TOPIC: Hero Edition Gladius Review (Only Pictures)

Hey there! I obtained my order today, and right after I made it home from college too, haha. I figured I'd mess around with it a bit and post a little review of my purchase here.

I WILL HAVE PICTURES UPLOADED SOON. I NEED TO PREPARE MY CAMERA.

Anyway, here we go!

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My Order:

Hero Edition Gladius
Grey Weathered
Bronze Stingray Wrap
Primary Color: Purple
Secondary Color: Red
Covertech system
32" Infinity Edge Blade


What I received:

Hero Edition Gladius
Grey Weathered
Bronze Stingray Wrap
Primary Color: 6w Blue
Secondary Color: 6w Red
Tertiary Color: 12w Purple
Covertech System (Bronze colored wheel with black belt clip)
Bronze Kill Key
32" Infinity Edge Blade
Standard Saber Forge Blade Plug
Recharge Adapter

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I obtained the package today around 3:00 according to my family, who gave it to me. The package appeared to be a bit beat up and made rattling sounds, which had me worried at first. I opened it promptly, examining the package's contents thoroughly. Inside I found:

x1 Gladius Lightsaber
x1 Infinity Edge Blade
x1 Charger
x3 Warranty fliers
x1 Instruction Manual
x1 Covertech Clip
x1 Business Card w/ Allen Wrench

The products were poorly wrapped in one layer of green bubble wrap, held together by packing and masking tape. This further worried me. However, all of the products were in pristine condition. It also appeared the box had been tampered with a bit, probably from being checked out by the local postal service. I will complain to them soon and inquire on the details. I also assume this is why the product's box was so beat up.

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On to the saber itself.

The saber is beautiful. I'm actually stunned. It's a little over 10" in length and has a remarkable weathering style on it that gives it a sort of faint bronzy-grey hue that matches both the Bronze Stingray wrap and the bronze colored covertech nob. The grip wrap is comfortable and attached to the hilt very well. The saber itself is weighty, and feels very solid. I cannot complain about the craftsmanship of this saber in these matters.

I turned the saber on after examining the outside aesthetics for a while. It lit up with a brilliant BLUE hue and I nearly blinded myself with the 6w blue, hah! Anyway, tested the auxillary switch and tried out some blaster deflects as well as the "clashing" effect. Every nice, though I am a bit concerned about the sound quality because the sound font and saber seem quieter than reviews I have witnessed. Regardless, the saber is fairly audible. It may just be the pommel style of the Gladius.

I switched the saber to the RED color and was pleasantly surprised by a very vibrant TRUE red hue. The 6w red was just as blinding, and looked amazing in the Infinity Edge blade. I also swapped it over to the PURPLE hue. The 12w purple created by the two other colors astounded me because instead of a very dark colored purple, I ended up with this very lovely "Derelict Purple" color similar to the variant found in the popular SWTOR MMO. Regardless of this, the 12w Purple is BRIGHT. Almost too bright, haha!

The Infinity Edge blade makes all of these colors look amazing. And I am pleased with the combinations I was given. I have Red for my Sith needs, Blue if I want to go Jedi, and a Derelict Purple for anything. I love it. The only issue I have with this is that when I do a spin or swing, it likes to swap colors on me.

Anywho. Soundfonts. I tried deciphering the names but I might have gotten a few wrong because some of them are hard to make out when they announce themselves.

Father's Son (?) : Sort of a traditional lightsaber hum with a high energy resonance from it. It sounds very "synthetic crystal" like. Very Luke ROTJ-ish.

Essence Episode 1: It has a very deep hum that sounds sort of dirty/rutty. I don't really like this font, so I might change it out later. But it works well for something I'd consider used and abused!

Hidden Warrior : Very energetic. It has a high pitched hum and activation, with a sharp, quick swing and traditional sounding clash. The swing seems out of place to me, like it belongs on Pre Visla's ancient lightsaber from the Clone Wars animated series. However, I like this font otherwise.

Meteor (?) : Very subtle, with a weak hum that sort of "bubbles" faintly. It has a quick swing. A bit to quiet for my tastes.

Old Tomb (?) : A very synthetic hum and sound, with a deep swing and sharp clash. It has a very "Vaderesque" feel to it. I like this font the most.

Sabertracks : I haven't used this yet. I plan on putting something like Clash of Destiny or other SWTOR related songs on it. Maybe the OT song when Luke fights Vader for the last time before the Emperor.

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I moved on to examining the inside of the saber. I noticed a few things that I was concerned about. The main thing is rattling. Near the pommel, there is a very resonate rattling sound and you can feel movement from parts inside the saber. I learned quickly that this was the speaker, which I have my concerns about. Peering inside, I can see very sound wiring and a snug fit to all of the parts; except the speaker. It is held in place by what seems to be one or two thin wires with no read chassis for it to rest in. The speaker has a protective ring on it and moves quite a lot as it rests inside the saber's pommel area. I fear that it might break easily with use of the saber (sparring, swinging, spins, etc). The speaker is also reinforced with what appears to be hot glue where the wires are soldered onto it. All in all, any wiring/electronic concerns I have are geared towards this one thing.

Is this intentional? Have others experienced this? If so, has this been a problem at all to you? I have legitimate concern about this because I don't want my speaker breaking in my new $400 lightsaber.

Anyway. That aside, I moved on to wanting to check out my miniUSD card. Well, I wanted to at least. With the speaker as it is, I'm afraid to stick my finger down inside the hilt to see if I can get at the card. I can clearly see it, but there isn't a chassis that slides out easily to access the card. Do I simply stick my finger inside the saber's pommel and press on the card to get it to slide out, or is there actually a way to access it? I'm afraid of breaking something vital. Also, I would like some instructions on how to use the miniUSD card to alter the saber's behavior. The clashing sensitivity is off (it takes too much to get it to clash) and I'd like to fix that, as well as back up my card's data in case something happens.

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All in all, I am pleased but I have my few concerned. The concerns deal with the integrity/quality of my speaker and about removing/altering my miniUSD card. Aside from these two things, the overall quality is surprisingly pleasing and I may be looking into more Saberforge purchases in the future!






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MORE PICTURES: Custom Blade Plug (Turbine Style)

Looks very nice! I like it. Hopefully the speaker items can be addressed.

I'm just wondering if others have their speakers like this or if it's actually going to be an issue. I don't want my $400 Saberforge saber konking out on me already. XD

Usually SaberForge will install something like THIS in their sabers to keep the LED module and speaker in place. If there isn't one in your saber holding the speaker in place, then you can either go to a local Menards or Home Depot and pick one up or order one from the link.

My Fury ended up having some issues because the speaker wasn't properly secured. After less than an hour of dueling one of the wires snapped off internally and the sound wouldn't work anymore. Course, I was able to send it back to Phil with a warranty form filled out and he fixed it right up for me and I haven't had a problem since. If you're worried about the speaker feel free to send SaberForge an email and they'll advise you on the best course of action.

I'd also double check with them about the Hero board microSD card, I'm not sure if it's the same as the Nano Biscotte which is the only customizable board I've had experience with, but I was able to just press down on the SD card and it popped right out, and then I slid it back in when I was done editing it and it snapped into place again and worked fine.

Hope that helps! Enjoy your Gladius! It looks gorgeous!

I love it. It's so gorgeous in person. It has a very "regal" feel to it.

And yeah, it has one of those but the speaker itself isn't attached to it. That part itself is nestled in the far end of the saber and the speaker is inside of the hilt. I'm wondering if my saber was tampered with by the postal service because of the condition the box was in, and the speaker was "damaged" because of that.

I've already sent an email, so I'll see what they say!

I doubt it was the post office. All of the SaberForge sabers I've ordered have come packaged in the way you describe.

Something I've found useful is to get a little roll of velcro and nestle that in between the soundboard and the speaker, so that the speaker is pressed up against the screw-off pommel and held in place with the velcro behind it. The first two lightsabers I ordered came like that and they worked fine.

I might actually do that. Thanks for the suggestion.

EDIT:

Worked like a charm. Thanks!

Fantastic! Good to hear it. Also, I love your turbine blade plug! Where'd you get it?

I made it myself using leftover polycarbonate tubing from an Ultrasaber's blade, a razor blade head, and part of a pen that had a metallic luster to it that matched the razor head. XD

It looks sweet! Can you post a pic or two of it without the LED shining through it so I can see the details?

Sure I'll do that right now. Give me a few minutes.

DONE. They're on the OP with the others.

SO SO SO SO SO COOL! I love SaberForge's blade plugs, but this one is so different from theirs, I love it as well! If you've got any extra for sale, I wouldn't mind getting one or two

If I find another part like the bullet-shaped cone piece for the turbine, I'll let you know. I still have polycarbonate tubing lying around, and I have several razor heads from an old shaver that I've cleaned off and have in a parts bin for crafts like that. I wouldn't charge much, haha, but if I have more than one lying around it's because I have limited supplies. So yeah, I'll let you know if that happens.

Great, thanks!

Not a problem my friend.

I have decided to name this gladius "Melchior".

Just an update.

I'm borrowing a microSD reader from a friend at college. I'll be using it to adjust the settings on the saber, such as the sensitivity to the clash effects. I'm also going to be removing most of the sound fonts, because I won't be needing five of them (one or two will do me well enough).

At some point in the near future, I'll be obtaining the Electrum sound font from Saberfont.com to put on the saber.

That blade plug is absolutely gorgeous

Thanks! I've used this one in several sabers. I just migrate it as needed, haha.

Where did you get the turbine plug?