Yay! My second review! I love reviewing these things, they are so cool.
After getting my Luke ROTJ saber, I started to want more of them. I decided that I would want The Vader, Full Maul, and Anakin. I had to make a choice between these, so I headed over to the Bestbuy. Since I live in Canada, I got a really low stock of Lightsabers, and the ones that were still there, were insanley priced. Thay only had Maul sabers (159.99 for JUST the Battle Damaged). So I left the store. I knew that I would not find any good deals in this country, so I headed over to Detroit since I share a border with them.
I headed to the Sharper image in Michigan, and I saw a whole stack of FX sabers. There was 1 of each saber out on the floor to test out, so I tried each one. I loved the hilt of the Anakin, so pretty and shiny. The sounds of the Vader were awsome, and the double bladed maul just looked amazing. I ended up getting the Vader lightsaber, knowing that I can always come back and get the other 2 when I get the cash. Nice and cheap too, only $110.
When I got home, I carefully opened the box, and took out the saber, and put the batteries in.
The BladeWoa, this is not the orange colour that you are used to seeing on the internet clips. The vader blade is a perfect red colour. Not as bright as my Luke, but the Red really looks nice. I mean really nice, this is what red is supposed to look like. And Lucky me, I had no dark spots. Everyone seems to complain about dark blotches on the blades, but I really cant see anything that would be of an annoyance. Just like the Luke saber, if you hold it at an angle you can see the individual LEDs riding up the blade, but it looks like a pattern, and you cant see it very well. In other words, unless you are looking for something to critisize, you will not find anything to critisize. Unlike the Luke, the blade on the Vader saber is VERY sturdy. No wobblyness, no jerking, it feels like it is super glued into the hilt, which is what I like. I dont duel with my sabers, so I could care less about how thick the polycarbonate is. All I know is that the best red saber to duel with is the maul.
Looses points for being a little on the orange side, but just a bit. The clash activation takes a good amount of force to make, which gets annoying.
The HiltOne word, amazing. This hilt is perfect, it looks just like Lord Vader's saber from the movies. The hilt has a chrome finish which makes it looks more expensive than the Luke saber. The emitter is a very hard plastic, and looks fine. The power box has a little white bubble on/off button to turn it....on and off. I do have one complaint about the hilt. It looks AMAZING, it really does. But sadly, this is not a saber to duel with. It is very hard to get a confterable place to hold it. Forget about holding it with 2 hands. The hilt is also VERY heavy. You are still able to swing it and use it with one hand, but it is almost double the weight of the Luke saber, even though it uses half the batteries. NOT a good saber for dueling with. It does look flippin sweet though. And since I dont duel, I have no complaints.
The SoundsThe best part of the Vader saber are it's sounds. They scream evil, and suit the saber very well. The on/off sounds are deep and slow. Also, when you turn it on and off, it takes longer to go up and down like most sabers. It has a very slow, powerful feel to it. The sounds are deep, and the single clash sound is just fine since it sounds crackly and awsome. I find that the motion sensing in the Vader is better than the Luke, but maybe I am imagining things.
Awsome motion sounds. But there is only one clash sound, and the clash sound should be the activation sound in my opinion.
OverallOverall this is faithful to the movie replica, and it is one of the best sabers on the market. But xxx, all of the sabers are the best on the market. I give a slight advantage to the Luke saber since it has a great colour, it is lighter, and it is the best to spin around. The vader has better sounds and a better hilt though.
Expect an Anakin and Full Darth Maul review in december and future 2007. Until then, enjoy.
~Cyano