Shock LE Review

[jedicri]

My Shock LE finally arrived.  It's quite elegant and classy looking.  It'll give my Bellicose a run for its money, lol.  This is the first time I got a midgrade blade and it adds to the elegance and class to the Shock LE --- a look I was going for.  The idea was to have the Shock LE somehow represent the era of the Old Republic as depicted in the KoTOR and TOR games. The hilt’s silver finish and gold anodized rings, with the silver look of the midgrade blade (as mentioned above) hopefully brings this to light. Going with FO with AS for FoC, it looks very similar, if not the very same as the PO on the Bellicose.  Perhaps it's because of the blade, but I plan to compare the midgrade to an UEMG to see if there is a difference in colour appearance.  (Just as an aside, the midgrade quite closely resembles the Force FX blades when lit: light in the tube effect.)

Grip and hilt handling is the best yet out of my collection.  It's very comfortable; it feels just perfect.  The covertec wheel in no way gets in the way of my hands.  My main motive for having a Quick Disconnect was to ensure I would be able to replace the MLS unit once it has run its course (how I wish I had done this with my Consular); I had also planned to purchase more MLS units but now that I have Lee Filters, that plan is now up in the air but I definately will still get an AS MLS.  One final note, I’m happy to see that the battery pack comes out easily.




 

[setsu9]

Beautiful blade and great review. My girlfriend really likes this saber, and looking at all the reviews of it has sealed the deal that I should get it for her.

How do you rate this one compared to your Consular? That's the one I'm most interested in getting.

[Kenobi Rush]

great saber. i want 2 ask 4 a shock LE in VA with a blue AV switch 4 xmas which i know is in a long time

[jedicri]

Beautiful blade and great review. My girlfriend really likes this saber, and looking at all the reviews of it has sealed the deal that I should get it for her.

How do you rate this one compared to your Consular? That's the one I'm most interested in getting.

Aesthetic-wise, the Shock LE gets my vote.  The Consular looks plainer but to spice it up a bit, I changed the Consular's stock pommel to the Archon pommel and it definitely looks much better. 

Handling-wise:  As mentioned above, the covertec wheel does not get in the way when handling the Shock LE with both hands.  The Consular, on the contrary does.  I have to shift my hands or the hilt in order to maintain a firm grip.  My suggestion to you is you can either take the covertec wheel off, or, to request that the covertec wheel be installed somewhere closer to the pommel as opposed to where it is normally installed.  Other than that, two-hand wielding is great for both sabers.

The Shock LE is much lighter than the Consular.

Hope this helps.

I love both sabers notwithstanding the pros and cons.  I will not rate one over the other because I've  set out to collect specific sabers that represents certain motifs where the jedi or sith are concerned.

[jedicri]

As mentioned in my initial review, I was going to compare the Midgrade blade to the UEMG when lit.  

UEMG Blade.  You'll note the blade is lit right up to the tip.



MG Blade.  In contrast, note how the tip is not lit.



Based on the pic above, it seems the MG slightly gives off more of a deep orangey hue than the UEMG and appears thinner, ie light in the tube effect; I'm not really a fan of this.

I also noted that the FO I got seemd to be the exact same colour as my Bellicose's PO and based on the photo below, that seems to be the case.  I would've thought the FO would've not been as strong hue-wise or intensity as the PO.  Not sure now if a PO MLS was installed rather than a FO.  Regardless, that's ok now that I have Lee Filters.  I plan on getting an AS MLS to play around with these filters.


Bellicose on the left with PO and the Shock LE with FO --- both with UEMG blades

[eerockk]

Hmmmm, they do look remarkably similar...   

Good news is, they look fantastic too! Photos like this keep twisting my arm that orange sabers are just things of beauty... before these forums, I would have never even considered orange as a colour for a saber. My, what a few good photos do to change an opinon!

Have you tried using a filter on the orange? Maybe toss in a red or yellow filter to augment what you already have? Lee filters can be used as "resistors" to mod any colour and not just AS!

[jedicri]

Yeah, it was kind of a bummer when I noticed how similar the two MLS units were... I wanted different saber colours for each hilt I got... oh well....

I was literally awestruck when I first beheld my Bellicose in PO --- it really is a thing of beauty up close and personal.  The picture posted above is a fairly accurate representation of what it looks like in person.

But yes, for sure, I will experiment with the filters and will post pics.

[Zren Tobas]

Nice saber as always. The red lit av switch goes well with the FO blade. This makes me want one in the future but I will go normal Heavy Grade blade for it.

[setsu9]

Hope this helps.

Thanks very much for that. It was good to get your opinion. I did end up ordering the Shock LE for my girlfriend, and I've got a Dark Arbiter coming for myself.

Hopefully I'll pick up the Consular too later down the track.

And a Bellicose.

And an Archon.

And a...

[jedicri]

Cool!  Hope she enjoys the saber.  It handles very well!

[Scram77]

I love that Saber, and if I was to go for a FO saber then the Shock LE would be the one to weild it.

Excellent choice!

[jedicri]

Well, I received my AS MLS unit yesterday and I really like the white colour of the blade.  Like many others before me have remarked: pics or videos do not do the AS colour justice --- you have to see it for yourself.

So in the next few days, weeks, months or so, I'll be experimenting with this MLS unit with my Lee filters and see what wonderful saber colour combinations I can come up with!

When time permits, I will post pictures in the Gallery.

[Ben_Skywalker]

I love that fire orange so much, great pics! I just ordered the shock le with violet amethyst on Sunday, very excited. 

[jedicri]

I love that Saber, and if I was to go for a FO saber then the Shock LE would be the one to weild it.

Excellent choice!

Thanks for the compliment.  With regards to FO, I agree with you there but I would go farther than that; I'd put FO on the LE versions of the sabers offered at US.

I love that fire orange so much, great pics! I just ordered the shock le with violet amethyst on Sunday, very excited.  

Violet Amethyst is a great choice for the Shock LE (moreso than the DVA --- too dark).  It lends a certain elegance to the hilt while not straying too far to the darkside.  My brother's Guardian has VA and it looks fantastic.

[Ben_Skywalker]

So I gotta ask you jedicri, we all know how hard it is to capture the colors sometimes on camera, but in person would you say your sabers color best represents the color on your pictures or the main ultrasaber page with all the blade pics with FO? I'm just trying to get a really good idea so I can possibly order a MLS unit in fire orange for my shock le, I ordered purple like I said, but just really really loving the FO.