Hi fellow saber fans. I just recently joined the forums after getting my first real ultrasaber. the Dark Mantis. This lightsaber was made for me. Its big, mean, and intimidating. The hilt is beautiful and it came to me in flawless condition from Ultrasabers. Heres a shot of the hilt
And heres one from the other side:
The detail on the emitter is amazing. I love the 3 silver grooves that run along the top of it and the 3 cutouts in the emitter itself let the blade glow though the emitter when ignited. On the bottom half you can see the holes all around the base that act as windows when ignited. One of these holes also houses the blade retention screw. A clever way of keeping it inconspicuous which I like.
I got it with a black AV switch which illuminates red when the saber is turned on. Above it is the chrome body collar which sits below the emitter. This collar can be adjusted anyway you like by just cracking the emitter loose a turn. I wanted one of the arrow cutouts to be aligned with the AV switch so that's how I set it. Once you retighten the emitter the body collar will not move at all. The AV switch sits directly atop the portion of the saber where the body curves which feels like the perfect spot for it.
Below the curve is a chrome ribbed section which is covered by a black body shroud. This part looks fantastic. The body shroud can be loosened and rotated however you want just by removing the pommel and covertec knob. I haven't had to do this though. I like where the covertech is just fine.
The pommel is two pieces and comes in two variations. Either with spiked blocks or flat blocks. I got the spiked ones, cuz yea, darkside bruh. We're going for scary here. Im not trying to be a guardian of peace and justice with this beast. I want spikes to crack jedi over the head with lol. The bottom of the pommel is vented for sound for the obsidian V4 sound board to blast though from.
This saber is a monster. Its not for the faint of heart. Its not for pretty spins and dainty flourishes. Its for cleaving jedi in half. The hilt is an absolute beast.
Heres a shot of it next to my Luke Skywalker ESB lightsaber.(This an actual vintage graflex, while not an ultrasaber per se, I consider it an ultrasaber because all the internals and electronics are from ultrasabers, though they are older parts. It has a Luxeon 5 led in guardian blue and the original ultrasound soundboard)
You can see the graflex pails in comparison to the gigantic Dark Mantis.
Here is the Dark Mantis ignited with a midgrade blade in a brightly lit room. I tried everything I could to get the actual color in the picture but its impossible. The thing is to damn bright. Even in a bright room with softened camera settings it still just washes out the camera and looks white on the blade itself. It doesn't look like that for real. In person I assure you its a glorious deep red. I did get it under control enough so that you kind of see the light poking though the window holes in the emitter. Again, in person this looks sick.
Heres another ignited shot, this time with the graflex ignited with it. I don't know what LED's Ultrasabers is using these days, but they are at least 30% brighter than the old lux 5 blue in the graflex. Still, on camera at least the graflex still looks good. In person the mantis outshines it.
And finally, I call this one "The darkness, and the light"
Overall buying my first ultrasaber has been a great experience. Everything was perfect. The hilt, the obsidian soundboard, the blazing red led etc etc. This saber is built like a tank and feels indestructible. There are no loose parts or anything rattling around in there, its solid as a rock. Im very happy with all the options I chose as well as Ultrasabers service. Did I mention I ordered this thing on a Monday and had it that Thursday of the same week? Well I did and the turnaround time was unbelievable.
The amount of care and passion Ultrasabers has for what they do is clearly evident in the Dark Mantis. The finish, design, parts and metal all have a feeling of high quality. As a first time customer in buying one of ultrasabers creations my expectations were far exceeded. This saber is better than I ever imagined in every way. I give it a 10 out of 10.
Next on my list is the chosen one in banes heart
