Silver, if I would have known I would of saved my money
I saw your post on FB previous to reading this. Looks like you got some good suggestions over there.
Concerning the LED retention screw, US doesn’t have them in most sabers I’ve seen. The LED holds fine with the blade or blade plug inserted. As far as the brightness factor, I have yet to see an US that was not bright.
My thoughts are that it seems you expected something else. There I can only presume, and I don’t like to make presumptions. An educated guess would be that you bought a saber(s?) from another company and have gotten used to features you enjoy on their product. I saw the FB photos and thought the Aeon looked very cool. Based on your comments, it sounds like the fact that it was all silver disappointed you. And on that score, it’s your saber and therefore “yours” is the most important opinion here because you have to be able to enjoy it.
Suggestions: Try the leather wrap idea, as previously suggested. US are designed for customization in terms of their base line. And an Aeon V5 with claws is a bit of an upgrade for their basic line, but the same motto still applies. Some have colored accents, some are solid silver or black finish. I would say give it a good test drive before you do anything permanent and void the possibility of exchanging it. Get a feel for the saber. These are designed for combat, spinning (although the claws on the Aeon and Dominix make spinning more difficult). Look at the overall aethstetic. And in spite of not having an LED retention screw, these are designed to be very sturdy. I’ve seen guys into heavy dueling with competitors sabers who looked pretty enough but were left with deep gashed after a couple of drops. US, under the same heavy conditions have gotten relatively minor scratches by comparison.
Also check out the forum and videos as to how they’ve held up 5-7 years later, what people have used them for, how they customized them. There are places on the forum here which display all that. I think in the end, you’ll find you indeed have something a little different than what you might be used to, but that difference is not really a bad thing. Everyone has their opinions, just as saber manufacturers all make them slightly differently in terms of design and features. Some will tell you anything without sound is just a toy, others will tell you the components used to install sound mars the actual scale in order to fit electronics, and is therefore just a toy.
Find your own way, I say. That might be sticking with your favorite company, or sampling the fruits of various makers to give your collection a sampling of each and some variety.
I have been a return customer of US for various reasons I could give you. But I’m going to let you make up your own mind. The two best pieces of advice I ever recieved on collecting anything is: 1) Collect what YOU like, and 2) Never collect anything because you want to put it in a closet and hope it gains in monetary value. Enjoy it. Play with it. And if it makes you feel like a kid again, congrats—you win
