Originally Posted by
Defaultmp3
I would hope they're using IR (infrared) and not UV (ultraviolet); they're literally on the opposite sides of the spectrum (infrared wavelengths being longer than the human eye can see, ultraviolet being shorter).
The MAWL is king in the civilian world; only real weakness is price and weight (durability seems to be also something I've heard brought up). The illuminator is far superior to those on older full power units, as it is my understanding that it is literally a fully power illuminator that is used, even in the C1+, and that the use of the VCSEL technology is what allows for this, as it is technically many emitters that do not exceed 0.7 mW, combining for up to 80 mW of output. It also has excellent switchology, allowing you to easily switch illuminator modes between short, medium, and long range; this does limit your ability to fine tune the settings of the MAWL, though, which some people would find as a weakness (though I am told that BE Meyers can tune the power and divergence of the illuminator as needed, based on contracts).
Your most viable civilian alternatives are either a Steiner DBAL-D2 or else a ZenitCo Perst-3. The former is bulky, heavy, and utilizes an LED for illumination, which will have a downrange visible signature. The latter is a Russian full power unit, and thus has limited warranty, dubious availability, and lack of aftermarket support for tape switches. There is also the possibility of utilizing something like a DBAL-A2 or some other IR pointer without an illuminator and pairing it with something like the Modlite IR-940 or Luna LN-ELIR-3. Pure class-1 units like the Steiner DBAL-A3 and L-3 ATPIAL-C are pretty much garbage in terms of illuminators, and thus aren't viable alternatives without an LED illuminator to pair with it. The only real reasons to not go with the MAWL in the class 1 realm, IMO, is cost, which is admittedly substantially more than the DBAL-D2 and the Perst-3.
If you have the ability to swing it, there is also the L3 NGAL and the Wilcox RAID-X. The former, as best I can tell, is simply a smaller, lighter LA-5 (it does not use VSCEL, so the illuminator is most likely not as clean as the MAWL and the RAID-X), so despite winning the SOCOM contract, I would consider it the worst of the three next-gen units. The Wilcox RAID-X is much lighter and smaller than the MAWL, with way more ability to fine-tune the laser pointer and illuminator outputs, along with the divergence of the illuminator, at the expense of a less intuitive switchology. Both the NGAL and the RAID-X are more expensive than the MAWL-C1+.
There is also the tuned down Wilcox RAPTAR, as there is apparently a guy out there that can unlock it for you to be full power now (note that this is not the same as the RAPTAR ES, RAPTAR-S ES, etc.), but that's a very niche MFAL, not really something I would considering on a fighting carbine, but more on a precision rig.
Bookmarks