Surefire U2 Died.

I bought a Surefire U2 about 8 months back. Serial No: A13212.

Today when i was going to use it. i turned it on and it worked for about 1 min. then i shut off. tried to use some new batteries. still dead. anyone had the same problem ?

Leif Molina

My U2 still operates perfectly well, thank you...

A sudden death may well mean a contact problem so you should carefully check that the tailcap's internal tabs get into contact with the body once you screw in the cap itself.
You should first test the flashlight with the tailcap off and the batteries in by connecting with a piece of wire or even a paper clip the negative of the battery with the body. If the light comes on you have a tailcap switch problem. According to several posts here (Search: "SF U2 tailcap") it can be cured either by bending carefully the said tabs or by dismantling and fixing the switch itself. Final possibility: send an email to SF and ask for a new tailcap.

In case the light does not work when you short the tailcap then the problem is more serious and you may have to ask for a complete replacement.

Remember: Surefires are guaranteed for life.

I tried the paper clip. still no light. so has to be something else. I sent a mail to surefire. How is it getting through on mail to surefire?

Leif Molina

Deepdog said:

I tried the paper clip. still no light. so has to be something else. I sent a mail to surefire. How is it getting through on mail to surefire?

Leif Molina

Click to expand...

I have not much experience because my Surefires never had any issue but when I ask for general info they reply within one/two days.

Just to be sure take the head off and clean the contact inside with a rubber eraser....you never know.

Deepdog said:

I bought a Surefire U2 about 8 months back. Serial No: A13212.

Today when i was going to use it. i turned it on and it worked for about 1 min. then i shut off. tried to use some new batteries. still dead. anyone had the same problem ?

Leif Molina

Click to expand...

Gee, another unreliable U2.
Sorry, don't mean to sound like an @$$, but your experience is not uncommon. There's a thread somewhere on CPF with other examples of unreliable U2s. So many in fact, that I took it off my list of lights to buy.

Best thing to do is send it back to Surefire.

Sent it back to Surefire, they will fix it for free. Surefire has a very good customer support.

SF sells a very high volume of lights. (As the same with other manufacturers,) It should be expected to hear about issues now and then with some units.
Best of luck Deepdog, and let us know how it turns out!

My U2 did the exact same thing. I sent it back to Surefire and it was returned to me with a new head. Took them about a month to fix it and another three months to ship it to the right address.

Deepdog said:

I tried the paper clip. still no light. so has to be something else. I sent a mail to surefire. How is it getting through on mail to surefire?

Leif Molina

Click to expand...

Depends who you ask about their service from SureFire, some acceptable, some dismal. Good luck, hope yours is the former.:shrug:


Karl

Hopefully Surefire will take care of your problem promptly. I feel bad for everyone who spent so much on a light and has had problems. I wonder what % of U2's have had problems. You'd think at some point Surefire would issue a recall since people buying these lights maybe in situations where failure may mean life or death. Hopefully the problems aren't that wide spread.

also, might wanna make sure the batteries themselves are clean because I've had one instance where the batteries rolling around my house uncovered for many months just would not light up until I wiped them off

I had a U2, it also broke.
In fact I sent it back 6+ months ago and have NOT heard back.

I dont get S*refire and H*S and other mega cost common lights.
You pay insane prices for "quality" and they break MORE then other lights that cost less.

I will never own another.

You may want to call /e-mail them often and keep on them.Many here have had 6-8 month waits or no resolve at all with SF.

Since you're in Norway, I suggest "selling" it to a U.S.-based CPFer, have them RMA it, and then "buy" it back. Their new system is notoriously unfriendly to foreign customers. Some int'l users will call, be told they have to email, send many emails, and never hear back.

swxb12 said:

SF sells a very high volume of lights. (As the same with other manufacturers,) It should be expected to hear about issues now and then with some units.
Best of luck Deepdog, and let us know how it turns out!

Click to expand...

Other companies also sell high volumes of lights, but you don't hear nearly as many complaints on CPF as you do with regards to Surefire. (Mostly, it's their tailcap switches).

An occassional issue now & then is one thing. But Surefire seriously should have recalled the U2. I've been saying that for awhile now. I own several Surefire lights, and EDC an L4. No problems with any of those lights. (Wish I could find the thread where so many CPFers had reliabilty problems with their U2s).

The thread also contained complaints from CPFers who lived outside of America. Some never heard back from Surefire after their U2s failed to perform reliably. Some waited a ridiculous amount of time to get their U2s back after sending them in to Surefire for repairs..... even by international standards of waiting to get a repaired product from across an ocean. Not to mention the extra money spent on international shipping rates.

Considering how much a U2 costs, and the fact that a significant percentage of Surefire's customers rely on their lights for Life & Death situations; Surefire should have stepped up and issued a recall. That didn't happen.

I love my Surefire lights. I'll probably buy at least a couple more. I'll never buy a U2. And this is just yet another example of why I have a great deal of love for Surefire lights..... and zero respect for the companies business practices.

Monocrom said:

Other companies also sell high volumes of lights, but you don't hear nearly as many complaints on CPF as you do with regards to Surefire. (Mostly, it's their tailcap switches).

Click to expand...

There aren't the expectations placed on other manufacturers that are placed on SureFire. When another brand does not perform it is not seen as such a big deal. The slightest problem with a SureFire and it really matters more to people.
SureFire seem to attract emotional investment along with financial investment. The disappointment is much more significant (and worth posting about) as a result.

imho anyways

Al

How does a flashlight not turning on constitute a slight problem?

TigerhawkT3 said:

How does a flashlight not turning on constitute a slight problem?

Click to expand...

Agreed! Big company+ big sales+ big profits = big support or maybe I should more accurately say SHOULD EQUAL big support. Many have found that SF doesn't seem to honor the "laws" of mathematics. :thinking:



Karl

Size15's said:

The slightest problem with a SureFire and it really matters more to people.
SureFire seem to attract emotional investment along with financial investment. The disappointment is much more significant (and worth posting about) as a result.

imho anyways

Al

Click to expand...

IMO some Surefire purchasers are spending money they can't afford in the first place, then their guilt is multiplied several times when they get "stung" by a defective product. The agnst displayed here over a simple mechanical failure would make one think the broken light was a vital part of their ego or anatomy, instead of a mere convenience.

Paladin

Size15's said:

There aren't the expectations placed on other manufacturers that are placed on SureFire. When another brand does not perform it is not seen as such a big deal. The slightest problem with a SureFire and it really matters more to people.
SureFire seem to attract emotional investment along with financial investment. The disappointment is much more significant (and worth posting about) as a result.

imho anyways

Al

Click to expand...

You are 100% correct!

Surefire holds itself to a higher standard over most of their competitors. As a result, so do we who purchase Surefire lights. I've had two different Maglites that literally fell apart on me as I tried to changed the bulbs. One was a 3-D model whose clickie literally popped out of the light. Another Maglite was just badly made. That's 3 Mags in total.... I still own several of them. I'll never rely on one as my only source of portable light, but I don't make a big deal about the ones that failed me.

Surefires though are lights that have earned an extreme reputation. They're not General purpose lights, like a Mini-Mag. They are lights that Professionals can count on.... with their lives, if need be. That standard doesn't apply to Maglite or several other flashlight companies.

When you have a particularly popular Surefire model that time and again has proven to be unreliable, to a significant number of loyal Surefire customers, that's just unacceptable.... To top it off, Surefire has been less than responsive in fixing the problem for overseas customers.

Let me put it another way. If everyone in a village has a job, and the village idiot screws up; no one is really going to be too upset with him. Now, let's say the village doctor screws up in the middle of an operation.... Okay, an extreme example. But to many of us, Surefire is that doctor. Naturally it's going to be held to a higher standard. So when something goes wrong, more folks are going to make a bigger deal about it. The price that is paid for a Surefire light is to ensure that you get a light that, if need be, you could bet your Life on. It's performance and reliability is expected to be as solid as the rock of Gibralter. When you remove it from its packaging, and the tailcap is stuck and unresponsive.... when you leave it alone for a few months and it just stops working the day you need it.... That is just plain unacceptable.

I don't think the problem is that Surefires have issues, but that if it's more complicated than sending out another tailcap, the wait is very likely significant. The common man isn't Surefire's bread-n-butter, and i think they make that rather obvious.