Last year we mentioned the new Aimpoint Camp M5 which is powered by AAA batteries and currently being fielded to DoS’s DSS agents for use overseas in areas where other batteries are less prevalent. So far, it’s been kept under wraps, but Frag Out! HMFIc, Szasz, captured this image of the elusive M5.
Officially, don’t expect to see it available commercially until SHOT Show 18, but I hear Aimpoint is starting to court Agency and Unit orders, to be fully pursued once the DoS contract is fulfilled.
Fielded to DS? Is that a fact?
Yes it is a fact.
I’m wondering why the placed the battery tube high right, instead of low right, like they did with the COMP M4S? I thought the reason was because the battery compartment being placed higher occludes the FOV? And I still don’t get the use of a bright/shiny nearly white looking locking arm on the mounts.
If you’re in a role or capacity that necessitates the need to worry about the shine of the throw lever, you’d be painting it along with the rest of the entire shiny black weapon system.
If they’re close enough to see a small silver lever, then you’ve already fucked up. You learn this from experience, not from YouTube.
Is that you Mike Lamb?
Due to the internal components/electronics, the battery compartment couldn’t be put low or it would interfere with attaching mounts.
If the ubiquity of AAA batteries in certain regions was the sole purpose for this, it seems like a lot of money and effort when compared to simply issuing spare Lithium 2032 batteries to each agent with an Aimpoint T2. According to Wikipedia there are roughly 2,000 DSS agents. With the right packaging, you could probably fit at least one spare battery for all 2,000 DSS agents in a small backpack or briefcase. I doubt it’s safe to carry that many Li-ion batteries in a small container but you get the idea.
If you put together a handful of 2032s or other coin cell lithium batteries together, you then have a HAZMAT shipping issue. It’s very expensive, logistically problematic and not possible to all locations worldwide. There are also a number of other personnel to include contractors that are issued optics as well, so that total number is much larger.
So much this.
ICAO and FAA (49 CFR 175.10(a)(18)) have restricted lithium battery air transport on commercial civil air travel to carry on items only. No cargo containing lithium batteries, with a few exceptions are allowed on passenger aircraft.
http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Pages/lithium-batteries.aspx
The limiting factor driving this design is the lithium component, not the battery size, which is complicating logistics for resupply.
Only reason these restrictions would complicate your life, or even make it to your radar is if you’re OCONUS where shipping options are limited.
Well good for the DoS boys. I think its a smart move for optic companies to design their sights to use more commonly seen batt’s. Take the Vortex Sparc AR for example (which is a badass little sight by the way).
I get that certain batteries are hard to find, but why AAA? They can be just as troublesome as some coin batteries. AA is only slightly larger and you can find them everywhere.
AAA is pretty common in the third world. You’ll find them in every remote control for split-unit air conditioners, so they’re everywhere.
AAA because size. AA gets you a larger optic and AAA gets you a smaller one. That’s why the COMP M4 is larger than the COMP M5.
I currently have dozens of H1’s issued in the field that have been set at 8 or 9 constantly for approximately 3 1/2 years with no battery failures. This is a non issue for anyone with a T/H-1 or 2. I would venture to say that most longevity failures are going to be caused by component damage instead of battery failure in the long run. Issue them with a new battery and I assure you they will return with the same battery within a deployment or overseas duty assignment for those DSS foreign services agents and the rest of you secret squirrel “operators”.
I assure you they (the optics) won’t return with the same battery. “Deployments” don’t work anything like the military and logistics are totally different. Equipment isn’t deployed or rotated like the military. That’s one of the issues this optic was developed to address.
While I understand the basic logistical issue this was intended to correct, I think it will cause a bigger issue: Cheap alkaline batteries, especially the kind likely to be found in the third world, tend to leak and make a mess of the electronic devices that they’re installed in.
On the whole, it’s entirely possible that this is trading one logistic problem for another. Namely, it’s trading the struggle to find 2032 batteries in the third world for needing to repair/replace sights on a much more frequent basis due to battery leakage.
When I talked to the Aimpoint rep at SHOT 2017 about this model, they expected to have their government contracts finished by early to mid Summer, and would be allowing these onto the market after that.
Save your dollars, it’ll be time to upgrade.
Aaron, thanks for getting the M5 pushed through for us. Ours just arrived and I look forward to working it on top of our MK 18s… logistics is the animal in the room no one thinks about.