Title Edited, 'twas my fault to begin.
Man I hate to be the one to rant. Usually, I'm a nice guy and keep quiet, but I'm heading to a con and these came back today, only one of which I can use.
I sent out an Anaking, EP3 and Luke EP6 for conversions. Asked for them to be rushed, shelled out the extra money for Priority both ways. I get them back today, and they look great, on the outside.
First up, the Anakin - I undo the thumbscrew on the Anakin, and slip out the stock MR blade, which has the krap beaten out of it. So far, so good. I take a blade I ordered from Corbins Components and try to fit it in. No dice right away, so I push harder. Finally, after lining it up perfectly, it slides in... a tiny bit. After pushing heavily on my not-so-washboard-anymore abs, I manage to get it in. Okay, it looks cool and it works. Jiggy. Oh krap. Now I have to get the blade out. After overexerting myself with my hands, I have someone hold the hilt and I yank the blade out (didn't bother thumbscrewing) ... now I wanted to try a TCSS blade but don't feel like going through all that again. Unless I have a gorilla follow me everywhere, I guess this Saber isn't going from a stylish hilt to a full saber within 1-2 minutes.
Secondly, the Luke RoTJ - Okay, the Anakin is bearable, I can put up with that. High hopes for the Luke. I take it out of the box. Cool, looks great. I unscrew the pommel and look in. Exposed wires? Uhh... okay... I flip it over to take out the blade and look at the Luxeon. Something slides inside. [:0] So I examine the Luxeon. It's at an odd angle, and that entire *thing* slides up and down throughout most of the hilt. Furthermore, with the wires sitting between the top of the battery pack and the rest of the electronics, this thing will never work. I was unaware that that sorta thing had to be done, but I'd rather have a few spotty LED's as opposed to one that won't work.
Synopsis - Dissatisfied. The Anakin I can use, but will be a pain to change blades, and the Luke I just can't use period. Normally I'm a nice guy. But when I shell out $75 - $85 for something, I expect it to work when I get it back. I don't know what went wrong, but something did. I guess I'm up the creek without a paddle as far as the Luke is concerned. There goes $200 I'll never get back.
I'll try to get my grievances in photo format shortly. Thank you for hearing the rant, I hope this is in the right forum.