That's being kind of hard on Surefire, historically. They had a ton of rechargeable lights in the 1990s, plus kits to convert many of their lithium models. Their systems just never got the kind of widespread popularity needed to keep it going. I think their stuff was just too quirky and expensive to catch on. Like a 9N is a much, much "better" flashlight than a Streamlight Stinger, but I'd take a Stinger 9/10 times just because it's easier to use and not as goofy. And the lights people were having bored out for 18650s were designed before those batteries were common. I think the Strion was the first 18650 light (wrapped in a proprietary shell) and we're already talking 2003 or whenever.
My main beef with SF's rechargeables is how hard they dropped them. If you equipped a few cars with SFs in the mid 2000s you're now sitting on a couple grand worth of paperweights. Those are incredibly expensive flashlights to be left unsupported by a company like SF. Even dead end outfits like Tiger Light still sell bulbs and batteries. Yeah, I know you can get a lot of mods for SFs. Problem with most of those are you're either giving up the original functionality.
My main beef with SF's rechargeables is how hard they dropped them. If you equipped a few cars with SFs in the mid 2000s you're now sitting on a couple grand worth of paperweights. Those are incredibly expensive flashlights to be left unsupported by a company like SF. Even dead end outfits like Tiger Light still sell bulbs and batteries. Yeah, I know you can get a lot of mods for SFs. Problem with most of those are you're either giving up the original functionality.