Visual comparison of cheap sabers

[Vyk]

After buying a cheap Hasbro for econosound mods, I decided to grab some video before I disassembled it.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-1XiPsvjH8" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-1XiPsvjH8</a>

Left to right are:

• Hasbro 1999 Qui-Gon Jinn; 2 C batteries, incandescent flashlight bulb.
• Non-Star Wars toy bought at Walt Disney World in 2009; 3 AAA batteries, red, green, and blue LEDs in blade and pommel (pressing power button rotates through fast walking RGB, slow walking RGB, all on, flashing R, flashing B, flashing G, off.  Fast-walking-RGB is practically seizure-inducing).
• Hasbro 2010 Mace Windu; 3 AAA batteries, 3 blue LEDs at base of blade.
• Hasbro 2012 Ultimate FX Obi-Wan Kenobi; 3 AAA batteries, blue LEDs in blade.

I've read that the 2010s put out about 200mA combined to the LEDs, and I can believe that; in any event, it's thoroughly unimpressive.  As you can see, the light from the WDW and UFX sabers overwhelms it.  My AS Aeon is currently in pieces awaiting the board from the Mace Windu, so it couldn't put in an appearance; in a comparison against the Ultimate FX, it was definitely brighter but nowhere near enough to overwhelm the camera.

I'll probably do an audio comparison at some point; I'd kind of like to have an actual microphone first.  Perhaps after I have an Obsidian with which to shame the others.    In brief, though, the Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi sabers seem to be the same sound chip but with a nicer speaker on the Kenobi; they utterly humiliate the old Qui-Gon Jinn saber in number, length, and quality of sampled sounds.  (Amazing what 10 years of progress will do.)

[Tobalation]

Nice Video!

I have one of the those 1999 Qui-Gon Sabers! The first sabre I ever brought.

[Vyk]

Thanks!  It was my first saber too; worked well for thwacking my brother-in-law.    (Who, appropriately, had a Darth Maul saber.)  I was originally going to tear its soundboard out for my Aeon, but I couldn't find it.  (I later discovered it was right where I had thought it was, but under something that I didn't think had space to hide it.)  I'm glad I didn't find it until after I'd bought the UFX on clearance; the sound is unspeakably bad in comparison.  (For any who haven't heard one, you can actually hear a break in the idle hum about once a second as it loops.  There are no swing sounds and only two clash sounds.)