Customer Reviews

Official Star Wars Wii Anakin & Yoda Light-Up Replica Lightsabers - Dueling Pack

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Lightsaber controllers were one of my prime reasons for buying a Wii!

After reading all the reviews I could find I actually ended up buying two sets: these "Official" ones and the Thrustmaster Glow Sabers. Didn't really intend to.. I bought these first and then Amazon had a Black Friday deal on the Thrustmaster Glow Saber Duo Pack which I couldn't resist. (Hey, I'm a big kid)

Of the two I much prefer these "Official" sabers. They are about an inch shorter at the handle and almost four inches shorter along the blade so while the balance isn't perfect it's better than the Thrustmasters. In fact really can't say that I've noticed it with these Official ones... I do with the Thrustmasters, which being almost five inches longer, are also more likely to accidentally whack some item of furniture. (And they have)

The Thrustmaster sabers do look better - comparable with the regular toy lightsabers you can buy - but I actually like the simpler, stubbier toon-ish look of the Official sabers. Build quality seems fine for both so it's just a matter of aesthetic preference.

The Official sabers' glow looks a lot better than the Thrustmasters: it's brighter and more even. The Thrustmasters look washed out when the lights are on in the room and under all lighting conditions they appear to have bands of light at regular intervals along the blade where the Official ones just glow smoothly.

The quick release feature on the Official sabers is pretty darn nifty: the blade simply clicks into the hilt and when you want to remove it again you pull a ring at the blade end of the hilt and twist it slightly, allowing you to remove the blade. With the Thrustmasters you have to remove either one or two screws to remove the blade. (There are two different styles of hilt)

With both types of sabers you have to remove the Wii-mote to use the Infrared sensor on the end but that applies to every saber / sword I have a read a review of and so long as the games are written sensibly to allow menu navigation by buttons, which they seem to be, it only really matters when you are navigating the main Wii menus.

Both types of saber hold the Wii-mote snugly with no issues.

Knowing what I know now I would buy these Official sabers again in a heartbeat and not bother with the Thrustmasters. Your mileage, as always, may vary. :-)

The Wii Remotes Fits snugly into the Wii Saber Attachment (but note the Wii Remote infrared Port will be blocked by this accessory. So if you have to use the cursor on the Wii you will have to pull the remote back out of the attachment to do so. Luckly for most Star Wars games this is not an issue. It only becomes one when you have to navigate the main menu again).

The attachment allows ample room to feed the Nunchuck attachment through. It is very solid and has withstood quite a few accidental furniture strikes.

The main complaint that I have is that it is terribly balanced. Most of the weight is forward of the Wii Remote which can make the attachment a little cumbersome and uncomfortable to wield for long lengths of time.

The LED lighting Mechanism allows the 2 AAA Batteries a very long and extended life time. I have used this product now for 3 weeks and it is still as bright as when I first got it.

Overall I would recommend this product to the die-hard Star Wars fan these will make a nice addition to any collection. And make Dueling with a friend or family member even that more exciting and engaging.

While cool in concept, I didn't have the best experience with these 'light-up' lightsabers. The packaging doesn't make if very clear that the product is best used with the 'Clone Wars' series of game instead of say...the popular Star Wars Lego game. Even after adjusting the sensitivity etc.. of each handheld remote..they didn't seem to work well. I would imagine the product might work better with other games, but if so, it should state it on the packaging. The instructions mention nothing about having to reset the sensitivity on the remotes to get them work...I had to actually do research on the manufacturers website and found this out after an hour of trying to get them to work. Personally I'd steer clear of the products and/or definatey save the receipt (we got them as a gift...so bummer couldn't return it)

I am not sure what these other people are doing to make this game such a grand time, but the Light up Wii Sabers make this game so much more complicated. My son is six and was super excited when we got him these to go with the game. However these are not user friendly accessories for any age. You have to swing these things so wide (i get it, for realistic feel) but for a little one the game doesnt seem to pick up his movements. Not to mention its a must to keep the nunchak in the other hand, ALSO a superfluous requirement. Just doesnt seem to work with little kids. All in all I must say the only use we are going to get out of these is simply using them to do battle with each other....kind of a waste.

These added accessories were kind of fun the first time we played the game, but after a while we realized that they made gameplay harder, and they interfered with part of the pre game selection process. My six year old still likes to use them with his friends, but when he really wants to play he skips them.

I purchased these along with the Lightsaber duels game. They're fun and our kids love to play with them (as toys), but as far as actually using them for the game? Um, not so much. They interfere with the signals from the controllers (we had this issue with the original Nintendo remote as well as a knock-off), plus are just too cumbersome to be swinging around a living room. I'd recommend just sticking with the toys.

We bought these for our seven year old to use with a Clone Wars Heros video game. The Light Sabers do not particularly enhance the experience. They may even impede the motions slightly. One of them doesn't want to stay together very well, and he used them for a couple of days but now they are collecting dust. My guess is that they may come back out when a friend comes over but really they seem like a quickly forgotten novelty.

Bought these at Christmas last year for my 15 year old son with the Star Wars Lightsabers Duel game. The sabers looked great and the lighted ends were very cool to watch during play if you lowered the ambient lighting in the room. Unfortunately, the game did not respond as well with the lightsaber attachment as if just using the regular Wii controller. Also the design of the units is very poor. The handles broke in half very quickly, within a month for one and within 3 months for the other, where 4 tiny screws thread into 4 thin plastic posts that shear due to the force of swinging the saber. I could understand breakage if you actually hit something but my son was just using normal play motions. Fortunately I was able to use parts from one to fix the other with the help of super glue. I thought I had paid more for quality but this is not the case.

I purchased this item for my 8 year old. Out of the box, he was so excited he was dancing in circles. We put the batteries in and put then together. He fired up the game and 5 minutes later, he had set them aside. He said they interfere with the Wii remote signal. He's downstairs now playing and having a much better time without the light sabers. And I am upstairs requesting a refund!

These are cool with only a few annoying issues...
1. Because of the added size around the Wii-mote, it's harder to find a comfortable position where you can squeeze the trigger, press "A" and prevent yourself from accidentally hitting "+" with some frequency.
2. Because the lightsaber part covers the sensor at the top of the Wii-mote, you have to pop it out every time you need to point at the screen, which also dislodges the nunchuck.

One good thing, this runs on its own batteries, so it doesn't drain the Wii-mote...I wasn't sure how that would work. So much fun if you're using it on something like Force Unleashed [which is an awesome game for this] but challenging on Lego Star Wars since there are fewer lightsaber movements.

Short enough to not risk damaging your ceiling or TV...too much...