TOPIC: Saberz Dark Oracle/Kapulus

Note: this is pretty much the same review posted on other saber forums back in May, but I know some people don't see all of those. Still, I think it's informative, and it has lots of pretty pictures.
Since first reading about the Z-Core system proposed by Saberz late last year, I have been keeping a very close eye on developments in the system. I am of the mindset that the more options out there, the better the hobby is on the whole. Something modular in a different way than the MHS system struck a chord with me. Then once the Prizm boards were announced, I knew that one of these Prizm sabers would be my next big saber purchase. So needless to say, I’ve been VERY excited since the official release. Now since I’ve established some lofty expectations, how does it hold up?

Initial Impressions

Let’s say I was… overeager in my refreshing of the Saberz website last week while waiting for the Prizm sabers to announced as available. So… sorry if I slowed things down on your server while you were working zenkai. ^^;;

I placed my order in Friday night, and it was shipped out on Saturday. Really quick on the draw, and zenkai was immediately in contact with me to provide additional information and open communication for any questions, which I did have a couple, and they were answered promptly. The boys in blue shorts at USPS actually managed to get my package to me on Monday afternoon, which was a surprise, since USPS never delivered anything to me early. The box was a little beaten, but the saber, blades (one that comes with the saber and two extras I ordered) and accessories were all securely wrapped in large bubble wrap and didn’t have a scratch on them.

Since it was delivered to my office and I was still at work, I didn’t get to play with it right away, but I did plug it in to charge up with the included charger while I finished up my work. I turning it on for the first time, I see now why tri-rebels are a go-to for brightness and color mixing. Even in my well-lit (maybe overly lit depending on the time of day) the blade was still bright and solid enough to impress my coworkers (who are not saber enthusiasts).

Closer Inspection

After taking it home and spending some more quality time with it, just about every aspect of this saber has impressed me.
Here’s some photos as I go along:


The saber itself, with the Dark Oracle parts, comes in just shy of 12” from pommel to the tip of the shroud. The shroud itself only extends about ½” beyond the emitter, so it’s not going to get in the way.

The emitter and shroud work together nicely. I like that the emitter base has three sets of holes around the circumference for the shroud to secure onto it, allowing for the shroud to be rotated in a desired direction. The set screw holding it in place is nice and beefy, and is short enough to be flush below the shroud when securing the blade in place.


Speaking of the blade, it seats over 3” deep into the emitter, which I really like. Shallow blade depth in an emitter scares me sometimes.


The body shroud pieces are nice and snug in place, and to me at least, do not get in the way of wielding the saber. They’re thin enough to not be obtrusive, but not so thin as to bend easily. It looks to me like it would be hard to snag the edge of the body shroud on something. The pommel is nice and solid, and is vented now, what looks like a change from the initial prototype images. Which would be great for putting speakers in the pommel end…


...except that’s not where it’s installed! Inside the bottom of the z-core module is easy access to the SD card on the Prizm board, which is really snug inside. A nice touch with the plastic tube pieces shielding the board from the inner wall of the module. There’s still a bit of space inside the bottom as well if not using a threaded pommel.


The speaker is actually installed up here in the middle of the saber, just above the switch plate and behind the hefty copper heat sink. It’s been wrapped around in foam to keep it from bouncing around. THe sound is still nice and loud coming from the vents in the switch plate, but I have to be careful not to grip around it and muffle the sound. Also of note, the wiring inside the switch plate is really neat, nothing is cram-fu’d in there. There’s still extra space inside here as well, perhaps a good spot for a loose RICE port…


On top of that copper heat sink is the LED and lens, which are secured in place. The emitter when screwed in fits over the lens.


A shot of everything disassembled, less than a minute to take it apart.

The Prizm Board

Now comes the fun (and also I learned , somewhat tricky) part. The Prizm board is pretty snazzy. Once I backed up the SD card, I popped a couple other fonts onto the card, easy enough, I’ve done that before.

This is where I get to my one real gripe about the saber. Color mixing the up to 10 profiles without RICE is… tedious at best. Frustrating at worst, especially with no prior experience trying to mix colors on a tri-rebel. When I received my saber, there was no documentation about the Prizm-specific features included, so I tried referencing the base PCv3 manual for information. Zenkai was more than helpful in answering my questions about the color mixing and how it works, what its limitations are, etc, so I was able to start toying with the color sets and trying to mix my own combinations. But having to power down, pull the SD card, plug it into the computer, blindly guess at the color mixing values, save, pull the card from the computer, put it back in the saber, power it on, and cycle back to the color profile I’m working on is a long process. Now imagine trying to do that for ten color profiles (if you wanted to change the default seven on the card along with making the other three yourself). If ever there was a feature set on a Plecter board that justifies a RICE port, this is it for sure.

However, once I got a few color profiles tweaked how I liked them, everything clicked. Thanks to the switch placement in the z-core module, I have not had any issues with accidental color switches. Though I find it difficult to hit the auxiliary button for effects when using one hand, as I’ve found the comfortable place for me to grip the saber is around the emitter shroud.


There’s still enough room for a second hand on the bottom of the hilt, which can easily hit the auxiliary button if I need to.

Swinging It Around

So far I have not had a lot of time to actually put this baby to use, as work and other activities have kept me preoccupied. What I have done so far, a little spinning and such, the hilt does feel pretty well balanced. With the included z-blade locked in, the balance point of the whole saber is a fraction of an inch past the end of the emitter. I’ll be taking this with me to regular GOlden Gate Knights sessions to get more quality choreo time with it, and I’ll be updating this review in a few weeks after I’ve had more time to put it through its paces.

The Other Bits


Also included with the hilt and blade were a couple extras, shown here. First is a set of thin washers in both black and silver, designed to help align the rotation of the emitter so the shroud lines up where I want it. These definitely came in handy. In the earlier pictures with the saber assembled, I used one of the 0.8mm washers to get the emitter lined up so that one of the three sets of holes for mounting the shroud lined up with the switches. Very handy to have. I

In the middle is a custom kill key with the Saberz logo on it. A nice touch.

Also included was a set of hex wrenches. So far I’ve only needed the 2.5mm and 3mm wrenches to open everything up, but having a whole set in metric is useful.

The Z-blades that come with the saber feel nice. I was definitely interested in how they would hold up to contact, being that 2mm wall thickness is between the hobby standard thin and thick walled blade stock. I’ll know more how they stand up to contact in a few weeks after taking them to classes and such. As far as their appearance, I can’t complain about anything. The hybrid blade tip lights up evenly and looks great. The blade itself looks nice and even, though my personal preference still leans a little more towards non-sanded blade stock, I like defined edges of the blade light. I’ll have to play around with my camera more later to get better lit blade pictures, but here’s one up close of the blade tip to show how well it lights up.



Summary

Overall, I am absolutely happy with my purchase. I plan on getting a couple more pommels and emitters later to really take advantage of the modularity of the system. The saber feels nicely balanced for use, and doesn't come off as flimsy or cheap in any way. The internals are well-done (at least from my perspective), and great care went into these designs. I love the options in the Prizm board, though I see myself having a RICE port installed down the road because I think it's really needed to take full advantage of the color mixing. I'm not usually the first adopter type, but I'm glad I was with this.

IMGUR Gallery of all the pictures in larger format here: Dark Oracle Review - Imgur

EDIT: Added additional pictures and supplemental video to first post.

Very extensive review, thanks! I got to handle the Kapulus this past weekend thanks to Darth Nonymous visiting NYC, and I was very impressed at the quality (and slim design). Might have to get a Saberz hilt myself in the near future.

I like how the AV switch is on a plate that is easily removable.

Nice saber, but the control box is a bit ugly.