TOPIC: Exhalted Hero Tier Spark Color 2 12w+ Green / Blue

THE EXHALTED....

This saber seems to come with a great deal of hype attached to it. After all, it is a thin-neck, which brings to mind sabers like that of Obi Wan Kenobi and Jedi Luke Skywalker. Yet it is not simply a combination of those two iconic sabers, but an evolution in design. It has the Redeemer's grenade design, but is picked out like Luke Skywalker. It has the lower half of a Fury, which is both comfortable and effective. So the question...what is it like in hand and does it live up to the hype?

- Appearance -

This thing is beautiful. It succeeds in balancing multiple color themes and materials in what could be called a symphony. Every surface avoids boredom as there is an even mix of silver and black, and yet it breaks that up with brass in all the right places. Even the pommel, which I thought would be boring compared to the Exhalted's thin-neck cousins, I found to be pleasant in hand. My only complaint here, and this is COMPLETELY a personal opinion, I wished the Exhalted had inherited its entire neck structure from the Redeemer instead of going to the black and gold neck. I understand that this differentiates it from the other two sabers, yet I wish there had been a touch of copper in that emitter. I put this request in the comments when I placed the order, but I knew it was a long shot. I am so bent on this, I'm going to attempt to to either swap the neck with a Redeemer or get the neck from the ASP system when it goes live. Otherwise, I couldn't be happier.











- Feel -

This is where this hilt REALLY shines. There is no uncomfortable surface from the top of the emitter to the bottom of the pommel. You can tell Saberforge did their homework here. In pictures, I assumed the grenade section with a finger around the neck would be the most pleasant place to find my grip, but the Fury body is so comfortable with the black indentions for traction. I have to wonder how something that is metal and does not have leather feels so natural. It's a real joy. The dimensions are positive as well having a diameter that is large enough to grip and small enough not to be cumbersome. The Exhalted is longer than I expected which makes it great for spins and 2 handed kata.

The feel takes a minor hit when we start to talk about wobble...although I'm not sure "wobble" is the right word. I can feel the blade slightly give with certain swings. It's not visible, but you can feel it. This was far more minor than I expected. The hilt itself did not seem loose anywhere when I got it and for the most part has stayed that way. However, at the time of this writing, I can start to feel the top silver section of the emitter above the neck beginning to "give". It's oh so slight I almost chose not to mention it. It's not enough to bother me....and I mean that. If it gets much worse, my tone might change.

- 12w+ Green / Blue / Cyan with Spark Color 2 Board -

Okay, this is where I need to admit a bias. I LOVE the SPARK COLOR 2. I spent hours today playing with the settings. So, being able to change between these 3 colors and change fonts is a huge plus to me. I will try to stay on topic, but please keep this in mind.











I had an immediate expectation that thin-neck = less bright. I checked it against my other sabers and I do not see it. I have no doubt it's there, but I do not see it. I think it is probably observable, but for me it is so insignificant I unable to tell a difference and the thin neck design did not take away from the brightness experience.

So, in comparison to my RGBA+ Monarch, the Blues were close. There is a "noticeable" difference in brightness by definition in favor the Exhalted, but not by much. My point being, my 6w+ Blue and my 3w+ Blue are very close and I personally would not have noticed enough of a difference to worry. Both are great! The 12W+ Cyan from the Exhalted and the same mix on my 6W+ Monarch yielded the same result. I am VERY pleased with the brightness of both.

The color change is once again smooth and fun. I opted to upgrade the firmware on my card so I could enable the "Aux Key on Twist" to change the color. Everything feels deliberate and happens as expected. TO MUCH FUN!!! This board is awesome!

- Build Quality -

Out of the box, nothing rattled on the hilt. I feel like this is a solid hilt. Only time will tell if the neck starts to give over time since, as i understand it, it's held by counter threaded parts and thread lock. I could be wrong there. I'll know more when I get my Redeemer hilt to do my own install.

Also, there were no random scratches or any imperfections. I do worry that my titanium wedding band scratched up my Epoch, so I was more careful here.

- Final Thoughts -

I am THRILLED to have this saber in my collection. I really thought I would be underwhelmed after having a Crystal Reveal Monarch and a Juggernaut, which are very unique in their own right. However, I was extremely happy when I saw how this saber stood out in my small collection as being comfortable and unique. Basically, with the Exhalted, you get a unique look that is interesting and draws attention (like a Juggernaut) but you also get the fun and comfort of a simpler, more functional saber (like an Epoch).

Prop Quality Looks + Functional Design = Win

And to prove it stands out, here is the growing family photo. It stands out amongst the greats.




A while back I asked someone if each new saber is as much fun and excited as your collection grows. To answer my own question, and to my surprise, they are. Each member of my saber family is so unique, it's like comparing your kids...you feel lucky to have each one of them in your life. My Monarch will always be my first, most ornate, and a little extra special to me. My Juggernaut is the bad boy. My Epoch is my sleeper saber, it sneaks up on you. My Exhalted is that right balance of form and function...and might be my go-to "daily driver".


6/12/16 Edit

- So I realized the looseness in the emitter came from just needing to be tightened down. I screwed it down and now it is tight. It was never loose without the blade, but I felt that "give" with the blade in. For some reason, tightening this down seems to have resolved the issue for me. Just FYI...

In the above statement regarding the thin neck, I had said "brass" but I mean "copper" versus black in the thin-neck.

Quick Saber Comparisons.

Here we have the Exhalted vs Master Replicas ROTJ Luke Skywalker. This hilt is far and away more of what I wanted in a thin-neck! To me, one looks like a prop replica, and one looks like a toy.








And here we have the Exhalted vs Master Replicas ANH Luke Skywalker





I think these pictures speak for themselves!


And here is a video of me playing with the fonts. All fonts courtesy of Naigon or Shameem.

Very nice! I like the highlights of the Sparc2 board, and the comparison to the MR sabers. Another beautiful Exhalted in the ranks. This is my jam.

Brax wrote:
Glad to be part of the thin-neck family!

The great Exhalted strikes again! It's definitely one of SF's finest. Great addition to the your collection!

Damn fine Exhalted. I see a trend here with two Transformers fans(Prowl and yourself)getting Exhalted sabers and loving them. I think Alpha Trion would approve. Congrats!

Such a Glorious Day! and exponentially more so for you by taking delivery of a Great Hero of such fine calibre. A special welcome to the Thin Neck Club indeed. I can't help but have the tune and lyrics of 'I Need a Hero' by Bonnie Tyler (or the Shrek version by Jennifer Saunders) as I read your Review. It wasn't that long ago when the forecast was lots of rain with lots of Prodigal Son's. There's been a dramatic shift and whilst it's still raining, it's now raining Exhalted's.

Great piece to be Showcased as part of your extraordinary Collection HotRod. It's like the clean polished version to my dirty one, equally bright with colours and stunningly personalised with your updated Fonts. Mate, I couldn't help but not notice your watch, that things huge! The band resembles the track-belt from a Tank. The only thing left to identify by query is with asking What time is it? Exhalted Time!

Thank you for the descriptive write-up, the comparisons and the position held amongst it's Family. Exquisitely shared. Congratulations.

Fantastic review, very well thought out and written. I also would have liked to have the Redeemer emitter on the Exhalted, I like the brass on it, but I am happy with the regular one too. The Fury section of the hilt is super comfortable, I'm amazed by it. I'm adjusting to holding the grenade section in a way that doesn't rub my hand wrong. I think the Exhalted is a great example of a thin neck that's not based off of a movie hilt, doing it's own thing and forming it's own identity.

Congrats on finally getting your Hero Exhalted!! I know the wait was a long one but it seems well worth it. You're a lucky man getting a Hero tier saber shipped out. But at least there is some proof that the SC 2 boards are in. You guys are going to make me spend more money soon with all these Exhalted reviews coming in. You have a great collection so far and I know you're already adding more to it! Great review, always a fan of going in-depth. Enjoy your saber this weekend.

Such a lovely hilt, while the canon thin-necks look good, the control box always looks like it would be in the way, and this melding of designs does look the sleekest for actual use.

For a long time I've been toying over what saber (if any) I would like to get hero tier, because to me a lot of saber's I only want one colour, and I keep coming back to the Exhalted here, because the blue and green fit with the similarity to Luke's and Obi-Wan's sabers, and this review has really confirmed it to me, that this saber will eventually be the one I get as a hero tier saber, even the Cyan mix really fits well.

Greysider wrote:
I don't want to speak for Prowl, but we might be more converts than fans now. Ha

OvrcAHst wrote:
Haha, after I read your comment I thought of "It's Raining Men" by the Weather Girls....oh good, I'm going to have that song stuck in my head now. Are you learning that I'm easily impressionable?

Haha, it's an Oakley Hollowpoint, ha. The face is actually orange, so it's quite "loud". Although the camera does add 10 pounds...ha. It's not quite as big as it looks on camera. It was a surprise Christmas gift from my wife. It is a monster and I do get a lot of comments on it. "It's Exhalted Time" Cracked me up! Now I have "Hammer Time" stuck in my head...ugh I need to stop.

Prowl wrote:
Thanks, Buddy. I completely agree with you. That grenade section is sharp. I am going to go toy with the ASP builder to see what a saber with 2 Fury Body sections would look like. So comfortable. My hand gets the imprints just like yours when I hold the grenade section...but does it ever look good!

Andi-Jae EL wrote:
Thanks you, Andi-Jae EL. I apologize for making it so long. I wrote it at 2am my time because I couldn't sleep. I'll work on making them more concise. Thank you for reading it.

I have to say, the Exhalted is definitely a saber worth getting. (Apologize to your Wallet for me). I think as Prow said, it has its own identity. In a lot of ways It's going to be the saber I play with the most. That just means Brax's love of thin-necks is not simply an opinion, but has a great deal of merit.

TheGrandAdmiral wrote:
Thank you. I'm ADHD (severely) and I like things to change. This keeps the saber fresh to me. I sort of wanted to get RGBA, but other than Amber, I couldn't see blood orange, purple, or red coming out of this hilt. The Cyan is MUCH more striking in person than in my photos. I like the color more than I thought I would. It worked well with Shameem's Wind font. I know a lot of people feel Champion tier is the way to go, but I am probably a Hero tier guy. I hate the cost...which makes the sabers much more prohibitive, but I know I will play with them longer. It's worth it to me. Just my humble opinion. I think you'd be very pleased given what I've seen from you so far.

Wow, this is a review and a half man and in the good way to boot. Fantastically informative, well thought out and just damned well done.

Magnificent saber HotRod! And a damn fine review too!....thanks for pointing out the difference in the thin necks on the Exhalted vs the Redeemer, i guess I didn't really pay attention to it before (i could have swore it was the same)....beautiful saber though regardless and a fine addition to your growing collection! Congrats & Enjoy dude!

I wanted to give an update to some customizations I made here. I have replaced the entire emitter with a Prodigal Son Grenade Section and Redeemer thin neck and added a coupler. The couple was a necessity since the Fury body and the new Grenade section are both female ends.





This was a Hero Tier Exhalted. My buddy and I managed to carefully get the body unscrewed from the grenade section (which was the scariest moment) by using a some gloves and a vice. We managed to leave it unscratched for the most part.




I was surprised that my Prodigal Son female end was quite short. I did not want to sand down the threads, so I used a rubber o-ring to cover up the threads. It's not ideal, but I did not want to try to sand down the threads in fear ruining the threads.

I got this PS grenade section through the Indegogo ASP campaign. I am not sure if they have lengthened the female end since so it will take all of the threads from the coupler. Nonetheless, it's not obvious.

The coupler looks good with the Fury body and does not add too much length.




I think what I am most pleased by here is that I'm getting closer to a unique saber that evokes the Prodigal Son. I love the way it looks and prefer the feel to the Redeemer grenade section. I almost went all black having that part in hand, but that went into another build that I will be putting up a review for shortly.


Overall, I'm pleased with the look, but I have not locked it all down yet as I feel like I can do better. More to come...

Just an update here....I knew we could do better. I removed the coupler and the threads are no longer visible. I used an S-connector, which is just a threaded piece to connect female to female ends. Worked great as you can see.

Now I've got my ROTJ inspired Exhalted:

Love how that looks.

Seeing these awesome thin neck builds is enticing me to build one.

Awesome saber HotRod!! Love the look of the thin neck sabers. I have my first one, a CR Redeemer with the Hero tier. Can anyone tell me what sound fonts are included with the Hero edition sabers? Thanks

Jedibowls wrote: Hotrod's got a broken wing and may be a while before he can fly again...
Stock Spark Color2 Fonts = Father's Son, Essence: Episode 1 & 2, 501 Commander and All Too Easy.

The Spark Color 2 holds up to 6 fonts, and I believe Standard Issue is included as well.
At least it was on the Hero I picked up secondhand.

The updated default files available on the NEC website have a different set:
(if you want some free alternatives)

1. Father's Son
2. Essence Ep. 1
3. Hidden Warrior
4. Meteor
5. All Too (Easy)
6. 501 Commander

Thanks Gang!

Jedibowls, please post of few pics and let us know what you think of your Saber when you get it.

Really looking forward to seeing what you get!