EXPO Low-Odor Dry Erase Markers - Chisel Tip, 12-Pack (Purple) - Perfect for Whiteboards, Office Meetings & Classroom Teaching

Great value and long lasting!Everyone knows the secret to good teaching is the intoxicating odor of Expo Original Chisel Tip Dry Erase Markers. I have no room in my life for that hippy, "LOW ODOR" nonsense. I need to feel the glory of fifty thousand unicorns coursing through my veins every time I uncap my marker, these get the job done. If you too, feel similarly about the pungent funk of what you use for your in-class cave paintings, read on. If you're shocked by your own incredulity re:my awe inspiring writing, you lack discipline.Sit down children, Mr. Amazon Reviewer is going to uncap his huffing marker and tell you a story about how sissies ruined a functional product for the rest of us. According to the Online Compendium of Human Knowledge, Wikipedia, EXPO markers were unleashed upon humanity in 1976. There was much rejoicing. The markers mark methodically and meticulously, markedly making many more meager markers miserable and morose.Uncap that sucker and make a juicy black line on the board, because you can, you winner, you. Did you make a mistake? Need to erase it quickly? Methyl isobutyl ketone, motherf...oops, family site, I already did an "M" sentence. It has an obscenely high vapor pressure and it's the solvent in EXPO markers; ENGLISH: the markers stink because they dry quickly, they erase easily because they dry quickly, I'm a Chemistry teacher, trust me. Note, this has -one- con, if you leave these uncapped for more than five minutes, they are done. They've dried out. You can re-cap them and leave them upside down overnight, but chances are, they're gone.Why do I hate low odor markers with the fervor only a marker huffer could muster? For starters, it is now impossible to purchase these normal markers anywhere locally. I'm not joking. The low odor markers were released as a punishment in 1986, potentially for hair metal or other terrible 80s pop culture, probably a sign of the Last Days. They used to be clearly labeled on the package, and the marker. "EXPO2," they said, the 2 written nearly as bold and large as the entire word preceding it. You saw that 2, and you knew, right away, that either your teacher was a sissy, or they were a glutton for punishment and enjoyed cleaning their whiteboard weekly with an angle grinder. That marker was not an EXPO, it was an EXPO*2*, a shoddy revision, a retched swindler, an impostor."Why does that matter?!" I'll tell you why it matters. The labeling changed. Now the boxes look identical, save for a small, secret scarlet set of words in the corner, "low odor marker." Retailers decided they didn't need as much floor space for these things. People also misplaced their manhood. Go to any big-box retailer or office supply store, and the low odor markers are all you can find. They are more difficult to erase, don't smell like winning, and believe it or not, not as vibrant. How are they different? A weak, measly, slowly evaporating alcohol replaces the methyl isobutyl ketone. The colors are the same, sure, you got your black and blue and red and whatever. The stink is not; I personally think the "low odor" markers smell worse. Ketones smell sweet. Alcohol smells like college and bad decisions. Like the decision brick and mortar retailers made to stop stocking the stuff of legends.They write in bold dark colors and even if the writing has been on the board for years it wipes off as smooth and clean as the first day.. The new low odor garbage is impossible to erase after a couple weeks..Not as much ink as previous markers. Ran out quickly.Came in fasT, great qualitySome of these reviews are weird but I know everyone has different experiences. I bought these so I could write my self note and reminders or my mirror (to save paper and so I wouldn’t lose my notes). All of the colors work fine but black and blue come up the best. They arrived in reasonable time and they do the job.My white board is getting on in years and since I use the board a lot it has been getting progressively harder to clean. On top of that I'll lay out several weeks worth of plans at one time so when it's time to erase more often than not it is a big pain to remove the well dried lines. Until I made a discovery. I had a board full of different colored notes and one of them erased beautifully. Somehow out of the dozen or so markers I had only one was the original dry erase formula, guess which one worked perfectly? The low odor pens smeared, left ghost images or just flat refused to erase.So I picked up this set of the original pens and they work great. They even remove the scum from the low odor pens! (that's pretty amazing because I've tried every chemical I could and even brake cleaner won't touch that stuff) Buy these and leave the low odor pens for those people who don't have anything better to do than clean their white board.The spray is great for getting off all the old marker markings on a white board. Once the bottle runs out which can be pretty quick, I usually just pour in 90% rubbing alcohol which works great. The markers work as they are supposed to they write well I use them once a week to write on a board for game releases so they last a nice amount of time for me but for others I think if your writing a lot everyday there is a good possibility for them to run out in a quick/ reasonable amount of time. Only complaint is the board eraser it just absorbs the old markings and can spread those markings later in time. Even though it is meant to be basic it feels extremely cheap. I just use a paper towel to clean up my white board. Bought this for 9 bucks, if you already have the bottle I suggest getting the markers separately keeping the bottle and using a paper towel for erasing the board.These are the best board markers. Sometimes branded as Sharpie, these Expo markers come in a wide variety of colours, all of which are useful and legible. Some manufacturers will sell you, say, a yellow or a green that is more or less invisible. All of these colours show up clearly. My favourite is the turquoise.Three pens were dry when we opened the packed one red and two blue pens. For the price they should be checked before packing so we were very disappointed about that especially the blue pens being dry as they are the ones we purchased the whole packet for. The smell is off putting but other pens were good.Expensive pens but works brilliantly on the kids white board. Have been using them most days for over 6 months now and they all still work well!Great erasers. I will be buying again in September 2016 for the new school year.will buy again