Surefire flashlights

[gunrun45]

OK, I love my Surefire flashlights and have NEVER had one break before. I own several pistol mount lights, their 900 vertical pistol grip light, the 200m weapons light and several hand held lights. NEVER a problem...untill recently.

I bought a shotgun forarm (618FGA) for a remington 870 used by one of my SWAT guys. I bought the one with the lock out switch that disables the unit from accidental discharge. I was warned that the unit would blow bulbs if used for extended periods of time in practice with the buld in place due to excessive repeated shock to the bulb and batteries, so I bought the plug to fill the cavity when the lamp assembly is removed for practice sessions.

I got the thing in the mail and the lock out switch wasn't working right. It simply worked as a rocker on/off switch and did not disable the pressure switch to protect against unintended discharges.

I called Surefire and much to their credit they agreed to take it back without any questions and had another one in the mail headed my way the same day.

So the bright and ever chearful Fed-Ex man drops off the new one today. All looks good and it works perfectly...untill I had it on for about 5 seconds and the bulb burned out. Turns out that the bulb had grease on the housing on it that casued it to cook itself and crack the bulb!! Talk about poor quality control. Now I have to go buy a new bulb at $40 to get it to work. I could ship it back, but my guy needs it ASAP!

I was so confident with Surefire previous to this too. They are small things and yes they replaced the deffective part with ultimate professional grace but now this enters doubt into my mind whenever I trust their products with my life. I don't like that at all...

[SPARTEN117]

I would call surefire again and ask to talk to someone Importent. being that your LEO exactly the people they market too, they should be very embaresed and bend over back wards to help you out. let me know how this works out.
I love both of my surefires. I have had my E2D for over a year and a half and have changed the bulb three times, they seem to have a six month life span.

[Cheetah]

I'd be willing to bet if you called them they'd send a free bulb to replace that one. I doubt they'd need the entire unit back to replace a bulb with grease on it. Figure you buy a bulb for $40, get a free one, and you just bought two bulbs at half price :D

[gunrun45]

I just bought the bulb for $37 and called it good. The unit works well now (functions), but the system disable switch on the SECOND one now does not work. I think I'll just call it good and put the stupid thing to work. I can't wait any longer. I'm really disapointed with surefire :(

[Ratseal]

My Surefire lighting element had a separated wire, after I dropped it, and Surefire replaced it, by mail, at no cost to me, in less than a week.

That said, I have two friends who have washed their hands of the SF company, citing poor QC and indifferent service. In one case a SF supplied light holster was too small, and in another the tailcap assemby had a fault.

Some surmise that the large DoD contracts are driving SF away from customer service.

[gunrun45]

I'd have to agree with the DOD statement. Their product just hasn't been the same since they really got wrapped up in the DOD contracts.