cthill,
Lightware’s lead times are always quite long. I think they make a good quality product so I think they have troubles keeping up with demand. I don’t know of anywhere else to get the SF40c I’m afraid. They do have a list of distributors on their website somewhere I think.
We could potentially add support for other 360degree lidar. Someone would need to send me one though. I couldn’t promise a timeline … I would likely give it to one of the Japan Drone school students as a first step (a couple of them are looking for way to improve their skills with the ardupilot code base).