Lightsaber Buying Guide

Lightsaber Buying Guide

Below you'll find a sample of the many "Saber Smiths" available to purchase from. These are among the most popular out there and ALL of them are duel worthy, designed for full force combat. These 3 saber smiths are the current main contenders for the custom market.

There are MANY more out there. However most of them either specialize in complete custom work, or offer similar "off the shelf" sabers in a higher price bracket than these listed.

If you want to join up the community and find out more about lightsabers and the other companies you can check out

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All of these companies all share a few basic attributes and terms:

The blades are 1 inch outer diameter. Meaning you can use a blade from one brand on another brands hilt with zero problems. Some people prefer blades from one place and hilts from another.

The light comes from the HILT not the blade. This is one reason these are duel capable. If the LEDs were in the blade, which are known as string blades (a string of LEDs in the blade), its possible to pop them. Like the Black Series and Force FX. But you lose the "scolling" effect of the saber turning on and off by "extending" and "retracting". If you're familiar with the Force FX or black series, you know what I mean. Instead the light kind of fades in and out. Providing a similar, but different effect.

Some companies like Hamptons Hand Crafted Lightsabers have created duel capable string blades though. But those are a minority.

They all have the option of adding new or different "saber fonts" or sound effects. Some companies like SaberForge let you choose between 3 options for them to load onto your saber that can't be changed afterwards. Others like Vaders Vault let you load 6 different fonts to switch between on the fly after you download them from Saberfonts.com. Ultrasabers offers you a bunch for free to switch between as you please.

They can have Flash on Clash and Auxiliary effects added. Aside from brightness and fighting durability, the thing that separates them from the official licensed stuff like the Black Series or Force FX are these features.

Flash on Clash (FOC) means the blade will literally flash when you hit something with it.

Auxiliary effects include things like "Blaster Deflection", Lock up (Think of two lightsabers pushing against each other), motion activated "force powers" and so much more. It all depends on the sound board the smith uses. Much like video games, with preferred brands and arguments over those, the same drama exists for the different sound board brands.

RGB is also an option on almost every saber. RGB means you can change your sabers color on the fly using the RGB color scale. The dept and detail varies from company to company. For some, its even possible to assign a different sound font to each color and the saber will remember this.

Ultrasabers http://www.ultrasabers.com/

Ultrasabers is considered the gateway drug into the saber community. They offer a variety of hilts, from basic original designs to more detailed character based (Obi-Wan from Episode 1 for example) hilts. The accuracy of the character hilts vary. Some are very accurate while others work at a passing glance. They offer empty (no electronics), Stunt Sabers (Sabers without sound, just lights) and full featured sabers with sound. Their customer service can be spotty sometimes. You'll find conflicting stories where one group of people praise their service while others share their frustration. Ultrasabers has the fastest turn around time. Roughly two weeks from when you order your saber.

Ultrasabers

Ultrasabers is the cheapest on the market. Which is why some people tend to stick with them rather than branching out after buying from them. They allow you to fine tune every detail on your hilt, down to the button used to turn it on, in order for you to build one into your budget. However it sometimes comes off as being nickel and dimed for every little thing, especially when some things they charge you for are standard with other companies. And adding the features found in other companies, such as FOC and some Aux Effects, can quickly raise the price up to that OF the other companies sabers.

Ultrasabers

If you're trying to keep your budget down and not going with the Emerald Driver from them, at least get the Tri-Cree LED upgrade. Shown as a "Tri" color from the color menu. Its only $10 and honestly, without it or the ED, the brightness will leave you wanting. Tri-Cree LEDs are incredibly bright. The ED, aside from boosting the brightness of your saber, allows you to customize your saber and the color of your blade by plugging it into the computer and making changes in real time.

SaberForge http://www.saberforge.com/

SaberForge has been gaining massive popularity and seeing fast growth in the last few years. They mostly specialize in character based hilts and really have that market cornered in terms of affordable hilts based on movie props and comic designs. They have a basic line designed to compete with US cheapest offerings. But their real meat is in the elite line. Where hilts cost a little more but you're getting more detail on the hilt itself. They're basically Ultrasabers most direct competitor. They also offer, empty, stunt and complete hilts. SaberForge has one of the longer turn around times. Roughly 8 weeks from when you place your order. Their most expensive tier, the Hero Class, allows for a wide range of AUX effects and FOC.

SaberForge

I can't talk about SF without mentioning the controversy that surrounds them, as in all of it. While they have a huge cult following much like UltraSabers, ready to defend them at a moments notice, they're generally shunned from the larger Saber community. With a long list of grievances and an owner known for throwing temper tantrums, some people would call them an outright scam. Customer Service can again be spotty depending on who you talk to.

SaberForge

Despite all this, they're a popular option. Get their 12W+ option for maximum brightness. They only deal in heavy grade blades which are great for dueling, but won't let you take full advantage of the brightness of the 12w+ because of the blades extremely thick inner walls. Their heavy grade blade is known for being tough and taking quite a beating, but when it breaks it BREAKS. A common break on a normal saber blade is to have the tip pop off. Simply glue it back in. But the design of the V4 blade from SF means that when the tip pops off, it'll break the whole blade.

SaberForge https://www.etsy.com/shop/Saberforge?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=s

In general SaberForge hilts are slightly smaller than US, which makes them feel less clunky and more sword like. Check their Etsy page for exclusive test runs of saber designs, as well as a faster turn around time from your purchase date. The trade off is less options for customizing your saber. As these sabers are partially built, waiting to be finished based on a few less choices.

Vaders Vault http://vadersvault.com/

Vaders Vault started off as pure custom shop that only dealt in expensive one off's or highly detailed limited runs. They quickly earned a reputation as being one of the best in the biz. They recently switched gears into more off the shelf style models similar to US and SF. Their basic sabers, The Combat Class, are complete sabers that come fully featured with sound (as do ALL of their sabers) and are built from the ground up for dueling first and foremost. They don't have the hilt variety of the other guys yet, but they're newer in this aspect and still building their lineup. They have a longer lead time of around 12 weeks from your purchase date.

Vaders Vault

Priced competitively with over half of their combat class sabers marked at $350 and under. That puts them right in line with SaberForges Elite sabers ( Champion Class $355 with sound). They can often be cheaper depending on the hilt. Their Suncrusher LED is easily the brightest on the market and worth the $40 upgrade as it also includes FOC and other Aux effects on top of LED upgrade. Compared to SF which charges $30 for the 12w upgrade and nothing else.

Vaders Vault uses a Shock Absorbant Chassis.

It keeps all the wiring and electronics nice and neat and most importantly safe while you're banging these things around at full force. They were one of the first in the industry to include this standard. Something few other brands, specifically the major well known ones, offer. VV only offers the complete saber experience. Lights and Sound included.

Priced competitively, you'll find most of their sabers cost right in line (often cheaper) with similar offerings from the likes of SaberForges Elite sabers with sound and Ultrasabers with Premium Obsidian sound. But you'll still get features unique to VV such as the chassis, high end sound card, and size of their hilts.

Vaders Vault

Another defining feature is the size. While other sabers can sometimes feel like you're holding a flash light, VV keeps its dimensions to that of an actual sword hilt. So that picking one up feels like a weapon rather than a toy. This is made possible by the tiny, but advanced, sound card they use. Of the three main saber smiths, VV is the only one where you'll find nothing but glowing reviews for both their company/customer service and the products they make.

Vaders Vault offers Mid and Heavy Grade blades, but they recommend sticking to mid, as do I. Go with the shine through tip when customizing your blade, over the mirrored option.

**Bonus** The Custom Saber Shop http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/default.aspx

One other option is to literally build your own. While there are many ways to do so from scratch, The Custom Saber Shop offers all the parts and even tutorials your heart desires. Utilizing a system known as MHS (Modular Hilt System), you can design and build your saber from prefab parts all designed to fit together in a simple manner.

The Custom Saber Shop

You can go from some of the parts pictured above to something like this. A complete saber made out of MHS parts. It can be as simple or complicated as you make it. But if its your first time working with electronics, start simple and practice. You don't want to jump straight to an advanced build and ruin a $200 sound board because you shorted it out.

At the end of the day, this short list is only scratching the surface of the many wonderful companies out there for your sabering needs.