Saber hilts - opinions, please

sharkbait (Rebecca) · Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:39 pm Post subject: Saber hilts - opinions, please

I'm planning out a generic Jedi. I found a saber hilt I absolutely love, it makes me think of the 10th/11th Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

But before I shell out some major dollars, I thought I'd see what people thought of it, if it's "Jedi" enough, or if it looks Sith to people. Like I said, all I see if the sonic screwdriver. But I'm also not a costume judge.

It's by Ultrasabers, found here: https://www.ultrasabers.com/product-p/stunt-darkwarglaive.htm

Obviously I would not get the red blade for RL, I'm thinking either Guardian Blue or Sunrider's Destiny.

Thanks in advance for your input!
_________________
Rebecca
“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.” - Hunter S. Thompson

dannv () · Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:42 pm Post subject:

Personally, I don't like the claws. They on't really look Jedi and can be a hazard if you are in a group of children.

sharkbait (Rebecca) · Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:57 pm Post subject:

rlobrecht () · Joined: 05 Jan 2016 Posts: 64 Medals: None

I'm not a costume judge, but it looks pretty Sith-y to me. I've also read a lot of horror stories about Ultrasabers. (non-delivery and really bad customer service).

sharkbait (Rebecca) · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:11 pm Post subject:

rlobrecht () · Joined: 05 Jan 2016 Posts: 64 Medals: None

If you're even a little handy, The Custom Saber Shop is the way to go. It's pieces and parts to build exactly what you want. Their forums are very helpful.

Vaders Vault, Genesis Custom Sabers, Solo's Hold are some of the best.

You can find more at FX-sabers.

Good luck.

JohnstonMR (Michael Johnston) · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:59 pm Post subject:

A friend of mine bought an Ultrasaber, and he likes it, but it's very thick--like a large D-Cell flashlight.

Me, I prefer the slimmer designs of Vader's Vault, but they are pricy compared to US.

My personal feeling is that US is usually okay, but Saberforge is horrible. But for my use, I ordered from VV.

jedi_keith () · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:34 pm Post subject:

kman () · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:00 pm Post subject:

Ultra Sabers is great as long as nothing goes wrong. Then CS is an issue. Much better quality control than Saber Forge, though (horrible!) and super fast.

There are better options (Vaders Vault, Genesis) but they cost a lot more, too, and tend to take forever to deliver the product. Arguably worth the wait, as long as waiting is an option, and you have enough money to pay for top tier stuff.

TCSS is a good option if you want to build your own.

sharkbait (Rebecca) · Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 4:49 pm Post subject:

Hm... all good information, though I'm at a loss as to what to do with it.

I'm handy, but not with electronics. I know red is positive and black is negative, that's it. I also want sound, flash on clash (even though I don't plan to do any actual sparring, I'm just not coordinated enough).

Genesis, Vader's Vault and Solo's Hold (not heard of that one till now) are simply prohibitively expensive. And honestly I'm not really attracted to their designs. I only like SaberForge's crystal sabers, and they too are out of my price range; but from what I've heard I've written them off anyway.

Waiting isn't too much of an issue, waiting is the name of the game for our level of costuming.

I'm 5'11'' and my hands, while narrow, are long, so a D battery width is actually probably going to look normal. (I do love my 3x D battery Maglite flashlight...)

So, hmm... looks like I'm back to square one... but with more info to proceed with.
_________________
Rebecca
“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.” - Hunter S. Thompson

kman () · Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 5:24 pm Post subject:

If it helps any, while I got into a bit of a row with US over my saber, due to a small mistake (mine...apparently) in the order that ended up costing me quite a bit to correct, I AM very happy with the saber that I ended up with from UltraSabers. (Manticore CE) Lovely piece of hardware, beautifully machined, and the electronics were plug and play as promised. (literally worked out of the box, and it has an external recharge jack so I literally have no need to open it up unless I want to monkey with custom sound fonts)

Garet Jax () · Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 6:42 pm Post subject:

I've purchased two sabers from Ultra Sabers w/out issue.

The most recent one had an error in the order (totally my fault) that I noticed shortly after I placed it and had a really good customer service experience with them. I contacted them via email, explained what I wanted to change on my order, and had it resolved within the hour. I can only speak for my experiences, but if customer service has been an issue, they certainly have taken steps to improve that area of their business. I've had nothing but good experiences with them.

ScruffyScoundrel () · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 4:13 pm Post subject:

Kind of a bummer everyone has such a bad opinion of Saberforge. I kickstarted their ASP and absolutely love my saber. Even ordered some new parts to mod it and never ran into trouble. Quick delivery, responsive CS.

That said, yeah super expensive and I think only the ASP system they provide is worth the expense. If you're cool with a stock off the shelf saber, waaaayyyy cheaper options.

Neferet (Natalia Telias) · Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 2:53 pm Post subject:

I have two ultrasabers, all ok! super bright. My lightsabers are stunt (without sound), in orange and purple Very Happy

MDDraco () · Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:23 pm Post subject:

I'm in a similar boat with picking a saber. My personal opinion would be to contact everyone who's in the running for you and see what they say.

Ultra's sent a stock response and didn't answer my questions at all.
SaberForge did exactly the same.
VV are so busy at the moment, I got a redirect to their community site, which is understandable given they've just moved locations, but wasn't of much help to me, and with a 26 - 36 week +/- build queue, I've flagged for now.
Genesis Custom Sabers replied within an hour and have since gotten my business to build a custom saber, which, yes, is going to be expensive, but I'm only ever going to buy one custom and believe it or not, his customisations that I have asked for don't add up to the price of some of the top tier stuff from SF or US!!

If in any more doubt, I would say go online and watch reviews / tear downs of the sabers you like the look of.

I really like the look of the SF / US stuff, but I just can't bring myself to do it when I asked questions and got a stock response that didn't address my concerns, and given that the price point ends up around the GCS point anyway, I've gone in that direction. Will let you know when I get the saber if it was worth the wait (ETA: April).

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