good product out of the box, but it has a serious design flaw. The hardened spiral cutters sharpen well, but the cheap plastic gears driving the cutters aren't meant for the long haul.

"Great Design, Poor Quality Components"
I got this to sharpen my daughter's colored pencils, which she breaks constantly. It worked perfectly, sharpening the pencils quickly and easily and putting a very fine point on them every time. Then, after a few dozen uses, it suddenly broke, in exactly the same way many of the other low-scoring reviews have described: the motor runs, but the blades no longer turn.

Dismantling it, I quickly found the culprit. The motor connects to the blades through a series of three small gears, all of which are made of low-grade plastic. Unsurprisingly, the torque had quickly stripped the smallest of these gears, which obviously should have been made of metal (or at least stronger plastic).

Panasonic's customer service department was surprisingly responsive when I called them, but they no longer make this product or stock parts for it, so they referred me to an appliance repair supplier. Neither that supplier nor any other hardware vendor I tried carries this nonstandard gear. The device is essentially unfixable, and the $20 I spent on it is wasted.

I suspect that Panasonic may have switched to the cheap gears later in the production run, explaining why many people rave about this otherwise well-designed device. It may have been a great buy once, but I strongly advise avoiding it now.

"great sharpener"
This sharpener works well, I have sharpened many pencils and it works great every time. My kids can even work it well. The battery life is long in this as well.

"Works great!"
I bought this for sharpening colored pencils for my artwork. It is of much better quality than most of the other battery operated sharpeners I've seen. It consistently produces a smooth, very sharp point without breaking off the pencil or chewing it up. It has plenty of power to do the job, despite being battery operated.