Ultrasabers offers many upgrade features on their lightsabers, but which ones are worth the price? Lets walk through some of the benefits and drawbacks of optional upgrades on Ultrasabers lightsabers.
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Watch Which Ultrasabers upgrade features are worth the price? (AV switch, windows, TRI CREE, etc) on YouTube
Premium LED color Upgrade
Ultrasabers offers some premium lightsaber colors. The premium colors use multiple LED diodes (for example, Arctic Blue uses a blue diode and a green diode). TRI CREE LEDs are also an upgrade feature. TRI CREE LEDs are much brighter than the single diode LEDs.
Flash on Clash Upgrade
Flash on Clash is available as an upgrade feature on sound sabers only and is NOT compatible with TRI CREE LED sabers. How Flash on Clash works is the blade color briefly changes to a different color upon impact. Some buyers love the visual effect of flash on clash, but it’s purely a cosmetic upgrade.
Battery Configuration Upgrade
If you’re purchasing a stunt saber (no sound), going with the default option of standard setup is the most cost effective. Standard setup means the lightsaber runs on 4 AAA batteries. Ultrasabers includes the batteries with the lightsaber. You could replace them with rechargeable alkaline batteries. Obsidian Lite sabers only use standard setup (no option to upgrade to Li-Ion). Premium sound sabers only run on Li-Ion batteries, although Ultrasabers offers several different Li-Ion battery configurations to choose from.
Recharge Port Upgrade
Adding a recharge port only make sense if your lightsaber is configured with Li-Ion batteries. A recharge port is not an option with standard setup (i.e. the 4 AAA battery setup) and WILL NOT work with standard setup. Adding a recharge port to a saber with a Li-Ion battery configuration makes charging the saber easier and decreases the number of times you need to unscrew the pommel to access the battery pack.
Blade Upgrade
Most Ultrasabers lightsabers, except for Mystery Box Sabers, allow buyers to pay extra for a longer blade length and for a heavy grade blade. On Initiate and Apprentice hilts, all blades longer than 24 inches incur an upgrade fee. On other hilt models, an X-Long Blade (40 inches) would incur an upgrade fee. Most people, except very tall people, probably don’t need to upgrade to a 40 inch blade.
Upgrading to a heavy grade blade, however, may be a good idea for buyers who intend to use their lightsaber for heavy, full-contact lightsaber dueling. Heavy grade blades are much thicker and stronger than midgrade blades.
Windows in the Emitter Upgrade
Windows in the Emitter are pretty inexpensive upgrade. Some people like the design feature because they like the look of the LED light shining through the windows.
Pommel Upgrade
Some buyers choose to upgrade the lightsaber with a fancier pommel. You can always go back and purchase a fancier pommel later, if you’d like. Also, the majority of Ultrasabers hilts (except V2 hilts) use MHSV1 compatible pommels. That means you could also purchase a compatible pommel from The Custom Saber Shop, which is the company that originated the MHS system.
AV Switch Upgrade
Lower end Ultrasabers lightsabers come standard with a guarded switch. The guarded switch makes a loud ‘click’ sound when you turn on or turn off the saber. A guarded switch uses a plastic ‘guard’ around the edge of the switch. The plastic guard can break more easily during dueling than the AV switch. The AV switches are made of metal and make a softer, smoother ‘click’ sound when you press the button.
Illuminated AV Switch Upgrade
The illuminated AV switch upgrade is only available with Ultrasabers sound sabers and not with some of the inexpensive stunt sabers. The buyer can select an AV illumination color that either matches or complements the lightsaber blade color.
Blade Tip Upgrade
Ultrasabers offers two types of blade tips: rounded and pointed. The pointed tip is an upgrade feature. Some buyers choose to upgrade to a pointed tip because they prefer the appearance. Be aware that a pointed tip is, well, pointier during dueling, which is why some people who duel prefer rounded tips.
Blade Retention Screw Wrench
The blade retention screw wrench is an add-on item for most lightsabers, except Mystery Box Sabers. If you have your own set of standard hex keys or wrenches already, then purchasing the blade retention screw wrench is not necessary. Some Ultrasabers hilts use different size hex keys, so you might be better off purchasing a full set of standard hex keys or a hex wrench multi-tool. DO NOT use metric hex keys on Ultrasabers lightsabers–you might strip the screw.
Covertec Wheel Upgrade
Covertec wheels, which are used for wearing a lightsaber hilt, DO NOT come standard with lower-end Ultrasabers lightsabers or Mystery Box Sabers or Grab Bag Sabers. If you intend to wear the hilt, you may want to add this upgrade. Alternatively, if you’re a DIY type of person, you could decide to drill and tap your own screw hole and install a Covertec wheel on your hilt yourself.
Add-On Items: Blade Plug, Saber Stand, Covertec clip
Ultrasabers allows buyers to add-on certain accessory items while they are selecting lightsaber options. A benefit of adding on a blade plug, a saber stand, or Covertec clip as a lightsaber option is the add-on accessory can get the same discount as the lightsaber. For example, if Ultrasabers is having 10% off all lightsabers sale, any blade plug, saber stand or Covertec clip selected AS A LIGHTSABER OPTION will also receive the 10% off discount. Accessories purchased from the accessory section on the Ultrasabers website would NOT receive the discount.
Upgrade features on Grab Bag Sabers and Mystery Box Sabers
Windows in the emitter and the AV switch are common upgrade features that you could get on a Grab Bag Saber or Mystery Box Saber. It’s possible that a Mystery Box Saber could include additional upgrade features, but the AV switch and windows in the emitter seem to be the most common. Receiving a lightsaber with a premium LED color, like Arctic Blue or Violet Amethyst, is another common upgrade feature included with some Grab Bag Sabers and Mystery Box Sabers.
Ultrasabers ‘LE’ versions
LE, which stands for Limited Edition, is an option on many of the lower-end Ultrasabers lightsaber hilts. The way that LE versions differ from non-LE versions is LE versions of metallic hilts receive some added anodized gold accent marks in the grip area and around other grooves in the hilt. The LE versions of anodized black hilts receive metallic silver accent marks in the grip area and around other grooves of the hilt.
The ‘LE’ accent marks may be worth the price to some buyers because the added colors complement the hilt. DIYers could always add their own personalized touches to the hilt, though instead of or in addition to the ‘LE’ accent marks.
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Ultrasabers upgrade features can add up in price pretty quickly and many of the upgrades are cosmetic rather than functional upgrades.
If you’re purchasing your very first lightsaber, you may consider keeping your life simple and only selecting a few upgrades, if any at all. As you learn more about lightsabers, you may be better equipped to determine which upgrade features are truly worth the money.
