Lightsaber technology varies and depending on your intended use, some install configurations are more suitable than others.

Contact Dueling

If you intend contact dueling with your new saber, the most robust installation option is a baselit saber. All of the electronics are tucked away in the hilt, and your blade is a hollow polycarbonate blade. You’ll find your saber will be better balanced than sabers with a ‘blade heavy’ pixel install, and if you ever break your polycarbonate blade when dueling, it’s 1) a lot easier to DIY repair the blade and/or 2) a lot cheaper to replace the entire blade. make sure to opt for a ‘less fussy’ saber hilt. You’ll find them a lot more comfortable when dueling. It’s very common for new saber owners to want something they’ve seen onscreen, but trust us …. whilst character inspired sabers look great on screen, they have way too many ‘sticky-out-bits’ to make them comfortable or robust enough for dueling.

We do not recommend or warranty pixel sabers for dueling …. other sellers may, but take it from the team who have dueled several hours a week, every week since 2017 ….. the electronics within the pixel blades will prematurely break. Pixel sabers are also very power hungry and with only 30+ mins continuous runtime, you’ll find that your saber will likely not last an entire saber session. Whilst cool blade styles may be great for cosplay or a little ‘oooo’ factor, you’ll find them very distracting whilst dueling.

Cosplay & ‘Swinging About’

If you’re not looking to use your saber for dueling, you have more options. Not limited to ‘sleeker’ dueling hilts, you’ll find a wider range of designs to choose from; you also have the option of choosing a pixel blade install. Pixel blade models are great for cosplay & general ‘swinging around’. The individually addressable strong of LEDs in the blades can make for some great effects: fire, unstable, pulsing and more! There is a downside. Pixel blades are power hungry! Continuous runtime will only be approx’ 30+ mins on a single battery charge.

We stock a couple of pixel blade install options. Our first option is built around a SN-Pixel soundboard. These are great entry level, well featured pixel boards with a range of preset soundfonts and blade styles. If you’re looking for a top of the line experience, a number of our sabers have a Proffie V2.2 soundboard install option. The Proffie V2.2 is a highly customisable soundboard, designed with higher end components: sound amp, accelerometer etc. The configuration on this board can fine-tuned with after-market soundfonts and a myriad of custom blade styles for a VERY custom setup. There’s a huge open source community supporting this soundboard, but learning to tweak it is a steep learning curve! Of course, there’s nothing wrong with an RGB Baselit model for cosplay, either!

Collecting & Display

The shiniest of sabers that spend most of their lives on display are generally referred to as ‘shelf-queens’. These are more likely to be your ‘screen inspired’ models. Not only do we carry a range of affordable screen inspired models on Sulphur City Sabers, our sister company Sulphur City Foundry has long sourced and supplied the very best in screen accurate models sourced from respected saber manufacturers. If you’re looking for something ‘high end’ come & have a chat over at Sulphur City Foundry.

Our range of sabers are available in a number of configurations: RGB Baselit, SN Pixel & Proffie V2.2 Pixel.

RGB Baselit Sabers

If you’re looking to use your saber for reasonable contact dueling, you’ll want an RGB Baselit saber. The hollow blade is illuminated by a lensed high power LED shining up the blade from inside the hilt. The saber has a basic smooth swing algorithm for a nice swing sound effect. There are automatic clash effects. The saber has ‘swing on’ gesture control and volume control (mute, high, low). You can select from 12 blade colours and 10 sound fonts. You can of course use these models for cosplay & general swinging around, too! Runtime will be 2+ continuous hours, long enough for any saber session.

SN Pixel Sabers

This is an entry level pixel bladed saber. A pixel blade has a string of individually addressable LEDs mounted to a strip that runs up the inside of your blade. You may also see these style of sabers commonly referred to as ‘NeoPixel’. Neopixel is actually a brand name of AdaFruit Industries, used for their specific addressable LED products, so we respect that and just use the term ‘pixel’ across our site.

The SN Pixel soundboard coupled with the addressable LED strips in the blade makes for a really nice visual blade experience. The saber has a basic smooth swing algorithm for a nice swing sound effect. There are automatic clash effects. The saber has ‘swing on’ gesture control and volume control (mute, high, low).

You can choose from 22 blade lighting effects and 16 sound fonts. SN Pixel models are great for cosplay & general swinging around. Pixel blades are NOT suited for contact dueling (no matter what other sellers may say)……. if anything, they are a little blade heavy and the effects can be distracting!

Beware!! Pixel blades are power hungry! Continuous runtime on our SN-Pixel sabers is approx’ 30 mins.

Proffie V2.2 Pixel Sabers

Proffie V2.2 soundboards are amazing saber soundboards!!!! Designed by an extremely talented Google engineer and Star Wars fan, Fred Hubinette, this board is the pinnacle of saber board tech. Here at Sulphur City Sabers, you’ll find the Proffie V2.2 Pixel option on most of our screen inspired sabers (and a handful of sabers in the apprentice range).

This board has an advanced accelerometer for an enhanced smooth-swing experience, making for ultrarealistic swing sounds. It’s highly customisable and …… just watch the buying guide video :) This is the same soundboard that we use in our high end, custom builds at our sister brand Sulphur City Foundry.

Pixel blades are NOT suited for contact dueling (no matter what other sellers may say)……. if anything, they are a little blade heavy and the effects can be distracting!

Beware!! Pixel blades are power hungry! Continuous runtime on our Proffie installs will only be approx’ 40 mins. We offer Proffie V2.2 RGB Baselit dueling models at our sister brand, Sulphur City Foundry.