nerdgineer
Flashlight Enthusiast
So I tried collecting statistics about Jetbeam CLE quality once, and learned something about polling. Now, with everyone's indulgence, I thought I'd try collecting statistics on another energetic topic around here: the quality of Surefire clickie switches.
Disclaimer: The poll results do not reflect true Surefire failure rates, which only Surefire knows for sure. It reflects only the experiences CPFers here report, which is the best we can do within our little forum. Still, I hope it will be an interesting piece of information.
Concept: you bought some clicky type Surefire(s) from a dealer and had some experience regarding the switch: 1) it worked fine, 2) it had a problem which you will or are currently working with Surefire to resolve, 3) it had a problem which Surefire did resolve happily for you, or 4) it had a problem which Surefire did not satisfactorily resolve for you in (need a rule here) 3 months of trying or worse.
The statistics part is that I'm providing poll choices for the number of each experience you got: if you had 1 good light, click "add 1 to the OK pile", if you had 2 good lights, click "add 2 to the OK pile", if you got 1 problem switch which Surefire or your own heroic efforts fixed for you within 3 months of asking, click "add 1 to the "problem fixed OK pile", and so on. This poll will let you make multiple choices so you can express a wide range of experiences: combinations of choices can show: 6 good switches, 3 bad switches in work, 3 bad switches fixed, and/or so on.
Everyone seemed to understand the concept part OK in the CLE poll, so I hope it's still clear.
Rules: I learned from the CLE poll that rules are important. The purpose for rules is so we can interpret our results. My mistake with the CLE poll was that I got statistics more about what people thought about the CLE than what the light itself did. So a better poll will need more rules. So please bear with me.
Rule 1: Votes are private (anonymous). This poll is based on the honor system. You are what you do. Period.
Rule 2: This poll is only for people who received new Surefires with a factory clicky switch or new SF clicky switches from a dealer. Private party B/S/T do NOT count. This is because a good or bad light can pass through many hands and therefire bias the results. I only want one data input from each light or separate SF switch. Non-clicky switches also don't count as I don't think there are any issues reported for those.
Rule 3: Define good. I'd like good to be an objective event rather than an opinion, so: a switch is GOOD if, with at most minor initial tweaking (tightening retaining rings, cleaning contacts, oiling if you did that as prevention), it worked OK and has worked reliably to your satisfaction ever since.
Rule 4: Define problem. The clickie switch didn't work right so you had to do something heroic (i.e. take the switch apart and fix it, bend contacts, whatever) or send it back or get the factory to send you another switch. Whatever your opinion, I'd like you to consider that a bad switch.
Rule 5: Cutoff time for Surefire to fix the problem and be OK is 3 months from time they were informed or you sent light. If fixed less than 3 months, they did OK. If more, they did not do OK. This is because some are more patient than others.
And that's it. I'll check back and calculate statistics if we get enough response. Thanks for your efforts, all.
EDIT #1: If you bought a new clicky switch only from SF, then you can count that just like a whole light as we're focusing only on clicky switch performance here.
If the options here (remember you can check multiple buttons to enter as many as 6 good switches or 3 bad ones of any category or any combination thereof) don't cover your situation, it's OK to have someone else enter the additional inputs required to cover your complete situation. "Honor system" means truth about what actually happened. Proxy voting to represent a true situation is OK with me.
Edit #2:
Final Results at 178 respondants, reporting on 416 new lights or new clicky switches:
74.5% reported good switches out of the box.
3.4% reported problems which are in the process of being fixed, 3.8% reported problems which couldn't be fixed within 3 months, and 17.3% reported problems which were fixed OK within 3 months.
Total proportion of lights/switches reported with initial problems was 24.5%.
Disclaimer: The poll results do not reflect true Surefire failure rates, which only Surefire knows for sure. It reflects only the experiences CPFers here report, which is the best we can do within our little forum. Still, I hope it will be an interesting piece of information.
Concept: you bought some clicky type Surefire(s) from a dealer and had some experience regarding the switch: 1) it worked fine, 2) it had a problem which you will or are currently working with Surefire to resolve, 3) it had a problem which Surefire did resolve happily for you, or 4) it had a problem which Surefire did not satisfactorily resolve for you in (need a rule here) 3 months of trying or worse.
The statistics part is that I'm providing poll choices for the number of each experience you got: if you had 1 good light, click "add 1 to the OK pile", if you had 2 good lights, click "add 2 to the OK pile", if you got 1 problem switch which Surefire or your own heroic efforts fixed for you within 3 months of asking, click "add 1 to the "problem fixed OK pile", and so on. This poll will let you make multiple choices so you can express a wide range of experiences: combinations of choices can show: 6 good switches, 3 bad switches in work, 3 bad switches fixed, and/or so on.
Everyone seemed to understand the concept part OK in the CLE poll, so I hope it's still clear.
Rules: I learned from the CLE poll that rules are important. The purpose for rules is so we can interpret our results. My mistake with the CLE poll was that I got statistics more about what people thought about the CLE than what the light itself did. So a better poll will need more rules. So please bear with me.
Rule 1: Votes are private (anonymous). This poll is based on the honor system. You are what you do. Period.
Rule 2: This poll is only for people who received new Surefires with a factory clicky switch or new SF clicky switches from a dealer. Private party B/S/T do NOT count. This is because a good or bad light can pass through many hands and therefire bias the results. I only want one data input from each light or separate SF switch. Non-clicky switches also don't count as I don't think there are any issues reported for those.
Rule 3: Define good. I'd like good to be an objective event rather than an opinion, so: a switch is GOOD if, with at most minor initial tweaking (tightening retaining rings, cleaning contacts, oiling if you did that as prevention), it worked OK and has worked reliably to your satisfaction ever since.
Rule 4: Define problem. The clickie switch didn't work right so you had to do something heroic (i.e. take the switch apart and fix it, bend contacts, whatever) or send it back or get the factory to send you another switch. Whatever your opinion, I'd like you to consider that a bad switch.
Rule 5: Cutoff time for Surefire to fix the problem and be OK is 3 months from time they were informed or you sent light. If fixed less than 3 months, they did OK. If more, they did not do OK. This is because some are more patient than others.
And that's it. I'll check back and calculate statistics if we get enough response. Thanks for your efforts, all.
EDIT #1: If you bought a new clicky switch only from SF, then you can count that just like a whole light as we're focusing only on clicky switch performance here.
If the options here (remember you can check multiple buttons to enter as many as 6 good switches or 3 bad ones of any category or any combination thereof) don't cover your situation, it's OK to have someone else enter the additional inputs required to cover your complete situation. "Honor system" means truth about what actually happened. Proxy voting to represent a true situation is OK with me.
Edit #2:
Final Results at 178 respondants, reporting on 416 new lights or new clicky switches:
74.5% reported good switches out of the box.
3.4% reported problems which are in the process of being fixed, 3.8% reported problems which couldn't be fixed within 3 months, and 17.3% reported problems which were fixed OK within 3 months.
Total proportion of lights/switches reported with initial problems was 24.5%.
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