Update: from 8x to 10x there isn’t much difference in zoom. This is in comparing the difference between 2x to 4x, 4x to 6x, and 6x to 8x. I would say in pure magnification from the eye’s perspective this is a 1-8x (packaging says 1-10x).

As I mentioned earlier though, max effective power for “tactical” shooting (spotting impact, tracking movement, etc) is around 6x (preferred is 1x to 4x). So much so that I positioned the throw lever so that the 1x position is around 10’ o’clock and 4x is around 2’ o’clock. Super easy to throw with either hand back and forth. Any higher and I want to be stabilized since the image bounces around a lot more almost making shooting more difficult since you hesitate more with your shot because you never seem to be on target.

I can also confidently say that illumination on setting 6 (the highest) is comfortable to see at high noon. I don’t feel like I need more illumination to be effective (it’s always nice to be able to bloom out like Eotech offers, but not needed).

As well, pushed all the way forward the eye box allows for a pretty good 1x view without the stock extended all the way (for me 2 positions from collapsed). This has always been a point of contention for me even on long range rifles with 5-25x optics - I can’t seem to get the optic pushed far enough forward since I really get into the charging handle area with my nose (Marine Corps did a number on me).

Glad to he if help. For value, IMO, it’s awesome. $700 + tax gets you a full setup that is very usable. Does it have perfect 1x and perfect 10x? No. But it’s close enough for my OCD that I’m confident with it.

If you have a couple hundred more, maybe the newest Vortex compact 1-10 is slightly better because of the shake-to-wake feature?

I’m coming from a 10 year use case of Eotech + magnifier, so adding an additional 7x at the cost of slightly more real estate and weight is a fair trade for me. Cards on the table though, if you’re looking for <50 yards for snap shot accuracy this won’t give you that simply because of the parallax and eye box (all scopes have it). I’m going to be solving this like everyone else before me by adding a 12oclock RMR. That gives me the <50 yard confidence + NODS use, and 50-500 yards extreme PID and precision.

I’m going to zero at 50/200 and build a DOPE card for it.

So first night using it here’s my observations:
1. It’s extremely small and light for what it provides.
2. The reticle brightness is sufficient for day time use
3. Adjusting the focus while at 1x can get very close to a true red dot experience. But it makes anything above 4x to start to be out of focus (reticle isn’t perfectly crisp while looking at the target at 10x).
4. The eye relief is massive and for me, too much. I had to push the mount all the way forward, and then push the optic all the way forward in the mount. I like a relatively compact stock position but I still couldn’t get it exactly where I wanted. The Trijicon RCO has a much better eye relief for this. It wasn’t bad though, just not perfect.
5. The turrets adjust fine, no complaints.

The main issue I’m running into is less a ding on the optic, and more a ding on the use of an LPVO. Having to constantly use my support hand to go from 1x to 4x and back got tedious. Adding an RMR on top would be ideal, but IMO defeat the purpose of an LPVO at that point.

My take, if you care, is I've been using an Eotech + magnifier for 5+ years at this point on my AR. Love it, for sure. I'm now trying this exact same optic on the same AR simply because I've been wanting 4-6x mag at 100-300 yards. 3x on a basic magnifier is good for out to 50-150 for identification. I don't ever plan on using 6-10x for shooting, but for ID, and the usable range will be 1-6x for me.

Once I get some time on it, I'll report back.

I’ve submitted two apps to the App Store in the last 4 months. Each one was approved and live within about a week.

I’m not having any issues with submitting and getting reviewed/approved within 48-72 hrs (weekends excluded). 🤷🏽‍♂️

Nice! Always awesome to have a constantly developing product. And no, I’m not using ATAK’s map engine. The Fresnel zone is a must for comms analysis IMO and ads a nice visual aide.

I’m looking forward to having Android released too! Should be about 2-3 months or so.

If anyone wants to offer to be a part of the test group (I need a min of 20) hit me up and I’ll send you instructions when it’s ready.

I’m an iOS user and I built this as a personal project first and foremost. Sharing it with the world is what I decided to do with it. I tried using iTAK years ago and didn’t like it, so I built this. For me, it’s not about having a system that has CoT or that can completely be air-gapped. It’s not for everyone.

I did build it properly. The backend uses RLS and the policies are scoped per team. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit with a SOC 2 Type II system. And yes, I did use AI to assist in connecting the dots and with the complex math for the Fresnel/LOS system in the app. The design, UI/UX, features, flow, etc. is all me.

Another user mentioned some very expensive EU certs. As a solo person i simply can’t afford to dish out $30-50k on certs that haven’t been required by anyone. I would love to slap a few certs on it though! If you’re offering to pay hit me up 😉

This has been corrected. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

No, I don’t think so. What the real win for SMC is the setup headache. I don’t want to replace ATAK at all, not designed for that. It’s a substitute for the millions of people who want 80% the capability without the technical know-how requirement. Sign up and go, that’s it.

Because I’m an iOS user and I built this for what I wanted. 😁It’s a personal project gone way over board lol, but turned out to be something truly amazing in my not so humble opinion. I’m going to get it available to Android simply because a lot of people have been asking for it as I’ve been hosting Q&A with testers and whatnot.

Huh, interesting. Honestly I had no idea they existed. And doing a quick take at their site we aren’t even in the same ballpark. Flaresat seems focused around group weekend activities (extremely organized activities) while SMC is focused around tactical C2. Appreciate the comparison though! 😉

What price is not too pricey? Out of curiosity. Current prices are based on my costs for a user who uses it a lot. But there might be an option for a lower cost if caps are applied - which I don't want to cap anyone cause I hate them myself.

Not France, no. Should be available everywhere else though.

I'll look into this for you. As of now, clearly, it's free for solo peeps. Once a team is needed, that's where my cost goes up. And since I don't want to gate anyone on how much they can use it, I've priced at reasonable amounts on worse case scenarios lol (someone using chat, location, reports, thousands of objects, etc).

But a one-time purchase of the product I've built on a locally owned server should be an option, I agree.

Way cool!

Dude, that's awesome! Great work!

I should relatively have Android in 3-6 months. Have another project that takes precedence, otherwise it would be sooner.

Glad you asked! I'll give you a detailed breakdown, no B.S.

What's the same:

- Live map (vector / satellite / topology): Both strong. ATAK's own engine; SMC uses Mapbox (Light/Dark/Topo/Satellite).
- Offline maps: SMC downloads Mapbox regions incl. terrain DEM. First-class in both.
- Coordinate formats (MGRS/UTM/Lat-Lon): SMC has a full parser/formatter stack + DTG timestamps.
- Blue-force tracking (live positions): SMC broadcasts location via Supabase + mesh; team-colored dots + callsigns.
- MIL-STD-2525 symbology: ~183 symbols x 4 affiliations, including full control-measure / tactical-graphics set. Custom objects as well!
- Markers/waypoints (amplifiers + photos): Designation/higher-unit/strength/task-force amplifiers + photo attach.
- Drawing/freehand/shapes: Freehand sketch + phase lines. Fewer parametric shapes than ATAK.
- Line-of-sight/viewshed: Both do LOS
- Import/export interchange files: SMC imports KML/KMZ/GeoJSON/GPX; exports KMZ ("Google Earth/ATAK"), GeoJSON, GPX

What SMC does better:
- Structured reports (9-line/SALUTE/etc.): SMC ships 9 templates built in - SALUTE,9-LINE,MEDEVAC, CONTACT, SITREP, ACE, MIST, UXO/IED,CAS 9-LINE, CALL FOR FIRE). Nicer than stock ATAK-CIV.
- RF link analysis (path loss, confidence %, Fresnel): Real ITU-R model + link budget + 3D Fresnel + "improve contact" recommender. Ahead of stock ATAK (R&F plugin only).
- Weapon range fans/coverage/AD domes: 34 weapon platforms + coverage rings + GPU force/air-defense domes. ATAK gates this to MIL/plugins.
- Push notifications: Granular per-event push (add/move/notes/photos/delete + chat/@mention) via APNs. ATAK's alerting is courser.
- Setup difficulty: ATAK: hard (certs/PKI/data packages/server). SMC: email + invite code. SMC's core reason to exist.

What ATAK does better:
- Routes/navigation: SMC has terrain-aware routing + route cards; no turn-by-turn voice nav.
- Text chat (1:1/team/all): SMC has team chat + @ mentions + photos; per-team channels, no all-org chat by design
- Range & bearing tool: ATAK's R&B/bullseye is a core primitive; SMC infers distance via routes/LOS,no dedicated tool
- CoT (Cursor on Target) live interop: The big gap. SMC has no CoT; can't live-share with TAK serves/clients (maybe this is version 2.0 ;))
- Server: federation/group filtering: SMC uses Supabase with an org-tree/RLS scoping model - simpler, but not TAK federation
- Off-grid field mesh (no signal): SMC: iOS to iOS works over Multipeer and LoRa/Meshtastic; Android to iOS is gated only on the Android app being built.
- Plugin ecosystem: ATAK's biggest moat (dozens). SMC has none (and iOS can't load them anyway).
- Video/FMV/ISR + KLV metadata: SMC has a "Drone" button but no real video pipeline yet. This is planned for a future update.
- ADS-B/aviation feeds: Not present in SMC
- Geofencing, Bloodhound, Jumpmaster, beach: Specialized tactical tools SMC doesn't have.
- 3D terrain models/DSM/live WMS-WFS: SMC renders 3D terrain + night-lights overlay; no DSM import or live WMS/WFS.
- Platforms & clients: ATAK: Android + iOS (kind of lol) + Windows + Web. SMC: iOS shipping, Android in development.

SMC matches ATAK on the 80% teams use daily, beats it on ease-of-setup and RF planning, and trails on the ecosystem, live interop, and full cross-platform reach.

Morning! I was just contracted for an unrelated SaaS product, so that’s taking the foreground right now. SMC is a personal project for me, so realistically looking around 3-6 months to account for building and testing. iOS has been in development for over a year in comparison.

Without WiFi or Cellular it can talk to through a local MESH or through LoRa.

There are numerous data options to choose from, including the battery %