Surefire Quality Control Lacking

Lonewolf

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Nov 1, 2001
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Today I was pleasantly surprised to find that my 2 Surefire lights had arrived. They were ordered from different vendors and I was excited to end up getting them on the same day.

Well I opened up my 8AX and was amazed at how small. Pop the battery in and was playing with it for about 10-15 minutes and the bulb exploded!!! No more 8AX because I couldn't order a spare because they are backordered on those.

So while contemplating the situation my doorbell rings and I get my E1HA this was a very tough light to locate so I am really excited to get it. I put the battery in and twist the tailcap to constant on and no problem them I back off the light to turn it off and try the tail switch and I get nothing. It doesn't work no matter how hard I push and I pushed on this switch. At this point I have spent over $200 on lights and one doesn't even work and the other doesn't work properly. This I am pretty well PO'D at this point.

I called up LPS and Wayne is great to deal with he said he has only one X80 bulb (the bulb that he uses in his demo light) and will drop it in the mail tomorrow. He also told me SF has had a major problem with these bulbs and were experiencing a 50% mortality rate. I then told him about the E1 even though I didn't buy it from him and he gave me a name to contact at SF. So I call SF ask for this individual (he did a great job QC may be lacking but customer service isn't) and I told him about my E1 he said he never heard of that problem but he would send me a new body. I told him I was sending it back to the retailer for a refund because I wanted a different light because I didn't know what else might be wrong with it. Then I told him about the X80 bulb and he said for a while SF started to experience a near 100% failure rate on them. He told me that to avoid any delays he had 2 of the newer version bulbs and would send them to me to compensate.

For $200 I figure I am entitled to a working product I feel that is not unreasonable. But at least I received excellent customer service from all parties involved so it makes the situation a little more bearable.
 
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Does the E1 have a lock-out tail cap? I'm not being smart, I just don't know.
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If it does, you may have unscrewed the tailcap too far maybe?
 

Lonewolf

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No it doesn't have a lockout tailcap. I even tried backing it off until the light stopped and then a couple of millimeters and this is no exagerration(sp) and NOTHING. I got 2 bum Surefire lights in one day.
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Joined
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That really sucks. Sorry to hear about your trouble. That's really unlike Surefires (as I'm sure you knew).
Now to see if their customer service matches their usual quality. Best of luck to ya.
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geepondy

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Is it just me or is Surefire having an extremely high failure rate on it's lamp assemblies as of late? Is it just limited to a few certain product lines or is it across the board? I've only been following this forum since last Spring so I don't know if this is an ongoing problem or not. As for personal experience, my 8AX lamp blew rather quickly or exploded is more like it as it was in tiny pieces and I had to clean out the bezel assembly after it happened. However my E2 has been a trooper and the two I have given to family members as gifts have held up as well although both probably only have a few hours total use. This only tells me that despite Surefire's excellent reputation in all areas, it makes me glad my Arc LE is with me anytime I'm wearing clothes and my Arc LS is always close by at home. The future in "illumination tools" is definitely not in incandescents.
 

Lonewolf

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geepondy I ordered my light from LPS and Wayne told me he is backordered on over 400 X80 bulbs because they blew. Then I spoke to Surefire and he told me the problem is so bad ( I can only speak for the X80) that they were hand testing EVERY bulb for 1-2 hours before shipping because the failure rate was so high.


geepondy:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> As for personal experience, my 8AX lamp blew rather quickly or exploded is more like it as it was in tiny pieces and I had to clean out the bezel assembly after it happened. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Mine did the exact same thing. How long ago did you buy your 8AX?
 
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**DONOTDELETE**

Guest
5X5, you are not the first one with bad E1HA. Search SFDB for topic "my f**king E1 went out after 15min". I had 2 or 3 private msgs of people telling me about the same problem.

p.s. E1's bezel must be screwed in really tight,if you unscrew it 0.5mm cntrclockwise - it will not work
 

geepondy

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 5BY5:

Mine did the exact same thing. How long ago did you buy your 8AX?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I bought the light in May of last year I believe. I am not heavily dependent on flashlight usage so I had maybe five hours or so usage when it blew in August. I used my E2 for a month or two before replacing so the new bulb probably now has five or so hours on it as well. Again that really freaked me the method that it blew, I've never seen anything like it. It makes me think the high powered lamp assemblies really are delicate. I have never had a blown bulb in my lowered powered mag lights, despite their beam disadvantages.
 

Lonewolf

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geepondy from what I heard is that if the bulb is bad it goes sooner rather than later.

fc if I screw it really tight then all I would get is constant on. I'm not sure I understand the point you are trying to make.
 
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**DONOTDELETE**

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Oh yea, did you check 123cell with voltmeter? One of them went dead on me - I mean no output at all, 0.0volts.
 

Lonewolf

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alex all I can say is DOHHHH!!!! My brain is lacking QC I didn't realize the light had a tailcap it looked like a single piece body. The tailcap was screwed down tight. So it looked like the 8AX once I loosened the tailcap which was tightened all the way down and tightened down the bezel an amazing thing happened IT WORKED PROPERLY. Unlike my brain. Oh well in all fairness I was reading the instructions the E1 when I got distracted by the exploding bulb and was a little po'd at that point.
 

Spork

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First off I want to say I'm not bashing surefire. I have been hearing all kinds of strange problems from reading here and on their bulletin board. They are suspose to be the highest quality lights available for law enforcement/tactical use or other serious stuff. When put in that type of situation and your light goes poof because of qc theres nothing customer service can do for you because you need your light to work now not later. I know their heavier but I will stay with my trusty mag or surge even if I have a "tactical" situation come up.
 

Lonewolf

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My light was engaged in a tactical situation when it went poof actually it was more of a popping sound. It was sitting on my kitchen counter.
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Aaron

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I posted this the other day on another thread. I'm sure that if you haven't already seen it, you will find it interesting.

I have owned 2 SF rechargeables. My first was an 8NX. I just recently received the 10X. I was disappointed with both. The 8NX had problems with the spring in the bulb, causing the light to not work properly. It took about 70 lbs of pressure to activate the light with the pushbutton switch (I'm not exaggerating). Also, when the head was rotated into the on position, it wasn't making full contact, causing the light to shine dimly. I got a new bulb and that fixed the situation, but soon after getting it, the O-ring broke! I've never even heard of that happening on any other flashlight. Then, one of the B90 batteries partially melted, causing the tip to recede and not make proper contact. The melting happened just at the tip, not the whole battery.
Then came the 10X. After receiving it nearly a year after I ordered it, I was very impressed with it. For about 35 minutes. Then the 500 lumen lamp failed. For such an expensive bulb (not to mention flashlight), it should have lasted far longer than that. After receiving a new one from SF, I was finally able to use it again. Now I have noticed that both of my batteries only last about 4 minutes. They are suppossed to last 20 minutes with both bulbs running, but 4 minutes is more accurate. I have 2 batteries (it only comes with 1), and both of them have about the same runtime. Also, SF flashlights are suppossed to be tough. The M series definetly is (I own them all except the M1, and they are built like tanks). But the 10X seems very delicate to me. I was actually uncomfortable walking across a parking lot with it, because it seemed like if I dropped it, it might not survive a 2 foot drop onto concrete (especially the bulbs). That's just my opinion though, and others may not agree on the durability issue.

Maybe refering to the SF rechargeables as "garbage" was a little excessive (I had just discovered the battery problem and typed my previous post immediately after). I was a little discouraged when I typed it, and understandably so (I hope you can see why).


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geepondy

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 5BY5:
alex all I can say is DOHHHH!!!! My brain is lacking QC I didn't realize the light had a tailcap it looked like a single piece body. The tailcap was screwed down tight. So it looked like the 8AX once I loosened the tailcap which was tightened all the way down and tightened down the bezel an amazing thing happened IT WORKED PROPERLY. Unlike my brain. Oh well in all fairness I was reading the instructions the E1 when I got distracted by the exploding bulb and was a little po'd at that point.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can see it would be confusing. Your 8AX was the first Surefire which operates by turning the bezel on and you would think the same as the E1 which actually uses the tailcap. I much prefer the tail cap. As others have mentioned, you can create a lockout of sorts, just by unscrewing the bezel of an E series by just a slight amount and then the light won't be activated even if tailcap is screwed down all the way.
 

Lonewolf

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Nov 1, 2001
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geepondy I noticed that really cool feature. I like the E1 alot now I can't wait for the E2e.
 
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