My first purchse!

So, a quick review of my first combat saber purchase.

I've been practicing with the Tokyo Saber Guild for over a year now, and have been using 'rental' sabers until I could spare enough money to buy my own. I used a number of sabers, both from US and one of it's competitors. For a few reasons I decided to go with US.

I ordered the Dark Prophecy, with Obsidian sound v4, and silver FoC. At Guild practice, I've been practicing with a single blade, double blades and dual wielding. I wanted to continue those practices, so I bought two sabers, plus a coupler.

The sabers/hilts are beautiful! The sound is robust! I am very happy with what I have.
Some concerns I had, before purchasing, were about the brass screws at the top of the hilt, and the covertec clip at the bottom. Since I practice for stage combat, I don't want too many things on the saber getting in the way, and interrupting my grip. The brass screws go around the retention screws. Remove the brass, and you'll have screws awkwardly sticking out. US offered to send me shorter screws to use, so that I could remove the brass screws. However, the screws were not short enough, and still poked out of the top of the saber. That, and the covertec, were easily solved, though. I went to a local hobby/DIY shop, found short enough screws for ALL the aforementioned holes, and was able to cover them, keeping the screws flush with the hilt itself. I've yet to practice without the brass or the covertec removed, but I look forward to it!

The Obsidian soundboard is a lot of fun! It took me a while to get it recognized by my computer (super finicky), but once it did, I had fun messing with new fonts, aside from the ones already pre-installed on the sabers. I won't lie, the launcher has a steep learning curve, what with allocating memory to channels with which to fill with font data. Didn't use up all the allocated memory? Want to create a new channel to add another font? You can do it....after reformatting the board (doable in the launcher), then individually inputting all the font sounds in individually. Moderately frustrating.

While I had some MINOR issues (launcher needs work, smaller retention screws should've been properly sized, covertec remover should be an option), I am, so far, in love with my sabers.
9/10
Would buy again.