SureFire - what's the fascination?

Looking at the catalogue, the lumens aren't that impressive from any of their LED units, nor from incans.. but the price tag sure is impressive.

Like the A2 Aviator - 50 lumens from the Xenon, and 3 from LED, and retails at $195? C'mon. E2L and others follow the same

I've never really been a fan of Fenix, but I just got one with one of the newer LEDs in and "wow'. And it's not the latest and greatest, mine has been superceded by better LEDs. Costs an order of magnitude less.


Poor value!!

We can (and I'm sure will) try to explain.

However, I am confident that you'll understand why you can't judge SureFires on their specs when you handle them.

If you really want to know why SureFires are fascinating to us I urge you to find a SureFire Dealer you can handle the products for yourself.

Al

When you get a Surefire in your hand - it just feels so right. :thumbsup:

etc said:

Looking at the catalogue, the lumens aren't that impressive from any of their LED units, nor from incans.. but the price tag sure is impressive.

Like the A2 Aviator - 50 lumens from the Xenon, and 3 from LED, and retails at $195? C'mon. E2L and others follow the same

I've never really been a fan of Fenix, but I just got one with one of the newer LEDs in and "wow'. And it's not the latest and greatest, mine has been superceded by better LEDs. Costs an order of magnitude less.


Poor value!!

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Brightness is not always everything! I was like that, always looking for the brightest LED flashlight I could find. SF wasn't that impressive to me about the runtime on expensive batteries. Then came the new Cree powered lights. I wanted first to get the L1 because of the 2 levels but I finally chose the E2L as my first SF. 45 lumens (real lumens outside the window). When I got the light, I've been really impressed by how it was small, by how the anodizing looked though, by the build quality and... Those 45 lumens really impressed me! Not the brightest but with the optic you get a throw between my L2D-CE on high and turbo and enough spill for close range use. At this level, you get a flat 9h regulation on 1 set of batteries. "Expensive" CR123 batteries that can now last for a much longer time? Why not? The first set of batteries lasted for more than 1 month and half and I played much with, including 2 week end of camping with a lot of use. In the two following months I then got the G2L for my car (backup light, lithium powered for Québec cold winters) . This one just doesn't feel like cheap plastic. For example, I made some fingerprints on the lexan window and I cleaned it, no scratch! A Maglite window would be scratched like crazy with only one cleaning... Finally... I decided to get the L1 I wanted first. I just got it and it is now my EDC. Long runtime on low, bright high level with much throw... I'm using it with one of the "dead" batteries of my 1st set from the E2L. In fact, one died before the other and the good one seems to give much runtime on the L1. As Size15 said, you cannot judge them before handling one of them. Also, SF support is outstanding! The switch on my E2L broke in the first week. It was a quick fix by oiling the switch but I still called them and they sent me a new tailcap. The new one had the same design and I saw here that a newer design was available... It failed after 3 clicks but again, I could repair it fast... Called them again about that, telling them that I heard about a new design, and I got a 2nd replacement with the new design, much more smooth and reliable. They seems to listen to their customers and it's a good thing.

btw way the a2 is more like 80/12 in the lumens dept.

Granted SF are *high* quality flashlights, but if they could be as good electrically as they are mechanically, it would be even better. But SF is a large company and I don't see them moving as fast as Fenix for example... bummer. Imagine : the very latest bin available in a SF body? Wow

If the Gov't or someone else was buying my light ; sure I's say "I need a Surefire." Or if we were back in the year 2005 - Surefire was the way to go. But things are moving almost too fast and now I'd rather buy 3 or 4 really good lights, or maybe even 10 to 20 DX type lights to play with.

I agree that SF is overpriced and no better then most lights we talk about here.

Few years ago SF was maybee the best ..only because there was no Wolf Eyes, Deree, Olite and such.

There is a reason why many solders, LEO, and the like use Surefire. Bomb proof construction, simple to use, and good customer service.

Brightness and rating(Surefire also uses minimal out the front lumens, unlike maximum bulb/LED lumens like many other companies) aren't everything.

But I also agree that Surefires are a bit overpriced, look at WolfEye, similar performance, similar build quality, more choices and cheaper too.

If low price and high output are your main criteria when buying a light, then Surefire is not for you....

Hello Etc,

I find the SureFire beam very valuable... The construction is good too.

It is interesting that different people place value on different aspects of a light. I find the SureFire beam is a wonderful mix of hot spot and spill, in just the right proportions.

Tom

*backing out of the room slowly*

not touching this one with a 60 foot pole.

etc said:

Looking at the catalogue, the lumens aren't that impressive from any of their LED units, nor from incans.. but the price tag sure is impressive.

Like the A2 Aviator - 50 lumens from the Xenon, and 3 from LED, and retails at $195? C'mon. E2L and others follow the same

I've never really been a fan of Fenix, but I just got one with one of the newer LEDs in and "wow'. And it's not the latest and greatest, mine has been superceded by better LEDs. Costs an order of magnitude less.


Poor value!!

Click to expand...

Back in the '80's the stock Minimag was the cat's meow with me and my camping buddies. Next stop was the Bucklight (UK design) 4AA Xenon which blew it in the weeds. I was first with a SF 6R. (Who could afford 123's in those days!) Rest is history!

Larry

This is a baiting thread folks. Follows on the heels of many other Surefire baiting threads that very often end bad. No wonder PK stays off CPF.

Bill

Its the quality and realiability that gets me - Quality is outstanding!

I've stated before that at times I've run hot and cold for Surefire. But when it comes right down to the short list of serious lights, they're a very good balance of everything that a great light needs to be. Other lights that approach Surefire's out of the box performance and quality (there aren't many IMO), are very similar in price. As you probably already know, if you take into account the "fudge factor" of these listed manufacturer specifications, and Surefire's ultra-conservative nature, they still perform very respectably. On the quality side, regarding construction and electronics, Surefire really seems to go the extra mile. When I compare my x200 weapon light to other manufacturer's lights, it always seems to remain my favorite and in a category of it's own regardless of price. The same goes for the Scout and the M900s. They're just better designed in my opinion.

This could be viewed like any other quality versus quantity issue. To each his own but for me having a few high quality lights is better than having many of lesser quality. Personally I dont have the urge to constantly buy new lights - one (or two) new SF's a year will do nicely.
In the end you get what you pay for, and one of those components (for me at least) is pride of ownership - knowing you own a light that is among the very best.
Additionally, my older SF's that have been upgraded and replaced will make a nicer collection than most other brands that are much more "frequently upgraded".
In the end we all buy what fascinates each of us, no?

I would likely buy a SureFire if I could get one running on common AA cells: Alkalines, Lithium and NiMH. Or maybe C/D cells. I have all my lights standardized on these.

I think I could probably find a used one on Ebay for a much more reasonable price than retail.

I am sure SureFire is a good product. However, the thing is, when getting these expensive $100+ lights, you have so many options, especially from custom made lights on this forum. In terms of pure output, they blow away anything made commercially for a comparable price, or less.

Well, yeah, if I pay top coin for a light, I do as a matter of fact expect it to have the latest and greatest LED in it and 100-200 lumens *and* good run time. Not keeping up with it means obsolesence or loosing huge part of the market to more innovative companies. Same thing happened to MagLite for example.

I cannot believe than some guy like Elektrolumens gets in his garage and makes a few LED lights on a shoestring budget that exceed anything MagLite and SureFire have ever made, beating these dinosaurs with multi-million R&D budget.

Fenix is another fairly innovative product. I don't know that their quality is as high as SF or even MagLite, but they are astounding little lights that sell for a fraction of SF price.

made in the USA

etc said:

Looking at the catalogue, the lumens aren't that impressive from any of their LED units, nor from incans.. but the price tag sure is impressive.

Like the A2 Aviator - 50 lumens from the Xenon, and 3 from LED, and retails at $195? C'mon. E2L and others follow the same

I've never really been a fan of Fenix, but I just got one with one of the newer LEDs in and "wow'. And it's not the latest and greatest, mine has been superceded by better LEDs. Costs an order of magnitude less. Not one of them was kept for more than a week, SurFire's insistence on using primary batteries to maintain warranty is a pain.


Poor value!!

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+1

To all those that say "once you've had one in your hand" well folks I listened to all off you, bought 3 different models and I still don't get it. They are nice lights but defiantly over priced. I never kept any of them for more than a week. SureFires insistence on using primary batteries to main warranty is a pain, why wouldn't you want a light that can run much more economically on rechargeable batteries? aren't we supposed to be conserving resources and cutting down on land fill?
Norm