Surefire build quality and warranty

There have been a few reports of Surefire lights, especially U2s, failing or underperforming for no apparent reason. Has your Surefire light disappointed you?

I've also heard that Surefire's warranty is the best... or the worst, depending on whom you ask. Has it worked for you?

When I got my SureFire 10X Dominator (1999/2000?), I had to send it back because it kept on blowing the LA assemblies. What was interesting is that they (SureFire) told me how did I happen to acquire said light because it was a T/E version and have not officially released said model as of yet. I told them that I bought it from one of their dealer/distributor.

Nevertheless, they sent it back to me in working order, although it took something like 5 or 6 weeks!

I voted: I have at least one Surefire light, and have never had to send one in for service.
Never had problems,
but why one surefire light?
I've 17 :laughing:

Surefire's customer service is really good IMHO, they are quite slow. Expect a 4-6 week turnaround on anything you send to them.

Remember polls give you answers to the questions you ask. If you don't ask the right questions you don't get the answers you may be looking for.

I have several trouble free Surefires and the few issues that I have had( tailcaps and lamp assemblies) were taken care of right away with no questions asked. I can't ask for more than that. That is why I keep on buying them.

Of course, Al has more Surefires than anyone, except Surefire that is. He is the guy to ask, if you have specific questions that you need answered.

If you are looking for a recommendation, they have my vote, hands down.

Size15's said:

Remember polls give you answers to the questions you ask. If you don't ask the right questions you don't get the answers you may be looking for.

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What do you mean by that?

I'm not bashing nor plugging Surefire. I was just curious.

does calling them and having them send you a replacement part count as "sending it in" for service? I hear they do that a lot.

I'm still trying to figure out how to vote, since I absolutely love my two EDCs, (a2 and e2e), but I am the problem customer...

It's nothing to do with SureFire - it's about polls. I've had to arrange several feedback questionnaires and found during trial runs that you get what you ask for (which may not be want you want to know - which is my point).

For example in this poll it wasn't made clear whether I could answer both questions:
The First question is about whether I have any SureFires and if I do, have I ever had to send any back to SureFire. To this I would answer yes I do, and yes I have.
The Second question is about whether my experience of SureFire's service (if I had used it) was good or not. To this I would answer yes it was.

But, either because I could select only one of the four tick boxes, or it wasn't made clear to me I could select two the data gathered from me is incomplete. When using data gathered from polls it is important to recognise that the data collected is a sample from a specific time and place, and people who were there. Of those people only certain people responded. Why? And is the poll biased or less representative further as a result? And then there are the questions and the structure of the poll. Could the poll itself and the type of question (way it was asked) influence the answers?

If we take a poll about flashlights posted in a flashlight forum - we have people interested in flashlights, but these people may not be representative of the majority of flashlight users. Further, people visiting and posting in a flashlight forum may be more likely to be there because they either love flashlights and/or have had problems they'd like to solve. The sample is taken from a polarised population and since it was a poll open to all perhaps only those with really strong opinions (or those who think they have something worth contributing etc) are likely to respond.
So over 61% of those who are interested in flashlights and consider it important enough to respond have at least one SureFire and have never any of them back. Right?
Wrong. The data collected shows over 74% (total number of responces for the first question is the sum of the first two questions)
But is that valid? How many opted not to respond to the first two but to rate their satisfaction instead.
Should the percentage really be the sum of the 1st, 3rd & 4th questions compared to the 2nd? That would give over 54% of those who are interested in flashlights and consider it important enough to respond have at least one SureFire and have had to send at least one of them back.

Confused?
The data is.
IMHO at least.

Al

Hey Size15's,

I made it an "open" poll so that people could see how each voter responded. Thus, if voter "fred" chose option 1, we would know that "fred" has never needed to send in a Surefire. If "fred" chose options 2 and 3, we would know that he has had to send in one of his Surefires for service, but was pleased with the service. If "fred" only chose option 2 and no others, we might guess that he was neither disappointed nor pleased with Surefire's service. I like having all the raw data available. The option to post further comments gives a bit of background to the poll data.

If the polls can only result in "confused" data, why do we have them? Personally, I find them useful and am glad you mods allow them!

I did the poll and I'm with Size15's in that I'm confused by the choices presented. I had two SureFire parts in which I needed to send back and did so two weeks ago. Haven't got the parts back yet so I can't say if I found the service satisfactory yet since the transaction isn't yet complete. So I voted option 1.

Frankly, I didn't realise we were to select more than one option and that the first option was intended to indicate that a person had a problem but didn't choose to send it the part for repair. Then after closer insepction (after I already voted) I thought that anyone who had selected option 1 was supposed to continue on and select either option 3 or 4 to rate their experience after they had found a problem, assuming everyone who had a problem would send it in.

I was quite blur I admit but from polls that I've done in the past on other forums, I've learnt that one must first think of the voting public as widely varying individuals where one word or sentence can be looked at from many different points-of-view and therefore, is highly likely to be misunderstood. Most importantly, nothing can be assumed. Everything has to be clearly stated. I'm an example!

I had an old style (flat sides) L2 that was great in every way imaginable. I stupidly sold it. When I got a new one (round sides) the tint was greenish, the beam had a doughnut hole, and the indicator marks on the body/tail cap weren't alligned properly and didn't indicate anything except that they weren't indicating anything. I sent it back (after being told that they'd probably just send a new L2) and they sent it right back to me without doing anything to it. That kinda pissed me off. Sold it for less much than I paid.

My A2 is flawless. The indicators are alligned properly, and you don't have to worry about tint problems with incandescents.

TigerhawkT3 said:

If the polls can only result in "confused" data, why do we have them? Personally, I find them useful and am glad you mods allow them!

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Not every poll will result in confused data - but whether it does or not depends on how it is designed, executed and interpreted

Well, I tried to make a good poll. I'm sorry that so many of you found it misleading. If anyone wants to create another, better poll, please do so. I created this one because I was interested in the results.

At least there are no "hanging chads"...

Well, judging by the current poll results, around one in four Surefire customers will need to have at least one of their lights sent in for service. If a Surefire customer does need to send in a light for service, there's a four in five chance that the service will meet or exceed their expectations.

I have a 10x Dominator and I have had it a year now and it has been in for repair 7 times. Every time it cost me $8 to ship it. They repair it no questions asked though.
I will make a field report on this one in a seperate thread. Stay tuned.

Damn Starflash! That doesn't sound good!

Al

Only have 2 Surefires, but as of now no problem.

I voted option 3 & 4, while I only used their warranty once. I was satisfied because the problem I had was fixed, I was dissatisfied because of the time it took.

I do not depend on my lights for work or anything, and if one light fails, I have a few backups, so to me the long wait is just a minor discomfort. I hope that if I need to use the warranty again, things will be faster, but I don't mind to wait, as long as I know they will solve the problem.

TigerhawkT3 said:

Well, judging by the current poll results, around one in four Surefire customers will need to have at least one of their lights sent in for service. If a Surefire customer does need to send in a light for service, there's a four in five chance that the service will meet or exceed their expectations.

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2 M6's 2 M4's 5 G2's 1 Z3, 1 M3, 2 Z2's 1 e2e, 1 e1e, 1 L4, 1 L5, 1 L6, 1 A2
2 6P's 2 G2Z's 1 C3,and 1 9AN. That makes 25 SF lights I can put my hands on right now ( I think a Tan G2 is missing maybe a couple more 6P's??)
Not one of them has ever been sent to SF.
If I just polled my lights I would say judging by my poll results zero in 25 would be sent back. Well I know that some folks have had to send a light back 1 in 4 seems awful high.
Topper