Z-BOLT® ACAL (Non-Restricted LED)

Z-BOLT® LED Power, Unrestricted!
Beats VCSEL 3R in Beam Brightness

 

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.

The Z-BOLT® unrestricted LED (Light Emitting Diodes) is a civilian legal device. The IR LED chips are common in illuminator only heads. All use reflectors to focus the beam and provide “flood” or “spill”.  They are fixed and cannot be adjusted. A few LED devices offer variable focus optics – most notably in the Steiner DBAL D2 and SPIR.  VCSEL laser illuminators are found in new Class 3R (FDA Restricted) MFALs.  Earlier generation solid state laser-based IR illuminators are found in legacy MFALs such as the DBAL A3 and ATPIAL (PEQ-15). But there’s an LED illuminator in the SPIR & DBAL D2, and the raw performance of these illuminators is top tier. Why is that?  And why is the illuminator assembly so damn big??! Let’s talk about that a bit.

Unrestricted Power
The Steiner DBAL D2 devices first shipped 12 years ago. The majority of non-restricted civilian MFALs use lasers for their illuminators, however, none of these products come close to matching the LED illuminator on the D2 or SPIR. The D2 remains a top performer for civilian legal illuminator performance, and has developed a cult like following (despite design criticisms – we’ll discuss that below). So, why is that? LED chips are low-speckle light sources, and are not lasers, so not regulated by the FDA. The Z-BOLT® ACAL 350mW LED chip can operate @ 100% of its 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) LED infrared illuminators are not rated and the power output is UNRESTRICTED.

Situational Awareness
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 6° 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. The ACAL ships with a bezel throw lever attachment for quick “on the fly” focus to flood. (Lever position 11:30 to 9:00 if you’re keeping time) A quick comparison of competing devices – IR illuminator beam focus to flood:

The Designator IR-V is fixed at 3°; the L3 Harris ATPIAL-C (PEQ-15) fixed at 5°; Wilcox Raid XE 1° to 5°(wheel); EOTECH OGL is 1° to 6° (“patented” lever); Holosun IRIS 1° to 5° (slider); Steiner DBAL A3, 5° to 10° (focusing knob); BE Meyers DAGIR, 1° to 12° (focusing wheel). The Z-BOLT® ACAL narrow focus/wide area beam divergence is 6° to 25° (1″ travel throw lever).

 

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 motion ratio on adjustable focus optics. Requires minimal 75° bezel travel when transitioning from 6° 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 the included ADM MFG throw lever mount