This should be the last part of the review. We're both pretty happy about our new sabers, and keep finding ourselves grinning when we look at them. They're gorgeous, and they can be used for actual dueling. I should mention a few other things though, and some overall impressions.
General Issues
The
covertec knobs only have 1 HP (hit point). They seem to be fairly soft, probably aluminum, so a dropped saber can easily mean a dead covertec. Would prefer steel. After one slip, my partner's wheel was bent far enough to close its groove. She tried to repair it when we got home, but the result probably won't be usable.
Hilt parts tend to unscrew during dueling. It's a little awkward stopping to re-tighten the hilt pieces in the middle of a fight. This is probably common on all modular sabers though, I'd assume. And since I plan on future mods, I'm not going to glue anything.
The silver
second switch hole covers look pretty bad. The black ones look nice though. I think the second hole can just stay open until I get a recharge port.
I may be a bit spoiled by li-ion flashlight tech, but the
included chargers are basically the same as the junkers which come free with some super-cheap UltraFire lights. I'd recommend a better one from somewhere else, or at least check the charge termination voltage with a DMM to make sure it doesn't exceed 4.20V. I normally use a Nitecore Digicharger D2, but even a $5 Xtar MC1 is nicer than the included generic one.
The
battery case only accepts narrow-button-top protected cells. My flat-top and medium-button-top cells are too wide to make contact, and my unprotected cells are too short to make contact. Not a big issue though, since the included Panasonic NCR18650B are probably the best and most appropriate cells on the market for saber purposes. SF picked good batteries.
The battery case is very tight, and removing/inserting it a lot has high potential to damage the speaker and/or wiring. These things can be reduced though -- add a ribbon, for great justice! It can help with pulling the unit out gently, and with removing the cell.
The shipped parts included a plastic saber stand instead of a staff coupler, but that's fine. We weren't planning to use the coupler anyway.
Only a tiny quirk, but with the retention screw tightened, the blade plugs pop up just far enough to let light out the side.
Overall Impressions
When I saw the tracking site say "out for delivery" yesterday, I was like...
Yaaaasssss!
On opening the box, my first reaction was basically...
Whoa. Pretty...
Then while we were out shopping for screws and finding a place to play, I did a lot of this...
Why yes, that IS my light saber.
Once we started dueling, I hoped I'd be like...
Bring it.
But in reality, I did a lot more of this...
Ow. Ow. Ow.
I regretfully admit that I need some kendo classes...
And some of the day left me feeling more like this instead. Like, the parts about the Sinister Prophecy pommel and the speaker behind it.
Hrrmph.
So, we've still got a few things to do before the sabers are truly complete. The saga continues.
By the end of the night I was pretty tired, wet from the park's lawn sprinklers (which ninja'd up on us during our fight), and itchy since the bright blades attract a lot of bugs. As it turns out, dueling in the middle of a park also attracts neighborhood kids.
On a parting note, don't mind Stuart. He's just trying to decide what he thinks of his mistresses' new toys.