Lightsaber - Sound or No?

I'm looking into getting my very first lightsaber from Ultra Sabers. I'm willing to spend the extra $100 for sound if I really want it, but I'm not sure if I do. It would be really neat to have the saber make realistic sounds when I turn it on/off and move it through the air. I don't have anyone to duel with, but I'd like to learn some spinning tricks and the sound would probably be a plus for that. But I also want to just sit quietly with the saber sometimes and use it during meditation, so I don't know if the sound would annoy me then or if, again, the realism would be a plus. Thoughts?

Oh, and this is the only saber I'm planning to buy, so I really want to make the right choice!

Buy Ultra's hilts if you really like them that much, but layout the electronics yourself. 100$ is reasonable for a pre-made custom sound board and all the other electronics that come with it combined, but on that budget you can get a significantly better board than Ultra's (for instance the Plecter Labs' Nano Biscotte) and actually seat and wire it well (i.e. soldering instead of taping wires together, having an actual holding chassis instead of suspending the entire board in heatshrink rubber, having a mechanically fixed collimmator lens instead of a glued on reflector, the list of UltraSabers horror stories goes on...) in your hilt. If it's all about making the "right choice", UltraSabers just isn't it. They are the cheap choice, the easy, and the tempting choice, but they do know how to handle a lathe so their parts are ok, and even TCSS compatible (despite that violating Tim's patent), so while I caution against making any business with them in general, their hilts as a product in particular are alright if you like that style.

Ultrasabers sound is pretty good. I'd always recommend getting sound installed, as the soundboard also controls the lighting effects, allowing for a more ignition lighting. Without even the cheapest soundboard, the saber powers on the same as any flashlight. ;P I found that out the hard way.

As for custom installs... they're worth it, but you have to either do it yourself (so you need to know how to do it and have the tools for it (soldering kit and tools) or find someone who can do it. Many custom installs done by professionals can take months to complete.

So if you want a good saber with good sound, yeah, pitch that extra money at the soundboard already installed. If you want to upgrade the soundboard down the line, you can always do that.

Mine and yours make great flashlights in an emergency though Ari! but yea go with sound!

Kobos wrote: Mine and yours make great flashlights in an emergency though Ari! but yea go with sound!

Lol, I legit use it as a awesome flashlight if I need to go around the house late at night, rather than turn on and off lights.

Ultrasabers has some of the best sound boards available, the Obsidian V4 is a beast, well worth the extra money...

My first (and currently only) saber is a Acolyte from Saber Forge. It doesn't have sound and I find myself wishing it did. Without sound it just feel like holding a flashlight. It just doesn't have that magic feel to it.
So it's really up to you, go with something simple, or shell out a little more for a little dazzlement.

Thanks, everyone, your replies were really helpful. Going with sound!

My training Saber has no sound. At the time it wasn't cost effective. My final saber will have sound.

Zenchi wrote: Ultrasabers has some of the best sound boards available...

That's just nonsense. They were some of the last to get on the market and just ilke with everything else they're doing it quick and dirty. Their motion detection is a mess, their sound triggers and transitions are laggy, their power regulation is (at least by the last specs i reviewed, they were for the earlier boards, not the v4) pretty much nonexistent and they are wrapped in rubber as if the technology employed is a secret everybody doesn't know yet and as if heat was not a concern on integrated circuits...
Ultra has "the best product on the market with the best prices on the market" if all you ever heard of is their shop. And at the time when I was still paying them any attention you could get banned for casually mentioning anyplace else, let alone for making a public plea for customer support. Sure, I don't know what they are like now, but I'm not being negative just because I'm such a nay sayer. If you're on a budget, learn arduino and program your own saber. It's been done before but it's not going to dominate the market any time soon. If you want a good compromise board, go for something like the NB. The Pico is in my opinion overpriced, considering it has a hard-wired font (and not even a very good one at that). If money is not a concern, then the PC or the CFSC is your choice. It is not by chance that erv dominates the custom runs market, the DIY market and the unique collectible market. Ultra's Obsidian is a challenger only in that it has had multi-dye powering and RICE integrated while both of those were still new, but they didn't keep the price low out of generosity: It is sub par and frankly I'd think twice before buying it for 40 if it came without the rest of the saber. All of 100 ontop of an off-the-mill hilt is just a rip-off.

I cut my speaker cable!! I do like the idle sound, but I prefer the silence. I guess ideally stick a switch to toggle sound!!!

If I could have any sound it would be to install an ultra high speed fan in the hilt so it sounded a bit like a turbine... but I"m not a fan of artificial swish and swoop or impact effects.

First off, the majority of people who are buying for the first time don't have the knowledge or expertise to do a custom build. I didn't buy mine out of spur of the moment, I researched what was available for my budget and went on an educated opinion. I do not regret it. The sound is pretty spot on for what I wanted, and there's absolutely no sound delay in the swings...

Zenchi wrote: First off, the majority of people who are buying for the first time don't have the knowledge or expertise to do a custom build.

Neither did I. And then I looked at the board and noticed that all the pins where you are supposed to solder wires to are labeled. And then I looked at the manual that comes with the board and it had step by step instructions for all the common setups you might need and even some of the sixth grade electronics one might heaven forbid google otherwise.

... I researched what was available for my budget and went on an educated opinion.

I beg to differ. You concluded that Ultra had some of the best boards. That alone makes me question just how much you researched, because the only remotely professional place I hear this from is his own mouth while everyone who actually opened the rubber coat that is supposed to substitute for a chassis or ever worked with something else reports the opposite. So do the people who got zero response after their equipment stopped working, or were banned for voicing that, or (allegedly) never got their parts back after sending them in for a promised repair. Now the reports I am familiar with may be out of date since it's been around half a decade that I have been looking into the custom saber market with regularity, and if you are happy with your purchase, I am happy for you. I always caution against doing business with Ultra because his skills lie in leading a strong and ruthless marketing campaign while his products are (or were recently, as the case may be) sub par and what passes for "services" overpriced. But not everyone has trouble with him and if you have too much money on you and don't mind the risk of a poor deal even at the best of times, all power to you.

Personally I think it should have sound. A light saber without sound is like having a radio that cant tune. It is a trait that makes it stand out as immediate recognition for what it is.and its kinda saying Hey I am a light saber.
It can be switched off if you want to meditate with it but the low humming sound is actually very soothing.

just my thoughts.

The company is actually known for there exceptional customer service, and it's widely known. The majority of your argument is conjecture, and is overshadowed by the vast majority of people who have bought from them time and time again. The creator of this thread clearly isn't interested in learning how to do a custom build...

@Astera go with the Obsidian V4, you will not be disappointed...

In the video below, their basically going through all the different sound fonts that come installed, and if you have a laptop you can download other sound fonts as well from the internet, I caution to avoid the "Wampa Stompa" sound font myself lol...
https://youtu.be/PXxOdLB__3w

Zenchi wrote: The company is actually known for there exceptional customer service, and it's widely known. The majority of your argument is conjecture, and is overshadowed by the vast majority of people who have bought from them time and time again

My argument is not that nobody ever has had good business with UltraSabers. It is, however, also not conjecture. It is based on research I did before I bought my saber and as you'll see soon, even did again, because of exactly this. I did the research you said you did. The reason I didn't cite everything I said this time, is because I thought I had cited enough as recently as last year, in my post #247829. Here, I'll post it again. Enjoy:

Gisteron wrote: I do not own an Ultrasaber. Would you like to guess why that is? But I also seldom argue from personal experience as if it meant anything. However, it is not like I need to push people away from that shop or towards any other. As I said before, you can buy pretty good parts there for pretty reasonable prices.
Here is a report from a gentleman who had to deal with the product professionally:
http://www.forum.rebellegion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57063&sid=f5327b908a35018b4f988bbf864ab062
And matching that here are some photos of that grotesque monstrosity they call an LED module:
https://www.facebook.com/Ultra-Sabers-Lies-and-Deceit-239240936130636/photos_stream?ref=page_internal
Here is a list of things people had bad luck with dealing with Ultra:
http://forum.rebelscum.com/showthread.php?t=1105594
Here is a report about what their customer service looks like:
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=150975
And according to this, it seems like he was one of the lucky few to get any response in the first place:
http://www.bbb.org/losangelessiliconvalley/business-reviews/toys-wholesale-and-manufacturers/ultrasabers-in-san-jose-ca-1000004988

[ note: This last link seems to be dead (Aug 31^st, 2017). Also, BBB's layout seems changed, so it takes some clicking to get to the story. Anyway, judging by the address the company published on their website, the currently relevant link is this:
https://www.bbb.org/houston/business-reviews/toys-retail/ultra-sabers-llc-in-friendswood-tx-90036221 ]

Now am I saying that based on this everybody who has bought from Ultra has had a bad time? No, of course not: That is evidently not the case. Will everybody have it in the future? Probably also no. Indeed, seeing how Ultra is still in business in such a niche market it stands to reason that in some respects some things probably improved. All I'm saying is there is a legitimate risk with that manufacturer and you should inform yourself about all of your options instead of taking chances.

As for the MHS thing, I'm pretty sure I recall seeing at least some legal threats over this back in the day, but couldn't find the reference right now. I'm fairly positive Tim actually does or at some point did care, but the legality of it does not depend on him caring so that point is moot.
I'll say buy hilt parts from Ultra if they suit your wishes. There is little one can do wrong lathing and threading aluminium and according to most reports they are very decent parts at that indeed. They are also far cheaper than their TCSS counterparts and if custom paint or drill jobs is something you can or want to do yourself anyway, TCSS' only advantage are their standardized sizes.

As for the pricing, keep in mind that what you pay for is both the service and the quality. The licensed collectibles are around 100-150USD a piece and those are low-tier LED strip sabers with a crude motion detection hardware, a single hardcoded sound font and swappable batteries.
Now, any budget can get you something - go to your local toy shop and you can get a 20USD "cheap-o" right away. But in a market where the cheapest noteworthy products hover around 300-400USD and the fanciest are well in the four digit range, when you are offered "the best product on the market" for some 200 bucks you can be almost certain there is something fishy going on, and in this case we also have evidence that often times there is indeed - unless of course it is all but a conspiracy to defame the market giant and wizard smith that is Ultra.

Now, any budget can get you something - go to your local toy shop and you can get a 20USD "cheap-o" right away. But in a market where the cheapest noteworthy products hover around 300-400USD and the fanciest are well in the four digit range, when you are offered "the best product on the market" for some 200 bucks you can be almost certain there is something fishy going on, and in this case we also have evidence that often times there is indeed - unless of course it is all but a conspiracy to defame the market giant and wizard smith that is Ultra.

Actually it is conjecture, add to the fact you aren't even remotely accurate with your price range, any good start up hilt with the basic package and the Obsidian V4 will run you clear over 300 dollars. Every company out there has bad reviews, and people who have had bad experiences. Go to an Amazon product with five star rating and thousands of reviews, there still exists a share of 1 star reviews, it's a given.

That's ultimately what anyone should do, research, do you homework and pour over reviews. You won't regret doing so. And be especially weary of opinions that center around insulting others to get their point across...