Lining up my Catalyst with a 32" blade, my Aeon v2 with a 36" blade, my wife's Consular with a 36" blade, and her Initiate v4 with a Catalyst pommel and 32" blade, the Aeon & Consular are about the same hilt length, and same total length.
The Catalyst with a blade that is 4" shorter is only 1&3/4" shorter than the Aeon and Consular. The Initiate with Catalyst pommel, with the same length blade, is 2&1/4" shorter than the Catalyst.
Lining them up, the end of the Aeon and Consular's emitter lines up with where the prongs begin on the Catalyst, meaning the extra length of the Catalyst hilt comes from the prongs, and so doesn't really count as being longer in my mind.
I don't do heavy dueling, but I have done some light dueling and a lot, lot, lot of spinning, and IMO, due to the shallowness of the Catalyst blade socket, it just doesn't balance/work with 36" blades (I prefer 36" blades). The Catalyst needs a 32" blade.
The only down side I've seen with the Catalyst, other than it not working well with 36" blades, is that the emitter portion can gradually come loose/unscrew. So I periodically have to twist the Catalyst in my hands to keep the emitter tight (I consider this a minor issue). That's the only functional issue I've had with the Catalyst model.
Spinning wise, the Catalyst is easily the king of spinning, both in regard to speed and comfort. It is like greased lightning. I have found that if I grip it with my index finger above the choke, my middle and ring fingers in the choke, and my pinky below the choke, I can go even faster, dangerously fast!
The saber that is closest to the Catalyst is my wife's Initiate v4 with the Catalyst pommel. It is smaller, lighter, and very maneuverable, and has a slightly deeper blade socket. The real advantage is that it doesn't have a detachable emitter, so it never comes loose. The downside is, its choke is smaller and not as comfortable or quite as fast at spinning. (I have come to call it the poor man's Catalyst
).
My first impression upon receiving the Catalyst is that it is much thicker than I had expected.