Okay, so I'll probably get flamed for this review because I purchased something without doing a little more research first, but that's okay I own my mistakes.
So I originally started looking for a lightsaber for a Halloween costume, and came across Ultrasabers site. I quickly found myself building all sorts of sabers but then getting gun shy at the total and changing my mind. Finally I ended up caving on a v4 Initiate, Consular Green, upgraded pommel, with an Obsidian V4 board (cause seriously, what is the point of this without the sound?). I was super excited, my costume was coming together and my inner child is screaming.
A few days later, before my Initiate v4 even ships, I find myself on the site again. This time building a Scorpion with a Diamond controller. I watched a few reviews of this particular saber, and it looked big for sure, and really liked the styling including the claw. It was late, and I went ahead and ordered that too. Literally no reason at all for it, I don't need two for my costume and nobody else needed one. What the hell? LOL
They both arrived within a week; I was incredibly impressed with the turnaround time! I also got a couple free initiates with my order so can let family play with those when they come over. So on to the reviews.
Initiate v4 with Obsidian v4:
This hilt fits very nicely in my hand and is super easy to swing around. I ran to Home Depot and got some O-rings for the handle, which really helped the grip. The pommel I got is a little large, but looked very Star Wars-ish in its shape so I went with it and it doesn't interfere too much with swinging it around. I love the vents near the blade, they look absolutely amazing. I went with the Tri-Cree Consular Green, and it looks stunning in person! No flash on clash unfortunately, but damn it is bright!
The Obsidian v4 board is pretty nice as well! The software to customize it is pretty straight forward, I was able to use Audacity to convert some random WAV files into the correct format and make a stupid SoundFont with Owen Wilson saying "WOW!" for the swings. The sound quality is pretty good, louder and more clear than I was expecting! So far so good!
One note is I got the guarded switch - big mistake - the guard around the button is super uncomfortable. Should have gotten an AV switch.
I did however run into a few issues with it. One of the times I was inserting my blade plug, it almost got stuck; some small metal burr or something in the emitter was grabbing it. I cleaned it up with a small flathead but that would have sucked to get it stuck in there.
Next issue I ran into was one of the times I re-inserted my blade, the saber would not power on whatsoever. I took the blade out, re-installed it, and it powered on fine. Testing it, it appears the LED module is free-floating and if pushed down in a certain way it's making contact with something that is shorting it. Good to know it's not damaged, but that's kind of annoying. As long as I install the blade in a certain way it doesn't do it, so it hasn't been an issue. I'm a little disappointed the LED module is free floating, I feel like it should use a retention screw to hold it.
Overall: 8/10. I really like the saber, this is a really cool toy to have even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I love the green color and Obsidian board, but I kind of wish I went with a better hilt as this feels sort of basic. Great for a first saber.
Scorpion with Diamond controller:
This hilt is freaking MASSIVE. One review of it said the saber was designed for a Wookie - and he was right! I should have checked the measurements on it before ordering because despite watching videos it is still much larger than I expected. Frankly, it looks awesome. Doesn't exactly look like it's from the Star Wars universe, but it sure as hell looks like something evil. With the claw you can probably legitimately defend your house from an intruder with it, this thing is super solid! I was initially very torn because it looked amazing, but was almost comically enormous.
The Diamond controller - okay this controller is absolutely amazing. Dove right into configuring saber colors and things, it was super easy and VERY cool to be able to change colors on the fly. Flash on clash, gestures, all of it - very fun to play with!! The sound quality is amazing, the responsiveness to swings and clashes feels much quicker than the Obsidian v4 to be honest. Less effort is needed to get the saber to make sounds overall, it feels more natural moving it around.
Again, made the mistake of getting the guarded switch. They should just burn these things. They suck ass and are super uncomfortable. Go AV switch. Always.
One thing I noticed about the 36" blade vs the 32" that came with my Initiate, is it feels a bit more wobbly when you swing it around. Hard to describe, but you can tell its a longer blade. The 32" feels more like a solid piece with the hilt when you swing it.
Overall: 7/10. If you are looking for an enormous saber, this is the one for you. Unfortunately it was not the one for me, and I ate the 20% restocking fee to return it to Ultrasabers. I just could not get over the size of it, I felt like I bought a club or something. The Diamond controller however is amazing, I really think it's worth the extra investment and sort of wish my Initiate had it.
Lesson: if you're looking for a saber, don't cheap out on the hilt. The electronics cost more, so just get the hilt you want. Also, get the Diamond controller if you can swing it - it is an absolute blast to play with and the colors you can get with it are amazing! Now I have a store credit I'm sitting on and going to take my time with my next saber purchase. Looking forward to writing my next review - thanks for reading and I hope this helps someone out there!