A few months ago I spoke to Eotech reps at a trade show about OGL availability, and they said that nearly every unit that Eotech produced had been purchased by various military units before they hit the commercial market. However, they finally had a shipment slated for delivery to an LE dealer in my state. I happened to know that dealer, and they received that shipment last week.

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I decided to try the OGL on a rifle that had an LPVO since the OGL's smaller form factor and lighter weight wouldn't be as obtrusive as something like a MAWL. I'm fine with the MAWL's size and weight when I'm actually utilizing it, but not so much if it's mostly deadweight for daytime shooting. I was worried the OGL would be too tall and obstruct too much of the LPVO's view, but it wasn't bad at all with my Vortex Razor 1-6x in a Badger C1 1.7" mount.

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The OGL came with my favorite momentary switch: a Modlite ModButton Lite. I shoot rifles lefty and prefer to use the ModButton with PEQ15s since the battery cap stabs my hand when I use the top-mounted fire button. The ModButton wasn't necessary on the OGL though since I had no problem reaching the top fire button comfortably. Another problem I've experienced with the top fire button on the NGAL is quickly finding it again after taking the hand off and putting it back under quick movement (opening doors, squeezing teammates' shoulders, etc). However, with the OGL I found that I could re-grip the rail anywhere behind it, slide my hand forward, and my thumb would end up directly on top of the fire button every time.

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The illuminator focus slider worked well and was positioned where it could be easily reached but not accidentally moved. The middle position and wider worked perfectly indoors, and tighter than the middle seemed good for outdoors. Instantly going from an outdoor setting to an indoor setting is a feature that I like about the MAWL, and the OGL, while not instant, is at least practical compared to dialing a knob. The tiny selector knob on the back to switch modes wasn't too hard to do administratively under no stress, but it doesn't seem very practical to do on the fly.

Interestingly, the emitter board could be seen when the illuminator was focused all the way down at close range. It disappeared as soon as the divergence was widened. Focused all the way down isn't a setting you'd want to use at close range though, and it became less visible further away.

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No outdoor illuminator shots yet, but here's a picture that I stitched together from a comparison video that Custom Night Vision posted on YouTube (MAWL C1, MAWL DA, OGL):

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Unfortunately, the Eotech rep said that FDA approval for the civilian power model is a very long process, and he couldn't give an estimate on timeframe. It didn't sound like it would likely be this year.

Did you weigh it?

“Unfortunately, the Eotech rep said that FDA approval for the civilian power model is a very long process, and he couldn't give an estimate on timeframe. It didn't sound like it would likely be this year.”

Let us know when they decide to give a shit about civilians and why there is a difference between the models. It sounds like eotech is anti 2A to me.

UNACCEPTABLE!

No. Eotech says 8 ounces, but I didn't think to weight it before mounting and zeroing it.

I did ask that specifically. Eotech cares, but the FDA approval process is the holdup. I imagine they wouldn't have the bandwidth for it yet anyway since they are selling the FP as fast as they are making them.

So what is the difference between the civilian model and the military model?  Why is there a difference to begin with and why wouldn’t the provide the already available military model to the fine citizens of this country?

I went thru this back in the day when Cheytac was developing the m200. I ate a lot of shit over it. Eotec should also. This is just wrong.

Because the federal government restricts the sale of non-eye-safe IR lasers. Civilian lasers are lower power and have to go through a long, drawn out approval process with the FDA before they can be sold.

Right?

I'm just glad they're making a civ version.

Thanks for the review/writeup. Looks like a great option. Hope the civilian version isn’t too neutered and that the price is reasonable.

Well, that's some positive news for civilians.  If EOTech has finally reached a point in their production where OGLs are going to an LE Dealer that's good.  I would suppose that has to be a somewhat good sign of them moving to a point in a few years where perhaps civilian OGLs can be produced.  

My concern with the OGL was that EOTech would never be able to produce them in high enough numbers to ever do anything more than direct acqusition contract fullfillment and a few to LE Dealers here and there.  As it stands, I would not bet on the civilian OGL beating either the Holosun IRIS or the ZBolt ACAL to market, but be cool if it turns out I'm wrong.

Ordered one today.
See comments on the video below for ordering

Down Range Thermal

Got mine in and messed with it last night.  Really liking the illuminator slider adjustment thing.  There is a good bit of difference between the regular and full power.

You’ve been here as long as you have and you don’t know/understand the legalities/regulations between laser output? Can you read up on it and then let me know how that correlates to Eotech being anti-2A…

What are they selling for? DRT is sold out and no longer has the price listed.

7.5 oz without battery
8 oz w battery

Thanks. Thats creeping back up there. NGAL/X are around 5, Xe is 7 fully loaded, OGL is 8, mawl is only 3 more...

It feels lighter than the MAWL in practice if only due to the weight distribution. It's no NGAL though either.

It’s also costs about 40% less than the NGAL and 30% less than the MAWL.

How do you figure?

I typed it in google.
NGAL looks to be 4K- 5k depending where you order it
MAWL is 3600
OGL was 2300 - that may change w the civ version once it’s released.

List price of the OGL is 3K. If you got agency pricing on the OGL, you need to compare agency cost for the other two.

Street price on all Eotech products are well under the list price Eotech publishes on their website. Typically, anywhere from 70-80%. $2300 street price would be in line with the $3k list price.

FWIW, the NGAL and MAWL from the same dealer are around $3400.

EOTech night vision/thermal stuff is typically not well under MSRP. I'll also note that EOTech has explicitly stated that their pro deals do not extend to their night vision/thermal line. Thus, I would not expect the OGL to be 2.3k USD for individual purchase typically.

EDITED:

Good, this is moving in the right direction.

EOTECH are building the OGL in house right?  Does EOTech build the night vision in house or are they subcontracting that out right now? My understanding is that EOTech had a sort of progression plan for the Night Vision production and I don't know if the OGL is going to be done in a similar fashion.

Eotech doesn't make any of their NV or thermal and is just the importer for Theon night vision in Europe.

As far is I know, Eotech makes the OGL in house.

Cool, so that bodes well for all of us that they are most likely making the OGL in house or at least a good portion of it (perhaps assembling off subcontracted parts).   Big fan of EOTech, they're in my home state after all.

It is my understanding that the OGL is indeed made in-house. That also makes it vaguely frustrating to me that they have explicitly stated that the OGL does not qualify for pro deal, which is also why I do not believe that you will find the street price will be substantially below MSRP.

So far the only person quoting pricing was selling them for 2300.  So there's that one data point.

Can you talk about the switch unit on the back for the mode selector?  How does it work? Any pictures?

The 1911 syndicate guys made a video with the Spear LT a while ago and their pre production unit had some kind of super weird Eotech reticle/illuminator thing.  Was that a prototype feature that didn't make it to production?  I think that's probably a good thing as I thought that "feature" was a little gimmicky.

My OGL is at work, but here's a picture of the switch that I pulled off the web:

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The switch is in the off position at 9:00 in the picture. Down is the two visible laser settings, and up is the IR pointer/illuminator in various power levels similar to PEQ15.

The OGL does come with pattern generators for the laser like the PEQ15. That may have been what the 1911 Syndicate guys were using. Otherwise, the laser is just a pointer without them.

I will say so far the only complaint I have is the location of the function switch and the pressure pad plug in.  

When you plug in a pressure pad, it makes trying to change the switch kind of a pain.  Especially if you are using the visible laser.  IR laser adjustments aren’t bad with the switch though.

It's been a while since I watched their video but I could have sworn the divergence lever was being actuated when the eotech style reticle showed up.  I could be completely wrong.


As a right handed shooter, does the mode selector bother you as you fire the gun?  I can picture that selector jamming into the webbing of my hand.

With my flash light mounted on the left side, I can't really hold it the same way right handed to answer your question. I even tried to because I had the same concern about the switch being uncomfortable. My buddy got one at the same time that I did; he's right handed and hasn't complained about it being uncomfortable.

Got a picture with a right-handed setup. The selector switch was not uncomfortable as my hand ended up over the ramp on the top left corner not the selector. It was actually more comfortable than using it left-handed.

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