"I want to get an Obi-Wan hilt, but I'm not sure which one to get..."
This question gets asked A LOT, I've seen it more times than I can count on the FB groups, forums, and even gets asked personally from time to time. So, I thought I'd do a little comparison to help those folks who are looking for that knockout Obi-Wan ANH style saber to add to their collection.
Before I get to the meat of the comparison a bit a preface. As someone who installs and "builds" sabers I see lots of empty hilts, all of varying degrees of construction, price, and in the case of canon hilts - accuracy. Not too long ago I started classifying empties into three categories:
Economic - Price range up to $150 - these are hilts that are designed to be exactly what the name says, affordable. I don't expect much out of them in the way of bells and whistles, and when it comes to canon style hilts, much in the way of screen accuracy.
Mid Range - Price range $150-$250 - These are reasonably priced, and generally offer more than a hilt in the economic category. The closer you creep to that $250 mark the more I expect out of them in the screen accuracy dept, or "bells and whistles" dept.
High End - price Range $250+ - most of these fall between about $300 and $500 for an empty, some can climb much higher though. These are the cream of the crop (usually) and should be damn near perfect.
So that said, the comparison between the K4 and the MK1 is between two hilts in different categories. The K4 on the upper end of the Mid Range category, and the Mk1 at a very healthy price point in the High end Category.
So which one should you get? Well to be perfectly honest, I don't think you'd be terribly disappointed either way. It all really depends on what you are striving for. The K4 being the more affordable of the two certainly makes it very attractive, the total attention to screen accuracy on the MK1 makes it the pinnacle of Obi-Wan ANH replica hilts. The reality is that 9 out of 10 star wars fans aren't going to be able to tell you which one is the more accurate, and they both look great.
On to the looks at the two of them. MK1 is on the top and left side of pics. For these pics I have both sabers empty, the K4 has not been weathered (the emitter has been buffed down to be shiny though). The MK1 is a "weathered" kit from Roman.
You can't see it to well in the picture, but the MK1 does have the holes in the inner ring, the ring it just black in this case.