US2.1 Date paid Last communication Estimated delivery
LuxV green 5/24/07 1/22/09 None given
UltraEdge blade
Install service
Custom switch
In January 2007 I purchased from Ultra the DIY kit for a LuxIII conversion on the Luke ROTJ saber. However, the kit was designed for the 2005 LED saber, whereas mine was the 2003 EL saber. Ultra offered to have me send the saber to him and perform the install himself, which he did and then he shipped the saber back to me.
However, the saber had problems which Ultra said were due to quirks of the EL sound board, so I shipped the hilt back to him for repair. Around this time the US1.0 had been announced for preorder, so I asked him about an upgrade to the US1.0 (to make moot my saber's board problems) and a green LuxV LED. He had already attempted to fix the EL board and shipped it back to me, but agreed to install the USB1.0 when it arrived, along with the LuxV. I paid for the new board and the LuxV, and shipped the saber (which was still having problems in any case) back to Ultra once again in May 2007.
In October the US1.0s were shipping at last, and Ultra informed me that my converted Luke ROTJ would ship during the second week of the month. I didn't hear anything more until January 2008, when Ultra shipped me back my saber with the LuxIII and an MR board installed. He told me they'd had problems installing the US1.0 in MR hilts and that I could get a refund for the LuxV and US or wait for US2.0 and send the saber back then. I elected the latter.
Time passed while the US2.0 was in development. In September 2008, when the board was finally supposed to be nearing release, I emailed Ultra about my saber. He informed me that Derek would be handling US2.0 installs for him. I emailed Derek and arranged to ship my saber to him in a month's time, when the board was supposed to be ready for install. We also discussed rigging a custom power switch for the Luke ROTJ to make the power on/off process less awkward; I offered to pay extra for this but Derek said there was no need. I shipped it to him in October, along with an UltraFX blade which I had ordered from Ultrasabers some months before which had arrived with damaged film installed, so that it could be exchanged for an undamaged one.
Months went by with no word, and in January 2009 I communicated with Derek again, to request that the replacement blade be an UltraEdge instead of the standard UltraFX. By this time the US2.1 upgrades had been announced, and I agreed to hold off on my saber so that Derek could get my board upgraded; I offered to pay the upgrade fee but Derek said it was on him. This was the last time I heard from Derek. The last emails I sent were in March, to inform him that my shipping address had changed, and in July to wish him well through all his hardships. And that is where things stand today: my Luke ROTJ saber is presumably at Derek's workshop where it has been since last October, and I don't know where "my" US board, which I have never actually had in my possession, is, or even if it has ever truly existed.