Customer Reviews

X-Acto 1182 Manual Vacuum Mount Pencil Sharpener, Smoke Black Receptacle, Black Base, 1 Unit

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

First, this pencil sharpener only has one "blade" inside to sharpen the pencil. Without having a second, opposing blade inside, the pencil is always pushed away from the blade and sharpens off-center.

Next, the vacuum base never stays put through even a single sharpening cycle.

And the final straw, the other day, after having this for less than six months, the plastic shavings receptacle came apart (it's two pieces glued together), spewing sawdust and pencil graphite all over everything.

I strongly recommend against this one.

How I love this sharpener. It reminds me of when I was a kid in the classroom. I bought this because those little handheld ones always broke the tip off my pencils. The electric ones were too fancy for my needs. I just needed a good old-fashioned pencil sharpener, but I didn't want to mar any tables or walls. This one is vacuum mounted. What a vacuum it is. Just a flip of the lever is all it takes and that thing will not budge! It is solid and works like the ones we had in school that were screwed down.

Does it sharpen my pencils? And how! They do the job quickly and perfectly. No more broken lead for me!

I store this in my desk, where it gets banged around a lot. Maybe I shouldn't do that. I don't know what I'd do if it broke and it's no longer available. Still, it's held up, no loose parts, no broken plastic. For basic pencil sharpening needs, this pencil sharpener fits the bill.

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UPDATE: This unit was great while it lasted, which was about 18 months. I had to toss it an buy another pencil sharpener. Too bad. I did like the design.

Bought this based on other positive reviews. It's sharp and stays stuck to smooth surfaces, but the down side is that it only has a single sharpening cartridge. This causes one side of the pencil to get sharpened correctly, but the other side still has wood left on the lead almost all the way to the tip. Also, it'll let you sharpen the pencil away to a nub if you don't stop to check progress.

Fine for cheap or occasional use, but those two things are annoying to me.

Got this for my high school classroom since someone jammed my electric one and couldn't afford another one. The first couple weeks it kept popping off and even fell and broke :( but I super glued it back together and my husband suggested licking the bottom before applying the suction cups. Although I refused to lick it I did get the bottom wet and it hasn't moved at all in the last month and it gets used all of the time.

I am happy with it. It seems to sharpen well and more evenly then my electric sharpener. I would have given it 5 stars if I hadn't already broken it and super glued it back together (at least it popped open on the "seam" so it was a clean break and easy fix.)

My biggest tip is to make sure that if you want it to stick to a surface though that the suction part on the bottom is wet before using the little lever to apply pressure. That would solve a lot of the bad reviews on here! Hope this helps!

p.s. I also bought a pocket sharpener that I love if you need a smaller one. It is great...and it doesn't leak sharpener fillings all over! Definitely worth a few bucks! I even bought one for my son's teacher who needed a new little one! Maped Clean Sharpener, 2-Hole Pencil Sharpener, Assorted Colors (030210US)

This worked great for us for about 10 months. My son sharpens all the pencils in the house every Monday, so we only use it about twice a week in all. This morning it refused to work and upon close examination we discovered that the METAL gears had stripped! The plastic parts have held up fine.

So, I'm back to the drawing board on what kind of pencil sharpener to get...

This sharpener worked great while it lasted! The surface has to be very clean to get the suction to work well and needs re-suctioning after 2-3 pencils. It sharped many pencils and colored pencils evenly and to a nice point. After a few months, the plastic shaving receptacle broke, but was easily fixed with a little scotch tape. Overall the sharpener worked great for about a year and a half and then the gear inside just wore out and it became unusable. I expected it to last longer.

I bought it, looked at it and sent it back. 1st flaw: made in china 2nd flaw: the case is not mounted to the sharpener base so the uncentered tumbler knocks it off and it causes a huge distraction in class 3rd flaw: it doesn't sharpen worth a sht, what happened to quality?! Don't buy this foreign piece of crap

This sharpener is AWESOME! I've had experiences with cheap hand-helds, and with electric sharpeners; the cheap ones break the lead 75% of the time, and the electric ones don't always do a great job and can be a mess. However, I decided that I would try out one of the vacuum mounted manual sharpeners and I was very impressed.
This sharpener makes very smooth cuts, and the lead hasn't broken on any of the pencils that I've sharpened with it.I've got to say that once you rotate the vacuum lever, it's not going anywhere! It is very clean, and the shavings container is very easy to remove, empty, and put back on without making any mess. For this sharpener, you could say that you don't have to spend a ton of money to get high quality performance and results. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who needs an inexpensive sharpener that does a fantastic job every time.

This is a great sharpener. The vacuum base holds it securely, and the sharpener gives you a great point. I have never had any problem with the blade being one sided and sharpening unevenly. Even though it has only one blade it revolves around the pencil cutting evenly as it goes. If your point still has wood on it to the tip then that means your using crappy pencils that don't have the lead centered in the wood properly.

I notice the reviews are at both extremes for this item. If you're happy that the thing sharpens your pencils better than the tiny toy things, then it's a 5. If you expected any kind of quality, it's a 1.

I lean toward the negative on this one. Only epoxy would give you a reliable adhesion to even the smoothest surface. Two cutters would give the thing much better feel and balance. And yes, it is flimsy and would not last long with someone who was generally rough on things.

I think I have one of the "yesteryear" models in a box somewhere, and I know it was better: metal, two cutters, screw it down to mount it - and you really had something.

For a device that you'll keep, probably for a pretty long time, I'd prefer to spend several times the price and get a good 120 volt electric sharpener. If you've used these, you'll never go back.