Well, I bought my first Ultrasaber about a year ago, the Catalyst, and was so blown away by it that I knew I just had to have more. Well a year later I just received my 5th Ultrasaber and though it was about time I posted a review on my collection to give something back to the community. For the convience of all imagine here will be thumbnails. This should allow faster load times. For full sized images you may go here:
http://imageshack.us/g/835/img2122h.jpg/So here we go.
Number one on the list. The Catalyst.
This saber is one of my personal favorites to use in a duel. Lightning quick and very comfortable.
The hilt is quite wide on the main body section, and with the machined groves it is very nice for your back hand to grip. Of course, this is not what makes the Catalyst such a fantastic saber, oh no. The choke point just below the crown emitter is what makes it such a comfortable and quick saber to use. The choke allows for easy grip with the leading hand and provides fantastic grip for combat. I have never accidentally lost my grip on this saber with my main hand, even in full on combat. The choke makes this saber very easy to use even with only one hand, which suits me great as I like to swich between one and two hands mid fight depending on weather I need speed or accuracy.
The crown emitter and the angled pommel finish this saber off nicely to give it a real Sithy look to it when in Blazing red, However it takes on a more jedi appearance with a different colour so this saber is very versatile.
Over all I would rate this saber:
Combat: 10/10
Appearance: 7/10
Comfort: 9/10
Tricks: 8/10
Over all: 9/10
The Catalyst
Blazing red with Ultra Edge heavy duty blade.
In the dark.
Choke point and Crown emitter.
Pommel and grips.
Next up we have the Dark Initiate V2.
This was my 2nd saber, I decided I wanted an offhand saber and well, this fits the bill perfectly.
Really light weight, compact and super easy to use. The raised emitter and mid section create a choke point near the emitter that is just perfect for your hand to sit in. And for those younglings looking for a starting saber, the end of the saber is great for your back hand to sit on, however the saber is a little small for me to use it with both hands comfortably.
This saber would also make for a fantastic dual wield saber, grab two of these and you would be the quickest little jedi/sith on the battle field.
This saber has a simple tube design with some raised points to create a choke, as well as the groves that show up silver against the black for a really nice effect.
Now, onto the ratings:
Combat: 8/10
Appearance: 5/10
Comfort: 8/10
Tricks: 10/10
Over all: 7/10
Blazing red Dark Initiate V2, standard midgrade initiate blade.
Choke and emitter.
Pommel and mid section.
Now moving on again. We have the Dark standard issue staff.
These sabers make a fantastic staff, the two of them look fantastic together. The slanted emitters, the tastefully placed silver groves that not only make this saber look beautiful in its simplicity, but a really nice grippy saber. These sabers are fairly comfortable to hold, this is due to the thin diameter of all the lower band (Non-MHS) sabers, and the groves just take it one step further. When together as a staff the sabers are a great length for the hilt. Perfect for doing tricks and such with, as well as combat. Being a fire spinner this is great news as it will allow me to use the saber to do fire staff tricks, either for show or in combat to confuse the enemy. This staff is half Guardian Blue and half Arctic Blue and it looks great together. Arctic blue is a really nice colour, comes out really bright, I was a little worried that it might be a dimer colour, but this is not the case. If you have been tossing up getting Acrtic or Guardian blue in your next saber Id give Arctic a shot if you want that more chilled out blue, its a more relaxed colour than the Guardian, which is a more firm harsh colour.
If you are looking for a staff, or even just 2 sabers so you can duel a buddy, id recommend the Dark Standard issue staff,because its cheaper than just buying two and you get the bonus of it being a staff when you want it to be.
And here we come to the ratings:
Alone:
Combat: 10/10
Appearance: 9/10
Comfort: 9/10
Tricks: 8/10
Over all: 9/10
Staff:
Combat: 10/10
Appearance: 8/10
Comfort: 9/10
Tricks: 10/10
Over all: 9.5/10
(Sorry guys, as of the time of this review my connector for the saber staff has one end munched up so im waiting on a replacement to arrive, so we just have single pictures for now.)
Guardian blue.
Arctic blue
Guardian blue at night.
Arctic blue at night.
The Hilt.
Emitter with forward grip.
Pommel with rear grip.
And now, for the 5th and final saber in my collection. My pride and joy. Ladies and Gentlemen I present.... The Raven!
Yes sir, this is a fine saber. Definitely my favourite out of the collection.
This section will be a double review, part one will be about the saber, part two will be about the Obsidian soundboard that I had installed in it.
So off we go with the Raven.
First off Id like to say that this saber is quite thick and heavy, so it takes some getting used to. However once you have been using it for awhile you no longer notice its size and weight and you start to notice its fantastic features. The raised rear grips are amazingly comfortable, they provide many mini choke points for your rear hand to fit into, so you can place your hand anywhere you find comfortable and the saber pretty much grabs it for you. Very easy to hold. The forward grip is the one that takes some getting used to. You get about a thumb and forefinger in between the end of the emitter (which is raised so you wouldn't want to partly grip that and partly grip the hilt) And the swich. Now that sounds uncomfortable for your hand right? Well actually no. It allows you to keep your middle finger on the switch at all times,which in the case of the Obsidian sabers is very useful as you are easily able to initiate the lockup sound effect when the time comes in a battle. This grip as I say takes some getting used to, but once you are there it becomes perfectly comfortable to use in a duel.
The saber itself is a marvel to look at. The hilt just looks so damn evil. Personally I have the SS pommel and the standard claws, and I would not want any more claw than is already on here. Im glad I didnt opt for the SS claws. The emitter with the blade shroud offers a unique and really nice emitter style we have yet to see on another saber. The claws extend a good way down the blade giving you that evil look that you always secretly wanted, and the pommel finishes off the whole package really nicely.
Another note is that this hilt is very long, even without the claws it is longer than all my other sabers, and adding the claws you are looking at allot of length. This shifts the cnter of balance for this saber, so if you plan on buying it, id go for a longer blade than you normally buy. I normally take the 32" blade then cut it back to 30" myself. But After using the Raven I have not cat it back at all, and actually wouldnt mind upgrading to a 36" blade. The hilt is just that heavy that instead of the blade length being harder to move around, it helps to offset the hilt and shifts the centre further out.
Now we have the ratings for the hilt:
Combat: 10/10
Appearance: 10/10
Comfort: 9/10
Tricks: 8/10
Over all: 9.75/10
Now we have the soundboard.
The Obsidian soundboard is amazing. The loud rumble inside the hilt from the speaker is fantastic. The sensors are fantastic, the customisation is fantastic. The sound quality is fantastic. The way you can mix and match sounds from fonts you have downloaded is amazing. This board can truly make a saber your own. Once more sound fonts come into the store the amount of options will be crazy. Plus ontop of that you have the adjustable swing and clash sensors that each take up to 12 sounds. The lock up, and the very easy to use power on and off, and of course your idle hum. All of this for a fantastic price. As a finishing note, I purchased the darkside power on from the store. The process of buying, downloading and installing was pretty simple, id say 80% of computer users could do it without any kind of instructions. I would'nt mind seeing a connection to the online shop right out of the obsidian software though, would just be a little more convenient, but the current set up works and is fine. Also the extra power on truly sounds more darkside. Where the defult obsidian power on is more a really loud laser zappy noise, the darkside power on is more a stealthy, almost gassy sounding snap-hiss sound. Very nice touch there from Novastar. Over all the soundboard is just amazing, if you dont have a saber with sound I recomend you go out and buy the saber you always wanted (because really, when you are already paying for the soundboard whats an extra $40 on your hilt to make sure its one you will love forever?) and then gear up with the obsidian soundboard. Give it a few months and im sure there will be sound fonts to suit everyone. But for now, the defult set is pretty damn sweet.
Rating time, not that I really need one after that:
Sound quality: 10/10
Sensor Quality: 10/10
Customization potential: 11/10
Value for money: 10/10
In summery, buy the soundboard.
And now Pictures of the Raven and then my collection together.
The Raven. So long I had to take the shot at this angle to get a reasonable view of it and still get the whole thing in.
The Emitter, note the silver groves that give it a really nice look, and the silver cap that you can just see at the very top of the emitter.
The pommel and raised grips. Again, this is the SS pommel, I find the black groves finish the saber off really nicely.
The Raven how it should be, Blazing Red.
And at night. Note: This is taken with a 32" Heavy grade standard blade. I find the standard blade to be much brighter and stronger coloured. The ultra edge makes a more pastel colour and fades it. This can be seen in the pictures of the Catalyst, which uses the ultra edge heavy blade. Even though it is shorter it cant match the standard for brightness.
Size comparison, Raven vs Catalyst. Raven eats other sabers for breakfast.
Width comparison, Raven VS Dark Standard issue. Note: The pommel is on for this shot which adds an extra 5mm across. The hilt alone is about 6mm wider than the standard issue.
The collection. From left to right we have: Dark Initiate v2, Dark Standard issue, Dark Standard issue, The Catalyst, The Raven. Note the size difference in the 5 hilts.
The collection all lit up. Notice the way the Catalyst cant hold a flame to the Raven because of the blade types. Though the Raven has a much thinner blade. Also the Initiate looks pink in this shot as it is low on batteries and I didnt have any replacements at the time, it is infact the same colour as the Raven and Catalyst. Also the brighter looking blue in the shot is the Arctic blue.
So there you have it people. My light saber collection in all its current glory. Hopefully it will expand soon.
Thanks for reading my review, I hope you found it useful or entertaining or otherwise fulfilled your purpose for reading it.
Sorry about the pictures, my camera is pretty terrible. Hopefully they get the idea across anyway.
Will either update here or post other reviews once I obtain more sabers. Looking at getting a grab bag next and then doing custom work on it, so look out for that some time in the future.
