Suggestion Box/Wishlist: what do we want from Ultrasabers?

[Gar-Wi Musan]

Hey, I got a wacky idea. How about a chassis to protect the paper thin plastic of the battery packs. Or possibly just better wiring. Or maybe being able to buy 2 identical sabers with the exact same specs, and have the volume be the same on both? I'm probably just being overly picky about what I spend over $300 on. Don't mind me I'm just poor.

[BlindJedi]

Hey, I got a wacky idea. How about a chassis to protect the paper thin plastic of the battery packs. Or possibly just better wiring. Or maybe being able to buy 2 identical sabers with the exact same specs, and have the volume be the same on both? I'm probably just being overly picky about what I spend over $300 on. Don't mind me I'm just poor.

I understand the poor thing, believe me.
Are the battery packs, and wiring really that bad?

[Gar-Wi Musan]

I understand the poor thing, believe me.
Are the battery packs, and wiring that bad?

I'm no electronics expert, and I can't pull it out far enough to tell whats wrong. I don't mean to speak ill of there craftsmanship. I think I just have bad luck. But the battery packs are paper thin in my opinion. I think they could be sturdier. Again I'm not an engineer, but it doesn't seem like it would be a problem to make them out of something thicker or tougher, or to make a chassis for the whole thing. Either way, it does not work and needs to be sent back for repair again. I hope they get it right this time. I have faith that they will. At least the customer service provided by Marlena is extra friendly and helpful.

[BlindJedi]

I'm no electronics expert, and I can't pull it out far enough to tell whats wrong. I don't mean to speak ill of there craftsmanship. I think I just have bad luck. But the battery packs are paper thin in my opinion. I think they could be sturdier. Again I'm not an engineer, but it doesn't seem like it would be a problem to make them out of something thicker or tougher, or to make a chassis for the whole thing. Either way, it does not work and needs to be sent back for repair again. I hope they get it right this time. I have faith that they will. At least the customer service provided by Marlena is extra friendly and helpful.

What if the battery packs were more like that of a flashlight.  For example, an aluminum tube the batteries were fitted in, with contacts at the top and bottom.
Or, a solid plastic holder, that the batteries could be slotted into, and secured from the bottom by a screw.  This type of holder could be made to fit the one inch interior dimention of the saber, almost guaranteeing it wouldn't move around.  In this case, the speaker could be permanently fitted into the end of the battery pack, or rather slotted into the end of the pack, offering more protection to the speaker as well.
There are options here that don't require a chassis to be built. 

[Edon Bluewolf]

Going to take my son's Dark Sentinel in for repair at the US booth at the upcoming con for a broken battery pack issue.  Luckily still under warranty but yeah I feel ya guys about upgrading the battery holders.

[bigBear]

same. one of my guys here had to do the same.

[chalion]

(this is in response to the battery holders posts)

All this goes towards dependability/durability vs cost. The battery holders are off-the-shelf, mass produced variety, for the stunt AAA holder and non-sound equipped lite sabers. Bulk price for 1000 pcs. 2-AA battery holders is about 30 cents per. About the same price for AAA holders. Guess where they're manufactured...................

Is the quality the best? No. Do they generally work? Yes. Where they specifically made for use in lightsabers? Not on your life. They're typically made for anything from clock radios, mass produced toys for kids, etc.

Now, my rant aside.......... I adore the lightsabers UltraSabers makes. They're affordable, the build quality is generally very good, plus they have designs I like and don't make me feel afraid to use them in practice or duels. I've priced sabers from other vendors and for comparable options, the price would be more and the build time much longer.

[chalion]

Now, ignoring my above post, what I would like to see UltraSabers consider is a plug and play style hilt system. The MHS is a good start, but could be much more than it is now.

You know how the (I'm going to say it, don't lamb-baste me) DISNEY lightsabers are. Removable blades, non-wired removable battery packs, Rigid LED housing and sound board in hilt. I would like to see something like that. I know US does not have the ability at the moment, nor the manpower or money to throw at a monumental change this would be. I'm not even sure US has more than 100 people in their production line, so this would be a pipe dream at best.

[BlindJedi]

(this is in response to the battery holders posts)
All this goes towards dependability/durability vs cost. The battery holders are off-the-shelf, mass produced variety, for the stunt AAA holder and non-sound equipped lite sabers. Bulk price for 1000 pcs. 2-AA battery holders is about 30 cents per. About the same price for AAA holders. Guess where they're manufactured...................
Is the quality the best? No. Do they generally work? Yes. Where they specifically made for use in lightsabers? Not on your life. They're typically made for anything from clock radios, mass produced toys for kids, etc.
Now, my rant aside.......... I adore the lightsabers UltraSabers makes. They're affordable, the build quality is generally very good, plus they have designs I like and don't make me feel afraid to use them in practice or duels. I've priced sabers from other vendors and for comparable options, the price would be more and the build time much longer.

What about the battery holders for sabers with V4, and Diamond, are they made from a stronger plastic?

Now, ignoring my above post, what I would like to see UltraSabers consider is a plug and play style hilt system. The MHS is a good start, but could be much more than it is now.
You know how the (I'm going to say it, don't lamb-baste me) DISNEY lightsabers are. Removable blades, non-wired removable battery packs, Rigid LED housing and sound board in hilt. I would like to see something like that. I know US does not have the ability at the moment, nor the manpower or money to throw at a monumental change this would be. I'm not even sure US has more than 100 people in their production line, so this would be a pipe dream at best.

Battery packs without wires would definately fix a lot of the issues people are having with the wired ones.
Of course I would love to see US adopt a lot of the internal designs from the Master Replicas, Disney, and even Hasbro FX saber lines.

[bigBear]

Now, ignoring my above post, what I would like to see UltraSabers consider is a plug and play style hilt system. The MHS is a good start, but could be much more than it is now.

You know how the (I'm going to say it, don't lamb-baste me) DISNEY lightsabers are. Removable blades, non-wired removable battery packs, Rigid LED housing and sound board in hilt. I would like to see something like that. I know US does not have the ability at the moment, nor the manpower or money to throw at a monumental change this would be. I'm not even sure US has more than 100 people in their production line, so this would be a pipe dream at best.

keep in mind the Disney parks ones are not as durable as US sabers are....or Disney parks would be using Disney parks sabers for their Star Wars characters instead of US hilts. 

[BlindJedi]

keep in mind the Disney parks ones are not as durable as US sabers are....or Disney parks would be using Disney parks sabers for their Star Wars characters instead of US hilts. 

Is this true, do the Star Wars characters at the Disney parks use the US hilts?
If so that is incredible. 

[bigBear]

Is this true, do the Star Wars characters at the Disney parks use the US hilts?
If so that is incredible. 

yep. look at the Jedi Academy experience, they even hand the kids US hilts....sure you can find YouTube vids out there.

[naeblis]

This may have already been mentioned...I haven't red through all the posts....but would love to see a Kanan Jarrus inspired hilt.  One that separates would be excellent. 

[BlindJedi]

Honestly, all I want is a new saber, preferably a new design.

[Saso Is-kor]

Honestly, all I want is a new saber, preferably a new design.

I'll second this, but to be even more specific I would like to see a few more "budget" sabers added to the lineup. Like an Apprentice V5 and an Initiate V5.