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Some better pics of the new A4 that will release this summer. This is our pre-production unit we are going to be testing. Our new T.A.P.S. is working very well with this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Clutch99/A4F_zpsn1mv1beu.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Clutch99/A4e_zpsjp9hlcfs.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Clutch99/A4G_zpsrbtuza0i.jpg
Also more information. As mentioned the unit will be offered in both a C1 and restricted model. There is something very interesting with this unit in regards to the differences between the restricted and civilian models. The only difference between the 2 are going to be the power output of the pointers themselves. 5mW for the C1's (Green Vis. DIRECT for the first time with no cold weather issues) and IR pointers of .7mW / .2mW. Restricted portion will be 50mW for both the Vis (Green Direct) and IR pointers.
Where it gets very interesting is the IR illuminator. When we were first told they were using a 600mW output, I thought they were trying to light up 9 miles away or something along those lines.
What they engineered was (think miniature SPIR)....The are using a (civilian legal) hi power IR LED for this new system with a very small aperture keeping the vis signature of the IR LED to a bare minimum.
We will discuss a few more tidbits of info as we go along.
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sentence #3 intrigues me.
Do go on.
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Sorry for the delay in responding with this and several other posts I will be updating...Just got back into town yesterday. Here is a few more tidbits on the new A4 from our handling of the unit.
As most know the D2 while as good as it is, had a major shortcoming and that was the manual activation button location. It was great for righty shooters but just about impossible for southpaws. This new A4 has some of the best locations to date for a rifle mounted unit. Both activation buttons as you can see are on the left AND right side. Yes both buttons activate the same light/laser choice you have selected. The firing buttons have a great silent press momentary and click feel with no problems to manipulate with gloves.
The IR Illuminator as I talked about is a 600mW IR LED which I was told has a range of approx. 400-500 yards and due to the small aperture, a very small IR LED visible diode signature I have not tested it myself (yet) but this is a pre-production model and I will be taking it through it's paces. Release is set for this summer.
The visible light is as mentioned their MKIV battle light which produces 500 lumen of light. You will also see what looks like a heat sink at the front of the unit, which that is exactly what it is. The head of the light of course gets hot when on for extended run times like any other high lumen LED, so to manage the heat for the circuit boards a heat sink was designed into the unit.
The A4 also has slaved laser pointers, one green vis. and one IR. I also would like to see diffuser caps included and all ports to tame down when needed.
As for batteries, the unit is powered by (no surprise here due to the light), 3 CR123's. No run times were given officially and I don't want to speculate just yet as this was a per-production unit and during pre-prod., electronics can and do get streamlined a great deal. The battery hatch, is manipulated via a small screw door (see pic above and it will be tethered on production) that is also o-ringed and sealed. The unit will be waterproof, but no hard data is available as yet on the actual specs.
The unit as you see also has 2 press switches, with one being the override. Decision are being made what the override mode will be. (A shameless plug here for our TAPS here), in which no override will be necessary (i.e. no need for an extra press switch) as one can simply program the other TAPS button to perform a vis. or IR combination. BUT, I was thinking if someone did want to run the override with TAPS, they could have a triple mode combination of something....
Hmmm
As for it's mount, think APTIAL and PEQ-2A with a rail grabber mount (no QD) that enables the unit to sit lower on the Pic rail and the activation buttons actually wrap around the rail a bit. It also actually sits approx. 1/8" LOWER than the A2/A3 series units.
If you all have any further questions, ask away. We will continue to test the new A4 and I look forward to the release.
Vic