Why do Surefires cost so much?

I tried to do a search and came up with nothing. But basically what I want to know is: WHY ARE SUREFIRES SO EXPENSIVE?!

I understand why flashlights like the Lionheart, and many others carry a hefty pricetag, because they are very limited in production, and supply is lower than demand.

But Surefire flashlights are only rare because nobody can afford them! From my economics class, something about that just shouts insanity to me.

I think they make really good looking lights, and from the beamshots I have seen, they are beautiful at producing light....But so are hundreds of other lights that are 1/6th the price.

Please, genious's, elaborate!

reasons:
- made in usa: high labor costs
- high markup: the retailers _must_ stay above certain prices by contract
- unefficient construction, unnecesary cnc-operations
- expensive r&d
- high quality and construction
- relatively low number production runs
- they are surefire
- the customers pay those prices (especially the us gvt.)

i think thats it

As far as I'm concerned:

Low production volume
Complicated (sometimes needlessly) designs
Made in California
High overhead from all the crazy stuff they continuously try
Name recognition

Add all that together and you have an expensive flashlight. I'm sure a lot of their pricing is set simply because people will pay it. Some lights like the 6P, E1/E2, etc have so little machining they'd probably cost $15 each, with no drop in quality, if they were made by Mag.

Wow, BBL beat me to it. I swear I didn't see his post.

I personally feel some of there products are overly priced.

I suppose the only reason why there products are priced so high is because they have good warranty. And when there products fail like there U2 they need to give out a great deal of parts.

Of course people say Surefire products are tough and are meant for law enforcement, and what not. But I see other companies come out there with reliable and tougher products at fraction of the price.

Surefires are expensive because they're designed for rich people. Unfortunetly, I'm not rich.

I understand all that, and yeah...overhead must be expensive from all the trial and error. CA is probably not the cheapest place to manufacture things...especially small things like Flashlights. But how the heck did they develope a customer base with those kind of prices??? Somebody had to buy the surefire and give it one hell of a review before other's would follow...but I wonder if that person gave it such a wonderful review BECAUSE they paid so much for it...when deep down inside they knew they could have bought something much cheaper and still have had performance similar in quality.

ther is something to be said about a company that stands behind their products like SF does...

But...at what cost?




Either way, I'm still gonna buy!

Which light would you take with you when you will encounter dangerous and possibly lethal situations?
I'd take a Surefire.
And there are reasons for my choice ... reasons which make this light very expensive.
You get what you pay for. It is that easy.
bernie

Well, they are good at what they do, and yes, people are willing to pay the asking price. I must say that there is a very noticeable performance difference in SF lights over a similarly sized 'average' light that an everyday civilian would think more than adequate.

In my job as an aircraft engineer, the difference between my 8NX and the lights that are being used by other engineers (whether Air Force provided, or personal mini-mag type) is very obvious, more light, more of the time, and it works every time because I take care of it.

My gripe is the cost of good quality lithium cells, especially as I have a SF M6.

There are many examples of 'high end' products where the owners are willing to pay more than they need to and never fully utilise the performance capability of the item in question ($20,000 Bang & Olufsen stereos, $1m+ Ferraris, etc).

I think they set it a at a high price for two reasons.

1) Get more money

2) When most people see expensive products that are higher priced than others they automatically assume it MUST be superior. To tell you the truth when I bought my U2 I said to myself with a price like that this must be the best of the best. Oh but was I wrong! I had to go through 6 tailcaps that failed on me.

3) Like I said earlier in my other post. Surefire has a great warranty. They sent me tailcaps every time mines failed.

But there is no reason why the tailcap should have been failing me in the first place. :thumbsdow

Kiessling said:

Which light would you take with you when you will encounter dangerous and possibly lethal situations?
I'd take a Surefire.
And there are reasons for my choice ... reasons which make this light very expensive.
You get what you pay for. It is that easy.
bernie

Click to expand...

I get what you're saying. But what are these reasons? If I was in a potentially lethal situation face to face I would take a $20.00 4D maglite over a $200 small handheld surefire. Either way you're gonna blind the hell out of your oponent but with the mag you're gonna crack some skulls.

Streamlight from what I hear has a really good customer service base as well...and they are half the price of the Surefires. I think Streamlight is even a tad expensive for what you get...but they are more fairly priced.

I am sure they're made with great precision quality, but a $1 million dollar Ferrari would probably be made of parts that cost A LOT, IE: Carbon Fiber and composite materials not found on other cars. Type III anodization comes on a lot of cheap lights now aday's, like the XO/T inova series' (all under $100).

I never liked the price tag of their lights, but I love their lights and surprised I own so many, with more on the wishlist as soon as I can afford them (L1,L2, another A2 w/ wht leds(me) and another with yg led's for my cousin who flies choppers in the army). Their warrenty is suppost to be really good, I have yet to use it. My A2 has been with me in my travels from Canada to Key west and still going strong in performance. I have and use other brands of lights, but for some reason I feel more comfortable using my surefire's than I do other brands that I own.

From the look of the siglines here, I wouldn't say that "nobody can afford" Surefires!
I am not rich by any means, but I don't think Surefires are insanely expensive. Sure, they will cost you a lot more than a chinese knock off, but that's the nature of things.
As others have already stated, SF's are made in the US, carry a life warranty and comes with excellent customer service.

Because they're worth it.

Flashdark sends. (Flashdark spends)

Part of it has to do with Surefire's business practices. Back around 2003, Surefire decided to no longer supply their products to distributors who didn't own brick & mortar stores. Translation: No more deals on discounted Surefires.

Store owners have to pay rent. They generally charge more. For example: $70 for a $30 G2. The cheapest place to get a Surefire became Surefire's own website. Obviously, with no significant discounts.

That policy caused the price of every Surefire to increase, across the board..... with zero improvements introduced to the lights. :thumbsdow

Ilikeshinythings said:

I get what you're saying. But what are these reasons? If I was in a potentially lethal situation face to face I would take a $20.00 4D maglite over a $200 small handheld surefire. Either way you're gonna blind the hell out of your oponent but with the mag you're gonna crack some skulls.

Click to expand...

You carry a Mag 4D everywhere you go? :huh2:

Because they are worth it, and there are people who buy enough of them (including the Federal government) that they can stay in business.

Next Spring I plan on taking a multi-day hike and climb. I'll take a couple of Surefires for me as their name is so appropo.

Ilikeshinythings said:

I get what you're saying. But what are these reasons? If I was in a potentially lethal situation face to face I would take a $20.00 4D maglite over a $200 small handheld surefire. Either way you're gonna blind the hell out of your oponent but with the mag you're gonna crack some skulls.

Click to expand...

I carry a flashlight for light...I ahve a nice array of knives for defense although I carry them and use them as tools if I felt threatened they turn into weapons...But I have been able to handle a situation like that everytime without violence, knock on wood...

Back to the original question about surefires being expensive...Well there are alot of things in this world that are expensive, I happened to have expensive tastes but no money, bad combo, lol...I love surefire like most people here I think, and I know their stuff is pricey and I will never be able to afford certain lights bu tthat ok with me since there are hundreds of things I like but can't afford...Think about cars, is a rolls royce phantom really worth $250,000 + or are you buying the name along with the car? Either way I think that if the US army likes them and continues to buy them and use them than surefire will never go out of buisness or need to lower their prices...

Sorry if I was babbling a bit...I just let the thoughts fly...

Surefires are a good value and along with ARC's have the highest resale values for production lights.

purchase mint used surefire's and basically use them virtually free, other than funds that's tied up. besides a new U2 and 6P, all other Surefire's I've purchased have been used.

personally I prefer the scratched up surefires offered on b/s/t. costs is lower and you don't have to baby lights like mint ones. one tiny nick and value has gone down by say... $30-$50 depending upon the light.

I've purchased and sold quite a number of Surefires in the last few years. Net cost to own has been zero $$, if you don't count the $$ tied up and recouped when sold.

Ilikeshinythings said:

I tried to do a search and came up with nothing. But basically what I want to know is: WHY ARE SUREFIRES SO EXPENSIVE?!

I understand why flashlights like the Lionheart, and many others carry a hefty pricetag, because they are very limited in production, and supply is lower than demand.

But Surefire flashlights are only rare because nobody can afford them! From my economics class, something about that just shouts insanity to me.

I think they make really good looking lights, and from the beamshots I have seen, they are beautiful at producing light....But so are hundreds of other lights that are 1/6th the price.

Please, genious's, elaborate!

Click to expand...