I had ordered three sabres for myself and my two sons (this one and two for $99USD). They were all modestly priced and appear satisfactory for some sparring. I've been fencing for many years and spent some time periodically mucking about 'sparring' with lightsabre replicas in 2005-2010; though, I've not used one for a long time. My children have become old enough to do some practising, so I decided to see what innovations have occurred over the years. Hours of reading and comparing manufacturers led me to DamienSaber and I found I liked the sleek appearance of many hilts here.
The sabres arrived within approximately one week and were packaged nicely. Each came with an instruction manual, wrenches, and screws for attaching the blade to the hilt. The instructions are rather comprehensive and necessary - considering all the options available to one after activating the sabre. I ordered baselit sabres rather than the xenopixel blades, as I intend to smack these about for fun and instruction rather than optics. However, even with the baselit models, I find that some motion activated functions are better off deactivated through the downloadable application.
For example, after a thrust the sabre will deactivate when pulling the weapon back towards oneself in a 'ready' position. I deactivated this function immediately. This was also my first time dealing with 'fonts' and I've got to say the number of sound and colour options is very satisfying, though I'd almost rather not have the choice to alter the sabre sound and colour apart from whilst connected to the bluetooth application...children are more inclined to spend their time constantly changing blade colour and sound font than actually duelling. That's not a criticism of these sabres or DamienSabers, but rather an observation about modern replica lightsabres in general.
We've been practising with these sabres for approximately one hour nearly every night and last weekend I had some of my sons' friends over for camping in our forests. A good portion of the evening the kids were smacking lightsabres together. I periodically checked to ensure the blade tips stayed tightly screwed, as they do appear to loosen with usage. I've noticed no mechanical problems with these lightsabres.
Before the review goes overlong, I wanted to say I am very satisfied with this sabre and the other two. They're designed well and have done everything they're supposed to do. After extensive research before buying, I'd say they're quite a bargain and I will be purchasing more in future.
