Are Surefire LED lights old technology ?

[LED61]

I still think that for every rant there is probably two praises for Surefire even from individuals like me. What is wrong with letting a company know about your wishlist ? I think it's good business practice to listen to customer's feedback, not dismiss it. If a company is too tied up fulfilling a large custormer's needs i.e. the military, then well understood. But more than one CPF'r can provde valuable input for future development IMHO.

 

[Pax et Lux]

Surefire is not in the market of producing the brightest possible lights - nor the cheapest possible. These areas are short lived things. There is always something brighter and cheaper along.

Surefire is about quality and KISS (whether you think they are over designed or not). The company primarily markets to people (soldiers, cops) that do not need to have the brightest possible light, but a light to do a certain task. I've heard people stating that, on a tactical light, it is possible to have too much brightness - there is a lot of reflection at certain levels. It's something I know nothing about. I just know that, when I'm hiking or otherwise doing a job outside, I don't need any more light than a Cree E2L. What's that, 45 lumens?

On the technological front, the companies that rushed the first Cree and SSC emitters to market (Fenix and the Chinese importers) have replaced these initial lights with more thought-out versions. I'd rather wait and get a light that won't be instantly replaced with something better by the same manufacturer. What's the mad rush? It's not like none of us have flashlights already.

 

[The Porcupine]

I still think that for every rant there is probably two praises for Surefire even from individuals like me. What is wrong with letting a company know about your wishlist ? I think it's good business practice to listen to customer's feedback, not dismiss it. If a company is too tied up fulfilling a large custormer's needs i.e. the military, then well understood. But more than one CPF'r can provde valuable input for future development IMHO.

Very true, but no matter how important we CPF'ers might think we are as "the avantgarde" of light users, there are groups like the military, police, emergency management, etc. which are much larger, provide feedback from "real life" use of the lights and buy way more lights than CPF'ers do - even if some have massive collections!
As Al mentioned previously, SF has been much more involved with CPF in the past, but reading through some of the extremely negative and harsh threads here, would most certainly make me leave and never come back if SF was my company.
I am not saying that SF should not listen to feedback from CPF users, but it better be constructive and serious.
I have never attended one of the SF CPF Shot Show parties (I live in Denmark!), but I think it's incredibly generous of SF and PK to still host these events and I doubt few others would do that.

Any one of us might have our own idea about what SF should produce - just like we may have our very own idea about what the weather should be like!
If I had a company like SF, I would have to listen more to the professionals buying perhabs 85% or more of my products for "real life use" (I realize many here use their lights for that as well, but bear with me) than to enthusiasts who might have exciting, novel and maybe even stroke of genious ideas. It makes financial sense,pleases the stockholders and ensures the survival of the company.

 

[WildChild]

Another good example to show why it may be good to be slow. Take a look at the Kroma. It uses a Luxeon K2. They could have upgraded it fast with a Cree or a Seoul to make it brighter... Development cost involved to fit the new kind of LED. Now... It seems that the Luxeon K2 will be upgraded with today's performances! Nice, now only a LED swap will be needed, no or low development cost involved! That's a better move.