Encalife Light Balls Review: Press a button and let it glow
Not as clunky or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. That’s right, today we’re checking out some lightsabers that were sent over for use from Encalife, a company probably better known for their star projectors and telescopes, but now they seem to be getting into the Kyber crystal game.
Replica lightsabers are incredibly popular among Star Wars fans, especially cosplayers and convention-goers who want to dress up as Jedi Knights and Sith Lords. While many people want exact replicas of the lightsabers used by Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, others want to create their own characters with the power, and that’s where companies like Encalife come to the rescue.
But how do Encalife lightsabers stack up the best lightsabers There? There’s already a lot of competition, with companies like Sabertrio and Vader’s Vault offering high-end and expensive sabers, and places like Kyber offering great entry-level options for Star Wars fans. Encalife is clearly leaning more towards the latter category with these sabers, which retail for $199, but can usually be found for $150.
Encalife Lightsabers: Design and Build
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Encalife was kind enough to send us three different lightsaber hilt designs to test and play with – black, gray and red. The black saber is a relatively simple design with recessed rings and silver bands that add a touch of elegance. The bottom of the saber also has a protruding hexagon that closely resembles the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber.
The red design is actually mostly black, but with ominous red stripes for accent details. The handle of this saber has a much larger texture with many grooves that naturally fit your fingers when you hold it. It has a more complex design at the top where the blade comes out, with a slanted emitter port that has several slits that allow the lighted blade to shine through.
The gray blade is somewhere between the other two in terms of design. It has a gray metal body and silver trim, but the angled emitter port matches the red saber, although the notch design is an inverted T rather than three slits.
All three handles are made of solid metal and have the appropriate weight. They feel well made, the finish is clean and all the various screw areas and connecting parts are well finished. All of the sabers look and feel great, although they aren’t nearly as intricately detailed as the official lightsabers, which may put some people off, especially if you’re looking for something more complex, primarily for display.
Assembly is a piece of cake. The saber blade comes separate from the hilt in the box, but is easily attached with the two included screws and hex key. The blade is also easily detachable, so you can wear the saber on your belt without the blade getting in the way.
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Encalife Lightsabers: Features and Performance
The Encalife website makes a lot of claims about what these lightsabers are capable of, so we quickly got down to testing them – we started swinging them around wildly while pretending to fight Darth Maul.
These lightsabers use a one-button control system, but there are no instructions on how to use it. Lucky for you, we’ve managed to figure it all out, so we’ve got a guide for you below.
You activate the saber by pressing and holding the button. Once turned on, the outside of the button will light up and you will hear a noise, at which point you will release the button and then press it again to ignite the blade. From there, if you press and hold the button, the button light will blink, and each number of blinks will take you to a different function.
By default, the lightsaber is in blaster deflection mode. Now, every time you press the button, the saber will flash and make a blaster sound, allowing you to simulate deflecting blaster bolts. By holding down the button for one flash and then pressing it, you activate the ‘collision’ effect that occurs when two lightsabers close together – great for dynamic shots during cosplay or during choreographed fights.
Two flash buttons will let you switch between the 12 color options available for the blades. It’s nice to see a variety beyond the usual red, blue and green, and they’re all equally bright. There’s even a purple variant, so Mace Windu fans won’t be disappointed. All of the lightsaber colors are very bright and vibrant, so you can use these lightsabers in broad daylight and still see their lighting clearly, and they look phenomenal at night.
A fourth flash will put the saber into standby mode, retracting the blade but not shutting it down completely. This means it can be reactivated with a single press of a button rather than a long hold. In sleep mode, you can fiddle with the volume controls. Holding down the button for one flash will toggle between low volume, high volume, and mute. To be honest, the volume setting is probably too loud, though it might be fine for the convention crowd who want their sabers to ring through a room full of people. Quiet mode is a bit softer, but honestly still too loud. A third, quieter option between quiet and mute would be nice (you could hack this yourself by taping the speaker output on the saber pommel).
Holding it for two flashes while in standby mode will change the sound profile of the lightsaber. You get a voice prompt that tells you which character’s light profile you’re choosing – some of them are pretty underwhelming, but Vader’s profile is so good I can’t say it’s not the real deal. Each saber profile has different sounds for start/stop, idle buzz, squeal, and clash sound effects to help you personalize your lightsaber. It’s a nice touch that lets you choose between the raspier, harsher sounds of Kylo Ren’s saber or the elegance of someone like Luke or Yoda.
They also have an impact detection feature that flashes and makes a noise if you hit something with enough force. However, the reliability of this detection isn’t perfect, so you’ll want to hit things hard enough to make sure the sound goes away.
Honestly, the whole one-button system is a bit of a pain. You can’t quickly ignite or extinguish the saber, which makes using them awkward for choreographed fights – you can’t exactly ask Darth Vader to politely wait while you hold down the power button for three seconds.
The blade itself is simply a tube that bounces light into, and the saber handle effectively functions as a colored flashlight that illuminates the polycarbonate tube, creating a lightsaber effect. There are pros and cons to this approach. On the plus side, the blade is easy to detach if you just need a hilt. The blade also doesn’t have any fragile, flapping electronics that can be damaged during a duel. The downside is that the light is brighter at the base and gets a bit dimmer towards the tip. We’re actually impressed with how subtle this difference is in these sabers, to be honest, but it’s still noticeable, especially in photos.
Encalife lightsabers: battery life and charging
You will be happy to hear that there is no need to buy batteries for these sabers as they come with built-in rechargeable batteries. Encalife claims the lightsabers last for four hours of continuous use on a full charge. We’ll be level with you dear reader, we didn’t spend four hours swinging a lightsaber to verify that claim, but we can say that none of the sabers needed a recharge after their initial charge in the two weeks that we spent had them.
If you need to charge them, it’s a relatively simple procedure with two of the three options: the red and black sabers have a charging port on the outside of the hilt – just use the charging port USB cable that comes with the sabers. and leave them to charge. The light on the power button blinks when it’s charging and lights up when it’s fully charged.
Surprisingly, the gray saber does not have the same system. Instead, you need to unscrew the bottom of the handle and then connect the micro-USB charger to the USB. We have no idea why this model is different.
Encalife Lightsabers: Cost
We should probably assume something from the start – Encalife doesn’t actually make these lightsabers – they work with Ciel Tan, a Chinese brand that makes a lot of lightsabers, usually on AliExpress, although you can also find them on Amazon.
Encalife is very upfront about this on their website, stating that they work with Ciel Tan, but to be honest, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. We assumed these designs/color combinations would be exclusive to Encalife, but it seems that’s not the case as we found the red saber on Amazon under a different name. However, we couldn’t find the exact gray or black models anywhere else, so these two designs may be exclusive to Encalife.
None of this would be an issue if it weren’t for the price difference between Ciel Tan’s other sabers and the ones sold by Encalife. On its website, Encalife sells all three options for a standard price of $199.97, although at the time of writing all three are now reduced to $149.97 (opens in a new tab). On the contrary, the same red saber we found on it Amazon sells for $75.99 (opens in a new tab).
Should I buy the Encalife lightsaber?
If you’re looking for a reliable lightsaber prop for cosplay, photo shoots, or just to swing around the house when you want to feel like a Jedi, these lightsabers are a great choice. They are well built, have bright blades and loud sound effects, and have many features such as shock flashes and blaster sounds. They’re not perfect – the design is a bit plain and the one-button controls are a pain – especially with the complete lack of instructions, but that’s an annoyance rather than a deal breaker.
However, if you really don’t need these exact designs, you can find lightsabers of the same style made by the same company for much less on Amazon. However, these are good quality sabers and if you see them on offer we are happy to recommend them.
https://www.space.com/encalife-lightsabers-review/ Encalife Light Balls Review: Press a button and let it glow
