I narrowed my choices down to the same 3 tube rails. I would have obviously liked to have gotten one of those $200-300 handguards, but why pay so much when you can get something decent or just as great for half the price? I also have been out of work for a solid year so I needed to make the money I did have go as far as possible and still needed sights for my new AR15. I was pretty dead set on Mlok, (can't stand the look of keymod rails). I had actually ordered the ALG V1 for ultimate weight savings and for my needs it was perfect. I'm NOT one of those guys that needs/desires all that tacticool stuff or "have to put as much cool, new, latest and greatest tactical stuff as possible on my rifle build as I can" kind of guy. Only what's absolutely necessary and what my needs are at this time in my life and skill level. Then I got hung up on resale value and what would re-sell easier and be able to get as much of my money back as possible. So Mlok made the most sense, and that's why I originally went with the ALG V1. However, after vigilantly and continuously searching, I found the UTG PRO 15" super slim for $99 shipped today. Needles to say I canceled the other order and am glad to say I have settled for handguard I can be happy with, "for now" lol!. The decision wasn't easy. With Mlok being the best, up and coming attachment method in the industry, I was certain that was the best decision for me. The advancements are almost weekly that a new product or method is coming out and with Magpul being the frontrunner and the first company to jump on board and to embrace mlok, that seeks volumes to me. 100's of other companies, big and small have followed suit. Back to my point and why I chose the UTG. Other than the awesome deal I found for $99 shipped, the layout "looks of the UTG PRO SS 15" rail appealed to me because it broke up the plain jane, manotinous, "look" of that particular mlok handguard and most other mlok handguards. It was a really hard choice. I almost went with the Midwest industries rail because in the least, the mlok slots were off-set from each other and not in the same patern front to back, all the way around (make sense?). Hope so! The one bridge I had to cross and get over was the fact that the UTG-PRO SS handguard is a proprietary handguard. It does come with 3 picatinny rail sections, however! According to several sources,You are restricted to only being able to use the picatinny rail sections UTG makes and sells. NO other rail section from aNY other company will work, and despite the lightning cut slots that are very similar looking and almost identically spaced like mlok cut slots, they are not able to be used with mlok accessories. They are just slightly out of mlok spec enough that it won't work. Unless you have the tools and time and milled them out slightly and then had the rail either re-cerekoted or buy some rustoleum spray paint to cover up the shiny aluminum. Oh well! A long winded way to share what I ended up buying, but I thought I would give a little insight as to what my thought process was and why I ended up going with that choice. In the end, I'm was ok with the fact that the rail is proprietary, because my end use of the rifle as of now is for range use, home defense, possibly hunting, and general all around fun gun, plus I wanted a handguard with monolithic rail in case I re-sell it. Seems to be popular and what most ppl want unless they are building a race gun or just trying to build as light as possible.
