Yes, they put down thin color, instead of the rich color like the soft lead; But they aren't supposed to be used for large areas of color

The harder the lead, the more brittle it will be, but this is pretty ridiculous

The lead was broken in several of them

After I sharpened them there are 11 of them that are a lot shorter than they should be since the lead kept breaking

Like the stronger leads

before I can EVEN PUT IT ON PAPER, the lead falls out

but these are your soft prismacolor pencils very hard lead great for outlining

They are hard to sharpen, the soft lead breaks constantly and the colors are not brilliant as advertised.

I purchased the set because they are supposed to be a hard lead, however they have broken too much while sharpening.

the lead breaks all the time

The leads are a lot harder than the Premier soft core and the Scholars

The lead keeps breaking and falling out

trying to sharpen the pencils, the lead breaks off almost every color.

The lead keeps breaking while sharpening and while coloring

These are very good hard leads for outlining

Unlike the soft lead version, these are for detailing areas where the soft lead would ruin detail

I also hate the wood they are made of making it difficult to sharpen without breaking the lead repeatedly.

And the so-called hard lead is still heaps softer than a crayola

Also wish Prismacolor would offer even harder lead pencils than these in the thicker size lead.

These have a soft lead to them that will make it easier to blend effective

lead is a little fragile but it serves the purpose

2 of the pencils had broken lead - I couldn't sharpen them due to it.

If you use a standard spinning blade sharpener or a hand sharpener, it will crack the lead every time

I loved the Prismacolor Soft Lead colored pencils very

The "leads" inside the pencils were completely shattered and kept falling out

The papers were getting ripped by the harder leads

I love these,they are nice hard leads that hold a point really well great for details and are name matched to your Prisma pencils,they blend well and the color assortment is great covers about everything you would need.

Either the lead fell out of the pencil or the wood splintered badly

These hard lead pencils are perfect for detailed work when it comes to coloring.

I sharpened them with the same handheld sharpener I've used without issue in the past for my regular prismacolors, but the leads kept breaking

lead breaks way to easy.

The lead is cracked throughout the pencil, and the tips keep falling out, resulting in you only having half of the pencil that you should

The colors are extremely vibrant, but the leads are super soft on some of the colors.

Nice quality colored pencil, easy to sharpen, The lead doesn't smear and the colors are crisp

I wonder if it's because these leads are harder than the other set

The lead is harder than the premier Prismacolor set

The lead keeps breaking as soon as I attempt to sharpen the pencils

However, the lead inside the pencils were all broken and by the time we sharpened each one without the broken pieces falling out, the pencils were stubs

While I do like the color, the lead is constantly breaking for me

The first one the lead kept breaking off in small

These are hard lead based, meaning they do sharp and precise lines very well with dark and vibrant colors

Some had a good strong point, on others the wood split away but the lead was still strong enough to use without breaking.

They just layer so nicely on the page and the soft leads require hardly any pressure

The Verithins are a hard lead, but I knew that before buying them

These leads are quite hard, and are useful for fine detail, but are too hard for some work

Thinner and harder leads than the Prismacolor Premiers.

the ' lead ' breaks VERY easily.

For large areas, either use the soft lead pencils or get the prismacolor unleaded art stix

they are a harder lead so glad we found these

The new box arrived yesterday and I spent a great deal of time sharpening them to make certain the leads weren't all broken.

Prismacolor Verithin pencils have good hard leads that hold a nice point for those tiny intricate designs, and smooth blendable colors.

The lead just kept falling off.

Was hoping that the lead would be harder than it is but otherwise, they're good.

Denser lead works great for small spaces!

Additionally, as other reviewers have mentioned, the "leads" are extremely brittle and are broken within the pencil.

Although the Verithins have a harder lead they are still creamy.

Update: lead was loose while I was coloring and a long piece fell out

On 6 pencils I had to cut half way down before I could draw with it because the leads kept breaking.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS HARD LEAD

This product has very hard leads and works as stated in the product write up.

The leads crumble, and they cannot be

The leads literally FALL OUT of the pencils, below the point where they are sharpened, which made us both think that there was a problem with the lead mix that was put into the pencil, or that they were somehow broken inside the wood

I went to use one of the orange pencils and sharpened over half the pencil and still didn't get a sharp point as the lead kept breaking

The Verithin is a hard lead pencil used to match the softer premier line in color to finish edges and outsides of any creation.

The led in them is a harder led, I suppose.

Lead breaks in sharpener no matter how I hold it

The hard leads seem to be shattered inside the pencils, either from their manufacturing or from the way they have been handled by Amazon or during delivery

the leads broke very easily.

The problem was that the lead seemed to be broken all the way down in most of the pencils making it impossible to sharpen

Of course this means your art will be a bit lighter with a harder lead, but if you press it hard enough, you'll get your darker lines

This product has very hard leads and works as stated in the product write up.

Good pencils, leads don't break constantly

After just one day of coloring, I've had to resharpen these pencils, as the lead keeps falling out!

I find that the lead ends up breaking most of the time before I get just the right amount of 'sharp' on the pencil.

Reasonably hard "lead"

The colors are amazing, but the leads keep breaking when I sharpen them

Strong sharp lead that matches the soft core pencil colors exactly

Be aware they are not the traditional Prisma pencils with smooth soft blending leads

Strong leads and great color.

The Verithin pencils are a harder lead than the soft core ones and they are good for filling in small areas, outlining and shading.

Prismacolor Verithin pencils have good hard leads that hold a nice point for those tiny intricate designs, and smooth blendable colors.

However, the Verithin Prismacolor pencils have a harder, thinner lead which sharpens to a nice point & helps me color teeny, tiny spaces

A tip of advice for those who have sharping issues or broken leads

Every time you sharpen these the lead falls out

Not pleased the colors are good but when you sharpen them the lead is broken and it falls out and you have to sharpen them again and it happens again.

they are a harder lead so glad we found these

The color nicely, and the leads are harder than the soft ones but still have good color

Thinner and harder leads than the Prismacolor Premiers.

I did have 2 pencils that the lead seem to crack through the

:/Update: about 1/3 of the pencils in my box had bad lead

the lead broke off, what a waste

The leads break easily even with very gentle use

The lead in these pencils is strong and do not break as easily as some I have tried.

The leads are all broken

The lead is definitely different - hard and more transparent, but completely useful in tiny, detailed areas.

Wonder hard lead pencils that easily sharpen.

I realize the lead is soft to allow for better drawing, but it does make it hard to sharpen them

A few of the pencils have broken lead all the way through the pencils, making them unusable

Great color, great quality however the leads break very easily when sharpening and not much of a useful pencil left.

I've only used the Prismacolor brand (just recently started drawing with colored pencils) but so far I like these thin leads since I do a lot of small detail work.

The soft lead colors very well.

so no matter how many times i sharpen it, the lead falls out.

the lead is smoother and more suited to coloring and shading, but also the lead does not break if you accidentally drop them, unlike their square brethren!

Lead was broken in almost all the pencils

lead breaks way to easy.

One has to put some effort into it when coloring due to the harder lead

I ordered them because of their description, but the leads act and sharpen like softer leads.

The lead is falling out!

The lead does not brake and although the lead is hard, it does flow onto the paper very easily.

I love these,they are nice hard leads that hold a point really well great for details and are name matched to your Prisma pencils,they blend well and the color assortment is great covers about everything you would need.

So frustrated by these "hard lead" pencils

The Prismacolor Verithins have harder lead than the Scholar

As soon as the tip is *almost* sharp, the lead will break off and I have to start sharpening all over again

This is not unusual with hard lead

Personally I would have been better off buying some off-brand set that had hard lead, the finished products certainly look that way

The leads are hard to sharpen because they are crooked, some had to be sharpened half way down pencil

The lead breaks all the time

The leads are not especially soft, so the color is not especially intense.

They are a hard lead and don't blend together willingly; in fact, the blending pencil (not included in this pack) is useless in any attempt to blend colors

The leads break way too easily and I need to sharpen them often to get a fine point

They don't blend as easily as the Softcore's (because the lead is harder)

Yes, the leads on these are quite hard but that is intended to keep a sharp point while doing fineline work

The softness of the lead takes some getting used to after using Crayola and other hard lead pencils left over from art sets my kids used when they were younger.

These are very good hard leads for outlining

Octagon shaped wood make them easy to control, excellent quality lead

When I sharpen a few, the lead would break and I had to re-do which wasted a lot of product.

Seems like the lead inside is broken in pieces.

Shading, well, these are not best for shading, but you can do it, and when you do the color is light, almost transparent, when compared to soft lead pencils

Some pencils ended up half their size on the first sharpening due to broken led

but these are your soft prismacolor pencils very hard lead great for outlining

Almost like the lead in the pencil was broken and one enough of the wood casing around it was removed it would just flop out

The leads break so easily

Lead was a little harder than I expected-but the colors are beautiful

The lead continually broke until the pencils all became various sized nubs

I've been sharpening and sharpening (with my Prismacolor Premier sharpener and with which I have had no other problems) and the leads just continue to fall out

Two of them required me to sharpen them to the halfway point before I hit a piece of solid led that would stay in.

The hard core leads make detailing much better.

All the leads are broken inside

The lead is very hard so don't expect them to perform like a Prismacolor soft pencil, their purpose is different from the soft pencil.

and I did not have any lead breakage, no problems with the wood

Three of the colors I have used so far had all broken lead

the lead keeps breaking, all others seem great

For quality pencils, I am impressed with the hard lead, which does make for perfect sharp points

Each time I sharpened a pencil, the lead would break at a critical point

I use them for proofreading manuscripts, so the eraser is an important feature for me, and I found that it really didn’t work that well because the pencil “lead” itself is pretty dark

On the very first sharpening 1 of the pencil's, every time I got a good point, the 'lead' simply slid out and fell on the floor, until it was too short to sharpen any further

lead came already broken in some pencils

Soft lead doesn't last and color is very light.

The leads break so easily and when sharpening the led falls out

When I used my electric sharpener, the lead broke every time

and THEN you use the soft lead to carefully finish the detailed area if it still isn't rich enough in color

Prismacolor very good products - but these break the leads very easly

With any mechanical sharpener I use, the leads break during sharpening, always below the wood.

I’ve only sharpened 6 pencils so far and 2 of them have a terrible lead

lead kept breaking.

the leads keep falling out and breaking

I can see that the hard leads would be very useful for an artist

As disappointed as I was with the 72-color box of Prismacolor soft-core pencils, I am pleased with these thin hard-lead pencils.

The leads breaks and fall out.

These go well with the Prismacolor soft lead pencils

Haven't lost a softcore lead yet, but I've lost about 6 or 7 of the 36 in this set using a high quality metal hand sharpener.

The lead is a little hard, not the best for blending but the pigment is unreal!

I read and saw videos that these are easy to break the lead, because the lead is more pigmented and soft (this is true in my experience)

the leads were broken inside.

These have very hard leads so they are not as nice as the traditional prismacolor with softer led

The leads are thin & hard, and can go a long time without sharpening

Because the lead is hard, these are not bright and vibrant.

This, I suppose, is difficult to avoid, since you need soft lead to lay down vivid color.

Soft lead and a good variety of colors.

I would recommend the soft lead prisma color sets.

Not a huge fan because they have such hard lead

The lead breaks and pops out every stinkin' time!

The verithin pencils have extremely hard lead, which means they do not leave a lot of color.

As I sharpened my pencils the led was just falling out before I could even achieve sharp on any pencil without having issues with broken lead

However, they come unsharpened and the lead breaks like crazy no matter what method I use to sharpen them.

This, I suppose, is difficult to avoid, since you need soft lead to lay down vivid color.

These have very hard leads so they are not as nice as the traditional prismacolor with softer led

Soft lead is the only reason I prefer Prismacolor, less pressure results in a lighter shade and more pressure is darker--can't easily do that with Crayola or other mid-strength lead

You can maintain a sharp point on these pencils much longer than an original Softcore Prismacolor pencil because the lead is harder

I wish there were other thin lead pencils like these.

(included various sketches I've done with them)The thinner/harder lead is something I prefer when using colored

Haven't lost a softcore lead yet, but I've lost about 6 or 7 of the 36 in this set using a high quality metal hand sharpener.

But the lead keeps breaking.

The leads break a lot

I can see that the hard leads would be very useful for an artist

Lead broke in every pencil when I sharpened them

Love the Prismacolor Premier (soft lead) pencils, and these add wonderfully to them being a hard core pencil for small detail.

The leads are broken all the way down the pencil

They do work for that however, The lead in these keeps

1/3 of them have broken lead all the way down

but these are the ones with skinny lead

The lead is pleasantly more sturdy than the leads in their softer pencils, and is terrific for outlining or using lightly to color smaller areas

When combined with the soft lead pencils he was as happy as could be.

Two pencils I had to sharpen a quarter of the way down because the lead kept breaking.

The leads are much more resilient than the premiers , but the weird part bring that the "wood" feels more like a soft fibrous substance not like birch wood

I'm crazy about these hard lead pencils.

Several of the pencils keep breaking the lead when sharpening

Colors are true to the prismacolor line and the harder lead means nice, sharp tips for those fine details

My only complaint is that there were several pencils in the set that broken lead and had been sharpened away quickly

These are the only pencils my fiancée uses and she loves them.

The tip doesn't get as sharp as I would like it too

The tips don't break as easily as with some brands, and the color variety gives a wide array of color and shade choices

I would not recommend these for children as you could very easily lose a lot of money compared to crayolas, but if you're a seasoned artist with a semi-decent grip then go for it

Sometimes I'm hesitant to order online because if their dropped, they'll crack and continue to break as you sharpen them

It does not hold together well (as in maybe poor adhesive?), the cores were broken when delivered and as a result I've had to sharpen quite a few of these over half way down the length of the pencil just to get a point that doesn't simply fall the hell out

In the end only 6 of the pencils last and worked as they should

I like the feel of them in my hands as well, not as if I am going to break them, but sturdy for such thin precision

I’m obsessed with adult coloring and these are amazing for very small intricate spaces, always makes it possible to shade those small spaces as it doesn’t lay down so much color at once

these are very good, I like them to color in tiny spaces as well as for outlining.