I also use Dunlop, but mine are the grey nylon, .73mm ones... I used to use Tortex (Those are the ones with the damn turtle logo in black on them that rubs off all over yer fingers right???) but I kept breaking strings because the pick was to light, and to compensate, I'd hit harder... made the change to a slightly firmer pick and play softer and hardly ever break strings...

How long do I keep em? Until the point is worn to a 'round'...

On Wed Jan 23rd, I bought half a gross of them from Elderly... gonna be curious to see how long they last...

Something else I've noticed that I do... I can't use just one pick at a show... I have one of those funky pick holder things that fits over the top boom of the mic stand, and I usually have 4 flatpicks and a couple of thumbpicks staged there... after 3 maybe 4 songs, I find that the pick has warmed up and gone 'soft' in my hand (Ya gotta hate THAT eh!?) so it goes back into the rotation, and a fresh one comes out to play...

It might be all in my head, but it seems to feel better....

.-)