Rather than jump in with something right after I got it in the mail, I decided to wait a couple weeks to get used to her before posting this so I had more info to go off of. I've had Catlissa for about a month now, and have been slowly but surely getting used to her.
The "Deets"1 of : Phantasm Initiate V3
[Blade LED Color:Violet Amethyst]
[Blade 2 Color:Violet Amethyst]
[Blade Size:Standard 32" Blade]
[Blade Option:UltraEdge]
[Battery Configuration:Li-Ion Staff Setup with BuckPuck (Batteries & Universal Charger Included)]
[Hilt 1 Model:Regular Version]
[Hilt 2 Model:Regular Version]
[Tip::Round Tip (Normal Lead Time)]
[Include Retention Screw Wrench:No Thanks]
[Include Blade Plug:Yes]
[Include Second Blade Plug:Yes]
[Coupler:Standard Pommel (No Sound)]
[Hilt 1 Pommel:Regular Solid Pommel (No Sound)]
[Hilt 2 Pommel:Regular Solid Pommel (No Sound)]
When I first unboxed it, I was at work, so I didn't get much time to look it over completely, just enough to make sure everything was there. The sabers were wrapped nice and tight in bubble wrap, but the blade plugs and coupler had fallen loose in the box and were floating in teh packing peanuts. Luckily UPS didn't destroy this box so nothing was lost.
The HiltsAfter getting the package home and taking time to make sure the batteries were fully charged (I wasn't expecting two charger kits with it but that's cool), I popped them in and checked them out. I ordered both as Violet Amethyst because I intended to use it more as a double-bladed saber rather than dual wielding, and I can't stand double-bladed sabers with different colors on each end. (That's really just me being nit-picky) The color matched pretty well between the two LED modules and I couldn't tell any immediate difference in hue.
The hilts themselves were in pretty clean condition, no dings or scratches. The Initiate size hilts felt pretty balanced in my hands and I'm used to my Dominix v3's weight and length. The 32" blades were a good choice. When I put together the sabers with the coupler, I was surprised to find the buttons nearly lined up on their own, so that worked out. Probably won't try to adjust that at all. End to end, this sucker still comes in at nearly 6'4" tall. Here's a comparison shot with me and my Dominix v3:
It actually felt heavier than I was expecting when the whole saber was assembled. It took me a couple hours to get used to the weight, but the choke points made it much easier to handle.
A few weeks later...After having put Catlissa through her paces (and more than my fair share of fumbles), I'm happy with her. There's only a couple minor things that I had to tweak. First, the battery packs were bouncing around quite a bit inside the hilts, so I took some foam weather stripping and stuck a piece on the inside of each pommel. It gives just enough pressure on the battery pack to keep it from bouncing around inside.
The other thing that I still have to play with is the inside of the emitter ends. There seems to be a sharp edge in there that I need to sand down. After a few weeks of use, you can see the marks it's leaving on the blades.
I really like the color, but it really gets noticeable when the batteries get low, as it starts to shift more and more red. One set of batteries does this a little bit faster than the other as well, I may have to get a fresh set to replace those.
Other than that, I really have no complaints. I'm not sure I would have liked going with the full length Phatasm v3 with shorter blades, but it does take some practice to learn the short space to work with on the hilt.
Lastly, since I went with Ultraedge blades, I thought it would be helpful to show a side-by-side with VA and a midgrade versus an Ultraedge, so here you go. Left side is a standard midgrade, and the ultraedge is on the right. In person, the blue comes out a bit more in the midgrade.
