Opinion: Archon v2 or v3?

[Galef]

My son is saving up for his next saber and wants a Luke Skywalker RotJ style saber. Going to get it in Tri-Blue with a thick walled Photon blade for maximum green.

In your collective opinions, which is better, the v2 or v3?
I know the v3 is more screen accurate, but that thin neck worries me. Not only for the durability, but for the brightness lost by having to travel down that thin corridor.
Not to mention the special way you have to make the blade do that the blade film doesn't get squished by the inner part of the emitter.

We are really learning towards the v2 since none of those concerns exist and I can pretty easily add some gold/brass tape at that upper choke point to get a tad more accuracy.
The v2 is also cheaper and looks more spin friendly

Is there anything I'm not considering?

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[HesaHeart]

not knowing your sons age or skill set im leaning towards v2 as its appears to be a stronger design

[Jedi_Phoenix]

I went with the v2 for the cheaper cost, but it does look more like a combat-friendly version of Luke's ROTJ saber.  If he (or you, for that matter) aren't that picky and are fine with "inspired by" vs. "screen accurate," I'd go with the v2.

[Darth Tepes]

If ya'll plan on doing any kind of sparring, light or otherwise, I would 100% go for the V2.  I have the V3 for a screen accurate display and the light is a bit dimmer and I wouldn't trust that neck in sparing.  But!  The emitters are mhs compatible and the V2 emitter is sold by itself.  Could get the V3 for display and cosplay and buy the V2 emitter and switch out for sparring. 

[HesaHeart]

Question how old is your son ? the girth for smaller hands will cause gravity to have fun with the saber.... Hell i have issues with 1 1/2" and i drop it while spinning  and sparring will ding it up my young partner ( grand daughter all of 4'11" of her ) has hit my hand and caused it to drop

[Galef]

My son will be 16 soon and he's already taller than me and has longer fingers.
I think given all the downsides of the v3, we'll be going with the v2.

It'll probably be a while though as he has to save up for it like he did with his Fallen.
But hopefully he'll have most of it by the next Raffle so we can use it as the entry.

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[HesaHeart]

I wish him luck

[firehand10k]

The reduced lighting of the v2 can be corrected using a single blue LED since you're going with Photon anyway. TCSS  sells a lens that is better than the one US uses for aiming the light through the thin neck. If that one wont be used for dueling it is possible to adapt a thin wall for it. I use a thin walled photon blade on my Shark.

Shark lit up nice and full and even:


Thin wall adapted for thin neck.:

[Galef]

That's good to know, Firehand, thanx

But we will occasionally use this to duel (light sparring).
We also want the brightest blue possible, so it has to be Tri-Blue.
He likes Obi-Wan as well and the Archon v2 can also double as his final hilt in blue.

All my photon bladed sabers are thin-walled and either AB or GB, no Tri-cree or thick walled yet. So this could be a good opportunity to test out brightness differences between all those factors.

Ironically, looking for a Luke RotJ saber (my favorite ever since I was little) was what initially drew me to Ultrasabers, but as I did research I found myself drawn to other hilts.
I love that US still offers both models so people can choose the one that meets thier preference.

I'm excited to see this saber and really proud that my son can save up for it. I never had that kind of patience at his age.

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[Darth Tepes]

That's good to know, Firehand, thanx

But we will occasionally use this to duel (light sparring).
We also want the brightest blue possible, so it has to be Tri-Blue.
He likes Obi-Wan as well and the Archon v2 can also double as his final hilt in blue.

All my photon bladed sabers are thin-walled and either AB or GB, no Tri-cree or thick walled yet. So this could be a good opportunity to test out brightness differences between all those factors.

Ironically, looking for a Luke RotJ saber (my favorite ever since I was little) was what initially drew me to Ultrasabers, but as I did research I found myself drawn to other hilts.
I love that US still offers both models so people can choose the one that meets thier preference.

I'm excited to see this saber and really proud that my son can save up for it. I never had that kind of patience at his age.

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Hell I didn't have any money to save up at his age lol....

[HesaHeart]

i was shoveling snow or cutting grass  then first job washing dishes

[Darth Tepes]

i was shoveling snow or cutting grass  then first job washing dishes

I lived out in the middle of no where so no neighbors to do odd jobs for...never even had a lemonade stand lol. 

[Cyclops942]

I lived out in the middle of no where so no neighbors to do odd jobs for...never even had a lemonade stand lol. 

Same here... we lived on a farm, though, so Dad let us have one bull calf each spring as payment for us working on the farm.  Of course, being far wiser than we were, he didn’t tell us about this practice until we were old enough to need the money for college, at which time he handed it over to us.

[Darth Tepes]

Same here... we lived on a farm, though, so Dad let us have one bull calf each spring as payment for us working on the farm.  Of course, being far wiser than we were, he didn’t tell us about this practice until we were old enough to need the money for college, at which time he handed it over to us.

Didn't live on a farm but had plenty of work to do around the property.  Chopping Firewood, mending fences, mowing the lawn, house repair etc. not to mention the normal house chores we had to help with.  But not gonna get paid for that...that's required work for living there lol.  Other than birthday money from family I didn't have my own money until my first job when I was 19.

[firehand10k]

But we will occasionally use this to duel (light sparring).
We also want the brightest blue possible, so it has to be Tri-Blue.
He likes Obi-Wan as well and the Archon v2 can also double as his final hilt in blue.

I'm excited to see this saber and really proud that my son can save up for it. I never had that kind of patience at his age.

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The 3.1 can withstand light to medium dueling ( done that). I've only ever damaged thin walled when swinging full force against another trained martial artist at his full force demonstrating and testing to failure their capabilities.  They are excellent for light to medium dueling and contact choreography. And faster and more controllable for spinning.

The tri-crees installed by US are not brighter due to the current splitting as wired. They just fill out the blade better, largely because of the optics used. The 3.1 blocks most of the benefit and the photon blade makes up for it. So if that's a must have the v2 will indeed be better.

It's just that the 3.1 look so much better especially with the clamp or switch block (even as a dummy block) available from TCSS.

The best looking  case for each is a photon blade for Luke and enhanced blue day blade for Ben. Sadly the enhanced blue only comes in thin walled.