Nothing on the market can compare to what? The MAWL actually has the furthest reaching class 1 illuminator (that is laser based, I believe)
I use an IR laser all the time when I'm shooting/moving. but then again Im doing defensive shooting drills and not hunting so much. I'm not sure how you could fight without one under NVG. I mean even hunting, if you are moving, a pair of tubes and a laser on the rifle is light years better than anything mounted to the rifle.
Either way. I mean none of them are bad systems.
The lasermax works great but Its not sturdy enough for me. the adjustments suck. and battery replacement stinks too. you need tools for everything. etc.
but for the money, thats what I have on most of my AR's.
Nothing on the civilian market compares to the range of the MAWL. It has a lot of nice features, but the range just blows everything out of the water that I've seen it compared to.
And for my main style of hunting (tripod on my own property), thermal is the best tool for the job. Now if I'm stalking in an unknown location, then I'm using laser and NV. But I'm still using thermal to scan.