Fedex came with my MAWL today and thought I'd post a few thoughts - in my research I did not see some of these things mentioned. Mounting on DD MK18 quad rail, KAC micro front BUIS, EOTech EXPS 3, and Streamlight Protac Rail mount 1 with switch in Cloud Defensive shoe.
Initial Impression: Pretty damn impressive look and feel. This is easy to find in reviews so I won't expand on it.
Mounting issue 1: BE Meyers obviously put a lot of thought into this, and it has some tight tolerances in the mounting. Mounted it as far forward to the KAC micro sight as I could get it. It is actually the only place I cam mount it with the sights installed. This sits the lens area flush with the end of the rail. I would have liked to mount it back one more slot, but could not because the front bezel does not stay within the profile of the body of the MAWL. As you turn the unit on, the bezel hits where the cross bolt is on the sight. I was just surprised by this a bit - I saw a review or two mention the clearance on the front sight, but I didn't realize that while it may clear the sight base in off mode, you would not be able turn it on because of the changing clearance as things rotated.
Mounting Issue 2: The EC2 tailcap is a bit longer than the standard one. This has been said, but that makes it JUST too long to cleanly mount with a nice even spacing to the cloud defensive system. I'm talking like 1/16th of an inch here. It barley hits the mount for the white light. This forces me to move that whole white light switch back a slot (and leaves a couple visible slots), which in turn, has to move the EOTech back a slot as well. The EOTech was on the farthest forward slot of the receiver. May look at taking some material off the switch mount to make it work as well. A riser on the EOTECH would also probably help clear the cable from the tape switch.
Mounting issue 3: The literature does say the MAWL was designed to work with the SF line of lights, particularly vampires. I am using a streamlight which is pretty darn close to the vampire in size. However, the bezel of the light is actually is very lightly in contact with the rubber on the front side of the MAWL, I'm guessing about 1/32" to 1/16" more clearance would be fine. Don't think this is a huge deal and don't have a vampire to compare light sizes to, but the tolerance is very close and I was a bit surprised it was THAT close. Maybe a different mount would move it just enough.
Initial sight in: Initial (dry) sight in at about 25 yards went well with the provided / downloaded target. I put a piece of aluminum foil on the target to get a good vis laser reflection back when dialed in. Easy enough to do, but the adjustments knobs really had no discernible clicks to me. It says 1 MOA, but I just could not feel any clicks! I am hoping they don't move inadvertently with use and transport.
The instructions say it is normal to have some settling of the device upon initial firing that may require a re-zero. I did not do any live fire today to check. This brings me to my last point - The MAWL is designed to run in a certain location with a certain light under it, yet puts one adjustment knob so it is blocked by the light it is supposed to mount above. You need to remove any white light to adjust the elevation. In the long run, not a huge deal as ideally it is a zero once type of thing (after any settling).
Initial trials in indoor range at work: Pretty good device. Tried VIS mode, IR short and IR mid. I like it - a lot. Will hopefully get some live fire time in in the next few days and see if/how things settle in and if I'll need a rezero.
Initial Impression: Pretty damn impressive look and feel. This is easy to find in reviews so I won't expand on it.
Mounting issue 1: BE Meyers obviously put a lot of thought into this, and it has some tight tolerances in the mounting. Mounted it as far forward to the KAC micro sight as I could get it. It is actually the only place I cam mount it with the sights installed. This sits the lens area flush with the end of the rail. I would have liked to mount it back one more slot, but could not because the front bezel does not stay within the profile of the body of the MAWL. As you turn the unit on, the bezel hits where the cross bolt is on the sight. I was just surprised by this a bit - I saw a review or two mention the clearance on the front sight, but I didn't realize that while it may clear the sight base in off mode, you would not be able turn it on because of the changing clearance as things rotated.
Mounting Issue 2: The EC2 tailcap is a bit longer than the standard one. This has been said, but that makes it JUST too long to cleanly mount with a nice even spacing to the cloud defensive system. I'm talking like 1/16th of an inch here. It barley hits the mount for the white light. This forces me to move that whole white light switch back a slot (and leaves a couple visible slots), which in turn, has to move the EOTech back a slot as well. The EOTech was on the farthest forward slot of the receiver. May look at taking some material off the switch mount to make it work as well. A riser on the EOTECH would also probably help clear the cable from the tape switch.
Mounting issue 3: The literature does say the MAWL was designed to work with the SF line of lights, particularly vampires. I am using a streamlight which is pretty darn close to the vampire in size. However, the bezel of the light is actually is very lightly in contact with the rubber on the front side of the MAWL, I'm guessing about 1/32" to 1/16" more clearance would be fine. Don't think this is a huge deal and don't have a vampire to compare light sizes to, but the tolerance is very close and I was a bit surprised it was THAT close. Maybe a different mount would move it just enough.
Initial sight in: Initial (dry) sight in at about 25 yards went well with the provided / downloaded target. I put a piece of aluminum foil on the target to get a good vis laser reflection back when dialed in. Easy enough to do, but the adjustments knobs really had no discernible clicks to me. It says 1 MOA, but I just could not feel any clicks! I am hoping they don't move inadvertently with use and transport.
The instructions say it is normal to have some settling of the device upon initial firing that may require a re-zero. I did not do any live fire today to check. This brings me to my last point - The MAWL is designed to run in a certain location with a certain light under it, yet puts one adjustment knob so it is blocked by the light it is supposed to mount above. You need to remove any white light to adjust the elevation. In the long run, not a huge deal as ideally it is a zero once type of thing (after any settling).
Initial trials in indoor range at work: Pretty good device. Tried VIS mode, IR short and IR mid. I like it - a lot. Will hopefully get some live fire time in in the next few days and see if/how things settle in and if I'll need a rezero.
