Electronics
A saber core is the electronics inside the hilt — the board that ignites the blade, plays the sound and decides what the light can do. There are five, in three tiers.
“The light sits in the hilt.”
The light sits in the hilt and shines up the blade, and the blade is a hollow tube with no electronics in it. That is the whole reason a baselit saber takes contact well: there is nothing inside the blade to break.
Nearly every baselit hilt we sell is rated for heavy duelling. There is no smooth swing and nothing to program, and the blade lights from the base rather than along its length.
All Baselit lightsabers“The blade itself lights up.”
This is where the blade itself lights up. A strip of individually addressable lights runs its full length, so the blade ignites from the hilt up, flares at the strike point and moves colour along its length.
A pixel blade carries its electronics inside it, so these hilts are rated for light duelling. Display, cosplay and lighter sparring suit it; regular hard contact suits a baselit core better.
All Neopixel lightsabers“The firmware, opened up.”
Proffie 2.2 runs the same pixel blade with the firmware opened up. Blade styles, effects and sound fonts become things you edit rather than things you pick from a list.
The editing is yours to do. If you’ve never opened a config file, expect a learning curve. Like every pixel hilt, it’s rated for light duelling.
Compare all five in the Saber Core guide