I am currently starting a new school year with saber training again. Not sure whether I will buy any saber at all, as I have too much stuff to pay for.
However shitty my job is, the allowed amount of overhours raises my salary to about 1.4x base, which is about 5k dollars a year higher than industry standard (and in Poland it is a fuckton of money) so it's hard to find a better paying job without going into management, which i, as an imageboard autist with 13 year experience will probably fail.

Anyway, after handling Cold Steel 1.2kg curved saber, I'd say that a) it's too heavy for me, I cannot swing it like Wolodyjowski in Deluge, and b) ~550 dollars for a saber made in India? Fuck off with that shit.
I liked the curvedness of the saber though, in real life fight, it might give one more edge (figuratively and literally), but your wrist has to be twisting and turning like a fucking doll joint if you want to use it effectively.

I was also wondering what was the point to turn from patrician sabers to plebeian shashkas in Russia, but I think it was likely a combination of poorfaggotry and advancements made in firearm area, so close combat kind of slowly died.