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(More customer reviews)I needed a lightsaber for Halloween this year. It was too late to mail order one, so I went to the mall to see who carried them, what they looked like, and how they worked.
Was looking for the Anakin (blue blade) or the Mace Windu (purple blade) models, but was only able to find the Darth Maul (red blade), Darth Vader (red blade), and Luke Skywalker (green blade) models. In the fluorescent lighting of the stores, the Vader and Maul blades were not very bright and actually were rather pink looking. The green blade of the Luke saber was much brighter in comparison. The volume of the sound effects seemed louder from the Luke model as well. I attribute the superior brightness and loudness of the Luke model to the fact that it takes 6 AA batteries, rather than 3 like the other two models I played with.
The Maul also had some plastic on the handle up near the blade, which turned me off. The Luke model is all aluminum, turned and machined, and no plastic except for the on-off switch. There is a nice chromed steel belt hook that folds to the handle, but the sword is so long that I doubt you will use it to actually hang it from your belt (it's a shame the blade isn't removable). All of the electronics are in a triangular cross-sectional plastic carrier with the batteries, which just slides out when you unscrew the end. The on-off switch works well, and doesn't accidentally turn on or off when you don't want it to. My main quibble is with the diameter of the handle near the blade: due to the batteries and such it can't fully choke down like the real movie prop, and a section of it is painted orange rather than being a brass color, but you can't have everything. From pictures on the web the Obi-wan (blue blade) looks very authentic, but it only takes 3 AA batteries, so it might not be that bright or loud.
In all models you can see the electrical "sections" of LEDs as the blade is turned on and off - they are maybe 4 inches long or so each. But the scroll is pretty fast, so the chunkyness isn't too distracting. The swoosh sound effect varies in sensitivity: sometimes moving the handle just a little kicks it off, other times swinging it won't produce the sound till you stop - but it isn't too bad really. The sounds themselves are authentic - a bit tinny, as you might expect from a small speaker, but well done. One of three clash sounds are played (the choice seems random) when the blade is sharply struck (takes a bit too much impact to trigger it IMO, I worry about breaking it). Like everyone, I wish the blade could somehow retract, but it beats me how you could build something that would work this well and also retract, so it's a trade-off.
Overall, I'm happy I was able to find the Luke model and don't have any regrets.
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Star Wars Luke Skywalker FX LightsaberOfficial reproduction of Luke Skywalker's light saber from Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi. Glowing, green blade ignites with realistic power-up and power-down light effects. The power-up and power-down light effects are produced by a string of 64 super-bright LEDs that ignite sequentially inside the blade. Authentic light saber sound effects digitally recorded from the movie. Features four motion sensor controlled sound effects: power-up, idle hum, clash, and power-down. Durable metal hilt looks and feels like a real light saber. Sturdy blade is permanently attached to the hilt. Need six AA batteries, which are not included. Also, it includes a display stand.
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