Prior to buying a saber from Ultrasabers, the most expensive purchase I've ever made of a lightsaber was spending NZ$20 (around US$15) for a pair of plastic toys which change colours. They have terrible sound quality, only play sound on pressing the button, BUT they actually have a decent amount of colour variety switching between colours with each press of the button, including a pretty neat colour-cycling mode. They're made of cheap plastic, and the first set I bought got broken in a matter of seconds by a friend who decided it was a good idea to treat them as combat-ready training swords while drunk (he bought replacements).
Coming into buying a high-quality custom lightsaber, I promptly decided I did NOT want a decorative "toy" like the ones I could find in local stores, which meant I needed to look into buying online. After a LOT of research, I ended up - in part based on my budget - looking between Ultrasabers and another company with something of a reputation for customer service fails (although I learned very little of that reputation until after seeing it first-hand). I contacted both places to ask about some possible customisation details. Ultrasabers replied within 24 hours, even though I contacted them over the weekend. The alternative store still hasn't gotten back to me, after about a week of deliberation, deciding to buy from US, waiting a few days for my saber to be built, and almost a full week shipping (actually pretty fast coming from US to NZ).
Everything about ordering and communicating with Ultrasabers was impressively smooth. The only minor hiccup was a mistake by the FedEx driver, and FedEx themselves handled their end of the situation really well.
I posted a couple of (very bad quality) pics in the gallery subforum, but this one is probably the best for showing off the hilt. The pic makes Blazing Red look suspiciously orange/yellow, but in person (and I'd assume in better quality pics) that's definitely not the case. I'm hoping to get a chance to get better pics soon, but for now, this is all I've got in that regard.
Even though I just got the 4xAAA setup, the blade is extremely bright, easily lighting up any room in my apartment well enough to navigate, and remaining visibly red in direct sunlight. I specifically wanted the balance point to rest slightly above the hilt, and ordered a heavy grade blade in order to make sure that happened. The result is a saber which feels like it's perfectly weighted and balanced to suit me. The grip is solid and well shaped to fit me as well, with the choke points spaced very well. The windowed emitter is absolutely gorgeous, and my one specific detail request - the silver pommel instead of black - really helps it to feel even more definitively right for me.
I'm as happy a customer as I could possibly be right now, and am already looking forward to a second saber at some point in the (probably distant, but hopefully near) future.
