SabersPro Mando Darksaber Blade Review: Pros & Cons of the Mandelorian Darksaber Blade
Disclaimer: The Mandalorian Darksaber lightsaber was gifted to me by SabersPro in exchange for my honest review. If you want to read my guidelines for conducting these reviews, you can read them here.
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve cosplayed something new. So when SabersPro reached out to me to review one of their lightsabers, I was a little hesitant.
What cosplay can you wear with a $500 lightsaber?
I didn’t want to just cosplay the traditional Madelorian, so I decided to add a little twist to the character to go with this badass darksaber blade. When that’s done, you can find the full cosplay tutorial here.
To be fair, you don’t need to cosplay to indulge in one of these high-end lightsabers. SabersPro actually gives you a nice little set-up to put it on full display. Whether that’s in your She Shed, Man Cave, living room, or kitchen— decorate your way. I won’t judge.
But on to the main question: what did I really think of this lightsaber?
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SabersPro Lightsaber Review: First Reaction
Here’s my genuine first reaction to the Mandalorian darksaber blade:
Not pictured: Me emailing SaberPro to ask how to charge it. The charging instructions that came with it are for their standard lightsabers, which is a little different for charging this particular darksaber.
Instructions on how to charge your SabersPro Mando Saber at the end.
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Pros
If you want to drop a couple hundred bucks on a lightsaber, you better make damn sure it has all the bells and whistles.
And SabersPro sure makes some noise!
Here are my favorite things about the Mando Saber:
1. The case
I was not expecting a case to come with the lightsaber in the first place.
And I have to say: it’s the most luxurious packaging I’ve received from any company by far. There’s a place to store the hilt, the saber itself, the stand, and the charging cables.
It’s perfect for carrying to conventions (even internationally)!
2. The quality
I may just be used to my Kylo Ren lightsaber from the kids’ section at Walmart— but holy hell— I was blown away by the sheer weight of this thing.
It’s 100% not made from cheap plastic (here’s what it is made out of). It’s not heavy at all— it’s just clearly made from high-grade materials.
3. The lights
Oooooh, pretty lights!
Not only do the lights have various lighting effects, but it also comes in 7+ colors (Red, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange, Yellow, Pink, and shades in between).
The lighting effects include:
- Stable
- Unstable
- Pulse
- Wave
- Ghost
- Cross
- Infinite
- Rainbow
- Fire (my fav)
You can get more colors depending on the Mando darksaber model you choose:
- Baselit: 12 blade colors
- SN Pixel V4 Core: 9 Saber Lighting Effects plus 9 Saber Ignition Effects
- Neopixel Proffie 2.2 : 12 Pre-Installed Blade colors, but you can install as many custom colors as you like.
There’s also everyone’s favorite “Flash-On-Clash” feature! That means when two saber blades hit each other (or other objects), they produce a characteristic lightsaber flash!
On turning off your lightsaber: Hold the button for 5 seconds. If you hold it for 1 second, it does one thing. Hold it for 2 seconds, it does something else. So make sure to hold down the button for 5 seconds until it turns off.
4. The sound effects
Depending on which model you get, there are at least 16 sound effects!
Here’s how many you get with each one:
- Baselit: 16 sound effects (lashing and ignition, saber lock-up, blaster deflection, motion noises, iconic music, and the character voices of: Luke, Kylo, Obiwan, Anakin, Darth Vader, Ben Solo, Ahsoka, Rey, Palpatine, Leia, etc).
- SN Pixel V4 Core: 27 Installed Soundfonts
- Neopixel Proffie 2.2 : 22 Pre-installed Soundfonts (however, this model allows customization so you can add your own freakin soundfonts— what?!)
The Mando saber also has a “Smoothswing” feature which means the Saber makes realistic lightsaber noises in response to motion.
5. Cosplay potential
Listen, I wouldn’t be giving a SaberPro lightsaber review at all if I didn’t like the product.
And as a cosplayer, this saber will look the best for cosplays organically.
As in, you won’t need to do any photo or video edits to make the saber look like the real thing.
For someone who has seen their fair share of lightsaber props at conventions, I don’t know, there’s just something about the SabersPro ones that stand out.
6. SabersPro Customer Service
I had a few hiccups when I first got this saber (details below). But from charging it to turning it on and the tip not lighting up, SabersPro answered my inquiries within 24 hours.
Every. Single. Time.
You may think this is because I agreed to review their product, but I’ve done this before, and not every company is so eager to address customer/content creator complaints.
10/10 customer service.
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Cons
You may have thought that since this was a gifted item that I would have nothing to bad say about it.
But if you read my disclaimer above, you know that I only take gifted items if the company is okay with me being 100% honest in my review.
With that said, here are a few frustrations that I came across with my SabersPro lightsaber:
1. Putting it together
When you put your Mando saber together, you have to be very intentional.
What I mean by that is:
- The bottom corner of the blade must be facing the highest point of the hilt (took me a few times to figure out which way to put it in lol).
- You really need to push the blade down into the hilt and make sure it stays there when you place the screws in. If it’s not pushed down far enough, the lights won’t work, and you’ll have to unscrew it all over again.
- The screws that come with it are tiny. But it comes with extras, so don’t worry about losing one!
It’s not difficult to put together by any means, it’s just tedious.
2. Charging
As I mentioned, the instructions that came with it didn’t work with the type of blade I had. Thankfully, SabersPro was speedy and diligent with instructions on how to charge it.
I’m sure they’ll update these instructions, but just in case, how to charge your Mando SabersPro lightsaber is down below!
3. Just the tip
As you may have noticed from my video, the tip of the darksaber blade didn’t light up (I mean, it still looks badass even with this little blip).
When I asked SabersPro about this, they gave 3 possible fixes:
- Press the on/off button three times while the lightsaber is off. Give the button 3 quick presses while the saber is off.
- SabersPro needed to update the firmware.
- The blade needs to be shorter (most darksaber blades I’ve seen from other supplies are way shorter/smaller than SabersPro. But I think that’s what makes it stand out!)
The blade tip is yet to be fixed, but as soon as it is, I’ll give you an update here.
4. Not battle-ready
The darksaber blade is made of polycarbonate, which is basically a thermoplastic.
Most cosplayers are familiar with this material because we use it all the time (e.g., Worbla for armor building).
However, the material on top of this saber doesn’t seem to be scratch-resistant.
Because of this, I would save any lightsaber duels for your cheap Walmart dupes.
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TLDR;
If you saw me with this at a convention and asked me to give a brief SabersPro lightsaber review, I would probably say this:
“I love it! It’s kind of a pain to charge and put together, though. It comes with a display stand for the hilt, but I kind of wish the stand held the blade too, so I don’t have to put it together every time I want to use it.”
But I’ve brought this to a couple of conventions now, and I still haven’t seen any darksaber that comes close to looking this cool! It’s easy to carry around, it’s definitely noticeable, and it comes with a case, so it’s easy to travel with. And look at all the different colors!”
Worth the price? If you’re a major Star Wars collector, cosplayer, or fan in general: Ab-so-freakin-loutely.
Plus, the SN Pixel V4 model (which is what mine is) can be made in 4 interest-free installments or cost as low as $41.24/mo with ShopPay.
How To Charge Mando Saber
Step 1: Use the Allen wrench to unscrew the single bolt at the bottom of the hilt on the side. The silver “triangle” shaped piece will come off. Keep it in your bag of spare screws.
Step 2: Carefully pull out the bottom of the saber hilt. You’ll see a charging port and a battery.
Step 3: Use the provided charger to plug in the cylinder base to any outlet (SabersPro recommends using a USB C charger with a low-power power supply). I noticed that the sounds might activate when you first plug it in, but it should stop after a minute or two.
Step 4: Wait 3 hours.
Step 5: Put the cylinder port back into the hilt and use the Allen wrench to screw it back in (don’t forget that little silver triangle piece!).
And that’s it— your Mando SabersPro is officially charged!