Saber Forum

The regular heavy grade blade seems to do fine on the Archon v3.1  UltraEdge is dim on it though.

Ok, here it is.  After being disappointed with the brightness of my Archon 3.1 with the UEHG blade, I set out to increase the light output.  So, here is the Archon blade brightness over analyzed to death! 

We have the Archon v3.1 with Emerald driver and a 2.1 emitter along with a UEHG blade and standard mid-grade.  I also used a light meter to measure light output in Lux.  Yeah, I know.

Setups are as follows from left to right...

2.1 emitter with mid-grade (14 lux) - 2.1 emitter with UEHG (9 lux) - 3.1 emitter with UEHG (6 lux) - 3.1 emitter with mid-grade (9 lux)

([url]http://i.imgur.com/ioWw88w.jpg[/url])

While all the blades look about the same in the pics, it's the exposure of the background that tells the tale and the lux reading confirms it.  The 2.1 emitter with a standard mid-grade blade is much brighter than the light killing setup of the 3.1 emitter and the UEHG blade.  I'd say maybe even 35% brighter to the eye.  While the UE blade does make a fuller blade, the base of the mid-grade blade lets out a lot more light.  Lighting up much more of the room while the UE blade keeps it locked up. 

While the thin neck of the Archon 3.1 is the reason I bought it as my first high-end saber, the combination with the UEHG blade just kills the light output.  I'm sure a tricree LED fares better but no FoC and pulse effect is a deal killer for me.  I'm going to stick with the 2.1 emitter and mid-grade blade for now.  It's much lighter and it still seems very sturdy to me.

Thank you very much for show us such a detailed comparison! The archon 3.1 should be my next purchase, so I'll make sure to get an extra archon 2.1 emitter for dueling purposes and brightness!
Two quick questions concerning the blades:
1) How did you manage to put a midgrade blade in the 3.1 emitter? I thought only the specific 3.1 emitter blade could fit..
2) Does the 3.1 emitter blade work/fit on the 2.1 emitter?

Thanks again! +1 for measuring the light output, much effort in that! =)

1) The midgrade blade here is just pushed down slightly onto the 3.1 emitter.  When you order a 3.1 they cut back the reflective film so that it fits over the cone of the emitter.  The one I ordered wasn't a special order because I was going to use it with the 2.1 emitter.

2) Any blade will work with the 2.1 emitter because it's basically just a hole whereas the 3.1 has this cone shape that it has to fit over.

Now, if someone wants to do a comparison with the emerald vs. the tri cree setup...  :)

How did you measure lux? Just curious.

Thank you! That finally clears the concept of the 3.1 emitter blade for me XD I'm glad I'll be able to use it on other sabers too :P
So, I'm not sure if my budget will allow, but I might try to get the archon with quick disconnect. If so, I'll probably add in a TRI Consular green LED module and take some photos. However, I'll make sure to e-mail Marlena and ask her the what the brightest green set-up with silver flash on clash is. Hopefully that'll help!

One other question what are the lengths of the blades you used? And what approximate length of the blade goes into the emitter and you effectively lose of the visible length? (both the 2.1 and 3.1)

The UEHG blade is 36" and the mid-grade is 32".  You loose a good amount of blade when you drop it into a 2.1 emitter.  Maybe 3"?  This makes the 32" blade really short but my daughter loves it because it's super light and much shorter than the 36" inside the 3.1 emitter.  I also made the color pink.  She's basically taken it over now  ;)