Dark Apprentive v4 with Sound (Emerald)

OK, so I've had the weekend to get familiar with the Dark Apprentice, and I'm ready to review.

First some background on me...I know very little about UltraSaber(s) or any other manufacturer of sabers. I stumbled across the whole lightsaber dueling thing on one slow night at work and after a few clicks I ended up here. I found the ability to duel with a lightsaber intriguing...mainly because I have a six year old and we end up battling out with nearly every toy we come across. This past Christmas, I bought him a lightsaber from Target that was sort of on the high end for their products. It is his prized fighting weapon of choice and he promptly relegated a cheaper sword to me. A few days prior to purchasing my UltraSaber, we were engaged in a tense fight in the backyard and I quickly realized that there are few things in this world which can withstand the might and destructive force of a six year old boy. So, I bought a UltraSaber...

Let me dispense with the negative (one/singular) thing about my UltraSaber that I am truly disappointed in. Being new to UltraSaber and having never handled one before, nor ever having attended any event where one might walk around holding an UltraSaber, I was pretty clueless to the construction. I intentionally purchased a basic-looking model with few upgrades because I wanted fewer things to break in the event that the US was unable to weather my son's attack. That said, when I hit the dropbox on the item selection for the pommel and it said, "Recommended" I went with that choice because, well, it was recommended. This and only this is my chief complaint about the device. The speaker is essentially recessed and unprotected from tiny six year old fingers that like to probe anything they can get their hands on. Had I not flipped it around and given it a solid examination, I would not have seen this and likely had a busted speaker on the first day. I don't understand why there's not something like the wire mesh that's used on microphones to protect the speaker while allowing better sound from the speaker. At any rate, my bad for not digging deeper into the product and knowing that I should have gotten something sturdier to prevent damage to the speaker.

Other than that I love the Dark Apprentice! The color of the blade is remarkably brilliant and extends well down the length of the extra long blade. I really enjoy the flash on clash and once I figure out the whole driver interface thing, I'd like to see about playing with the sensitivities and color spectrum. I found everything to be simple to use (press button, have battle, let son win) and overall I think it's a great product. I ordered the saber I think late on a Wednesday and received it by 1300 on Friday. Super fast service. If there was a storefront, I'd be all over coming in to buy another.

In the next few months I'll be picking up three more sabers and I can see the need for some of the modifications offered, I just wish that I had seen on first. I'll chalk it up as a learning experience. Great product!