TOPIC: Champion 12W Artic Blue JadeFire

So. Here's my somewhat overdue review for my first saber from Saberforge to arrive. So, jumping right into it:



Here's a nice pic I think.. shows that the silver finish on it is very shiny and clean. overall first impression is a definite "Wow!", the hilt is solid and we'll crafted, nothing on it is lose or moving, everything is lined up really well and it just has an amazing quality feel.



The hilt is a little bit smaller than I expected, and does present some gripping concerns if you were going to use it for dueling. You would definitely need gloves, but also the hilt is rather light, and the blade heavy, so the balance point is about 6in past the emitter or so, which is a bit far out for my taste. The box above the AV Switch has some rather sharp corners, and with the black ridges above it it forces your grip lower to avoid taking chunks oit of your thumb with the box. The best grip I've found is about here:



Now, I didn't specifically purchase this saber for dueling, but because I love Mara jade in the EU and I wanted a collectors piece of her saber. However I also didn't want the cliche purple jade saber... lol. So I got it in Artic Blue.... Which is a beautiful color!



This picture is taken in the same lighting as the previous ones.. it is fantastically bright and beautiful.

So! Summary:

Pros -
- beautiful and solid craftsmanship
- solid quality, amazingly bright
- loud sound quality and easy to understand menus to change the settings on the soundboard without having to pull it out and mess with it.
- light yet durable

Cons -
- non-ideal grip for dueling and balance point too far out.

That's about it.. thanks guys! Any questions, ask away and I'll do my best to answer.

That's coo, I wanted to see what the Mara jade saber was like. Good pic's too, makes it look great. Good overall review, keep em coming

That arctic blue looks great. Makes me wish that I would have ordered it instead of my Royal Blue LED.

I just got my 12w champion purple (though looks pink in comparison to my other purple) JadeFire this past Friday. Since I am a dueling nut, I removed that troublesome box. It is now surprisingly easy to spar with. I only have a 32" blade in mine, which to my surprise seems to be the perfect length for this hilt.
I give it a 10/10 for aesthetics, a 5/10 for dueling, but without the box and a shorter blade I'll up that to an 8/10

Thovan Raal wrote: I jus got my 12w purple Acolyte, my purple is a strong color. I have heard some people having your problem, but mine is fine even on a low charge. Was yours???

Yeah, the box is pretty easy to remove and it's a lot more comfortable to grip that way but I have this crazy OCD issue where I expect things to look a certain way and when I take the box off it bothers me to no end... =/

Maybe you can help me out. I've been trying to find out how long the hilt is. I've ordered one as a gift and I'm building a box for it. I'd be incredibly grateful if you would measure the length.

I know this is a little bit of an older post, but I was wondering is the box something that is easy to remove and replace, or is it more of a once it's off, it's off type of deal.

Oh it's very easy to take off and put back on, just a single screw. I can't remember the size of the allen key needed for it... little bit larger than the blade retention screws if I recall correctly, but you can take it off in a matter of seconds, and put it back on just as quickly. I always took it off while playing with the saber, then put it back on after, because visually to look at it with the box, it bugged me, but that box is VERY uncomfortable when gripping/using the saber.

That's really cool. I am glad that they designed it that way. I like the saber design a lot but had concerns about the box. I am glad that it is a simple on and off process.

You don't happen to have a picture of how the saber looks with the box off do you?

Nope, sorry. don't have that saber anymore.

Hi, I have a question about this hilt and some other particular lightsabers.

The JadeFire has a really interesting design, lots of little shapes and blocks along the grip. So I'm thinking about this for my first lightsaber. But im wondering do all those little shapes and blocks make it awkward to grip? Especially during a lightsaber dual?

Referencing the picture I imagined that one hand with grip the narrow part of the handle, palm touching the opposite side of the rectangle block and the other hand will grip the wider part of the hilt where the screws are. With other lightsabers such as the Redeemer or the Reliant does the rectangle box sticking out from the side make it weird to grip with two hands? When I see it I feel that way but no one mentions it.

Also looking at the attached picture, is the darker lightsaber hilt the 'weathered finish'? If so it looks cool, I'd get that.

Knytiri wrote: There's your answer about shapes.

As far as that picture goes, it seems like a custom repaint someone did to their saber. Saberforge weathering is always black or grey, never brown; but, you can probably contact the customs shop and see about something similar (you will have to make compromises though. More information is in the FAQ)