Choose LED for Unrestricted Power
VCSEL for Beam Clarity, Battery Runtimes
The ACAL is engineered, designed, & manufactured by Americans - in America 🇺🇸. Precision machined billet aluminum parts; anodizing & etching; mechanical & optical assembly; device programing; VCSEL & LED illuminator & dot laser calibration. Kitted, marketed, and shipped from Oregon.

Z-BOLT® ships two types of infrared illuminators for its CIV legal ACAL.  LED (Light Emitting Diodes) or VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers) VCSEL  illuminators are found in the BE Meyers KIJI & MAWL; Wilcox Raid XE; L3 Harris NGAL; Holosun IRIS.  But there's an LED illuminator in the DBAL D2 . . . why is that?  And why is the illuminator assembly so damn big??! Let's talk about that a bit.

LED for the Win!
Unrestricted Beam Brightness
The Steiner DBAL D2 devices first shipped 12 years ago. Steiner Optics (formerly Laser Devices) has since migrated to lasers for their illuminators on the DBAL A2, A3, A4, and Steiner ATLAS. None of these newer products come close to matching the LED illuminator on the D2 or SPIR. The D2 remains the King for civilian legal illuminator performance, and has developed a cult like following. (despite design criticisms - we'll discuss that below) Scores of reviews, like this one Why the DBAL D2 is Still the Best Civilian IR Laser tell the story. So, why is that? LED chips are low-speckle light sources, and are not lasers, so not regulated by the FDA. A 350mW LED chip can operate @ 100% of it's maximum output. Result? The beam output, the infrared "light on target",  is superior to a "throttled" Class 3R VCSEL. (the government restricts the power output of civilian legal lasers)

And what about the large illuminator section on the D2?  And now the ACAL? What does the focusing bezel do? It's ALL about focal length and aperture size. An expansive 4° to 25° beam adjustment involves manipulating the position of the ACAL optical elements (the main lens up and down a bezel adjusted helix) relative to the light source and to each other to precisely control the focal point, beam size (spot size), and beam divergence/collimation. Focal length determines the min/max movement of the lens elements back and forth along the optical axis - aperture size determines the limits of wide fan angles - how much illuminator light can exit the device - ie. the illuminator "flood" performance. Quality wide area illumination (not diffused or "scrubbed" light) means enhanced detection of short to medium range threats - it means increased situational awareness. FYI - Holosun IRIS "adjustable optic" divergence is 1° to 5° (slider). Raid XE LP (wheel) 2° to 6°, and so on . . . 

 

ACAL, LED
Made in the USA 🇺🇸
LED Infrared Illuminator
Advanced Co-Located Aiming Lasers
The D2 is an oddity - a LAM that gets no respect - even as it's praised for its performance. Well, the illuminator performance IS outstanding. So we've kept the LED performance - because it's AWESOME - and reimagined the rest. 1) The ACAL LED has a 35% reduced footprint. Sits less than 1" above top rail for improved optics clearance. 2) The IR & VIS dot lasers are co-located. Two beams - one aperture!  3) The co-located lasers are directly over the bore for low parallax shooting accuracy.  4) Improved adjustable focus optics. Requires minimal 75° bezel travel when transitioning from 4° focus to 25° flood (DBAL-D2 = 360°) 5) Interior of focusing bezel accepts twist-on sacrificial lenses or beam diffusers.

6) The onboard button is on the top, and the illuminator assembly is "saddle bagged", ie.  dropped down, wrapping the rail - for easy ACAL activation. Fits nicely side mounted on the right rail . . .  7) HI/LO Settings for VIS/IR & Illuminator. 8) Dual Crane ports - remote fire and visible override. 9) Rail Grabbers integrated into ACAL housing. 10) Easily swap out bolt and thumbscrew tightener for ADM MFG throw lever mount.  ACAL LED Order Page Here

ACAL, VCSEL
Speckle Free Beam Clarity
LED illuminators are low-speckle, with the brightest civilian legal beam. FDA legal VCSEL illuminators, on the other hand, provide the highest level of optical beam clarity, offer better battery runtimes, and are speckle-free. Speckle-free illumination allows for sharper, clearer images, particularly when viewing or acquiring targets via night vision devices. The ACAL Class 3R VCSEL includes all the features found on the ACAL LED. However, the ACAL VCSEL includes power scaling . . . 

The FDA requires manufacturers to “throttle” the power output of VCSEL chips, so as to meet the Class 3R FDA laser safety classification. Class 3R VCSEL illuminators cannot match the unrestrictedLED in power & beam brightness.  But Z-BOLT® Auto Power Scaling™ technology helps to mitigate this power deficit at mid-range and flood illuminator settings. Z-BOLT® APS™ delivers the highest possible LEGAL output power for a given beam angle setting - the telescopic adjustment bezel providing the end user with beam angle dependent power control. Where previous 3R VCSEL illuminators fall short (increased angle beam settings where the IR light fails in wide area illumination), the ACAL VCSEL units maintain the maximum permissible power based on the product's FDA classification. The 500mW ACAL chip runs @ 15mW when fully focused (4°)and scales to 95mW when at full flood (25°) FDA throttling limits the VCSEL beam in range & reach and maximum allowable brightness. ACAL VCSEL 3B have no such power restrictions and are INSANE!! (Come on FDA, free us from power output tyranny!)   See Military/LE link below.
ACAL VCSEL Order Page Here

ACAL VCSEL
Restricted Class 3B, Military & LE Here