So, finally writing this review. I didn't do it before because of the picture situation, or because I'm lazy. Accept any theory you like. So! Why don't I tell y'all a story about the journey here?
A while ago, back in like 2009-2010, I was browsing "lightsaber" results on Google, and found this company called Saberforge. I remember their website animated when you opened it, and that they had some hilts like "Rebel Princess", "Redeemer", and "Desert Trooper" or something to that effect. I really liked it, but was daunted by the prices, and decided I didn't really want one anyway.
Five or six years later, the TFA hype was strong, and I wanted a real lightsaber, not something like the cheap plastic Ultimate FX. I looked at Ultrasabers, and was nearly dead set on getting a Bellicose with sound when I found Saberforge. I thought their website looked oddly familiar, but I couldn't think from where. At any rate, I browsed through their designs, and kept coming back to the Standard Finish Venomous Fury. There's a guy who has a weathered Fury, and I posted in his thread that he described the process leading to my choice exactly.
I watched some reviews on YouTube, though I couldn't find much, and read the reviews here. There was one guy who had it in Deep Blue, and I liked the look of this saber in blue. I also wanted a blue lightsaber to begin with, and this just reinforced my decision. I had decided that a saber without sound was just a fancy flashlight, but a saber with sound was a lightsaber, so I went with the Champion Tier. I decided on Medium Blue because... I can't exactly remember why I chose this shade. Oh well. I also opted to get a Covertech belt clip, and not to get Quick Connects (which I probably should have, but oh well). At some point before this I realized I had seen Saberforge before some 5 years earlier. It was pretty cool realizing this.
So I placed my order on December the 14th, 2015. Between the time I ordered the saber and the time I got it, Saberforge switched over to using 12w+ LEDs, which made me quite happy. During this time, customer service was helpful, if somewhat delayed due to the multiple things going on. I recieved my Toblerone (so there was no need to invoke Saber and a Sweet) on March 11th, 2016. Was this when Knytiri left? I think so. The day was bittersweet. I finally had my saber, but the valiant "Knight of Iri", who had led us all through the Dark Times, and me through my wait, was gone, at least from this forum. Even though my Friday was... not fantastic, my lightsaber was!
It's brighter than I had dared imagine, and I love the Medium Blue of the blade. The Viridian font is clear and powerful, and the speaker is loud, even on Low Intensity it drowns out my old saber. I haven't dared to try it on High. The 32" blade is balanced with the hilt, and a joy to spin around. The hilt's lack of greeblies or control boxes helps this tremendously, and is to my liking. The hilt is solid, with the only sharp edges being those of the emitter shroud, which I couldn't
possibly cut myself on, yet I find myself with several mysterious scrapes on my left hand. Maybe I should sand them down or something.
The soundboard absolutely loves to play clash sounds when I'm spinning the hilt, and is reluctant to play them when I'm hitting the blade against something. Oh well. The swing sounds have one particular sound which repeats over and over, which seems like something similar to the Crystal Focus' spin sounds, though I can't get them to chain for too long, because a clash sound will eventually play. The settings menu is clear enough, but I never use the blade flicker, mostly I don't really like any of the speeds. It only has one font, so I may upgrade the sound later. It's good for now, though.
The saber came with a cool blade plug, the Covertech belt clip I ordered, a blade, a kill key, an Allen key, a hilt (obviously), an instruction manual/warranty information sheet, and a Saberforge business card.
All in all, I love it. I will definitely purchase more from Saberforge. Is a Sentinel for my first electronics install as stupid as it sounds?
Here are some pictures of the hilt. I can only link to two at a time, so ask for a specific picture, and I'll do my best to get it to you. But I only have an iPhone 5S camera, so, y'know, that might adversely affect the quality of the image.
So! If I get 8 replies, I'll push the number of replies in the Venomous Fury topic over 100. That's a nice numerical milestone. Just a thought. Not a goal or anything. Also, I FINALLY POSTED THIS REVIEW. Thank goodness. That's done.