Who makes more money, M@glite, or SureFire?

Those are the two biggest flashlight companies that I know of. So which one makes more money? or is worth more on the stock market?

Mags said:

Those are the two biggest flashlight companies that I know of. So which one makes more money? or is worth more on the stock market?

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A couple of major flaws in the comment and the question. "The two biggest", unless defined in a specialized manner, can't likely be attributed to either company. If "big" is for the physical size of the plant, who knows? If big is a measure of largest number of units sold, neither comes close to #1 or #2. If "big" means the most profitable, then again we're dealing with unknowns that involve business management as much as sales.

The question of which makes more money is also undefined, since "making money" could be a question of which makes a better profit, who turns over investment more often or whatever. The stock market question is totally out of reason. I don't know about Surefire, but Maglite is privately owned and isn't on the stock market.

I'm not so sure there's anything to deal with here.

Pedants aside, i think it's pretty easy to make an educated guess.

Maglite have better market penetration, go into any hardware store, and theres a good chance they'll have a rack of Maglites.

They also have brand recognition sewn up.

Ask Joe Public to name a flashlight brand, and 9 times out of 10 they'll say "Maglite".

This is true the world over.

Then there's the R&D; we all know Surefire spends a considerable sum on developing new lights as well as highly specialized designs intended for limited markets. As far as i'm aware Maglite spent all their R&D on finding ways to make it cheaper to manufacture their existing design (until the MagLeds came along), so they managed to milk profits from one product for over 20 years; this can only be a good thing as far as the bottom line is concerned.

On the other hand, Surefire has government contracts, and we all know how lucrative those can be.

But if i were a gambling man, i'd put my money on Maglite being "bigger" whatever way you want to define "bigger".

I have no doubt that Mag is far bigger than Surefire in every way but technology. But Mag's not even the leading flashlight maker. Companies like Everready and Rayovac sell more.

ABTOMAT said:

I have no doubt that Mag is far bigger than Surefire in every way but technology. But Mag's not even the leading flashlight maker. Companies like Everready and Rayovac sell more.

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You are prob right...last night (Halloween) I saw many flashlights out there and they were all of the rayovac / everready nature....and all looked like the batts were 3/4 gone...

Mag is several orders of magnitude higher in sales than Surefire. This is mainly because Mags are everywhere and are one of the most known flashlight lines in the world. Amazingly, however, it is true that Eveready and Rayovac are the flashlight sale leaders due to simple cheap lights

Mags are in every hardwear store but right beside them are Eveready's and Rayovacs and at Halloween and at a haunted hayride I went on everybody had those cheap incans. I don't often see mags use by people believe it or not. I think Maglite to the majority of people are high end lights. These people would faint if they saw a Surefire display and prices. Mags have better brand recognition but I'm not so sure about their profits lately because of all the Mag LED's (as well as older incan Mags) still sitting on shelves in large quantities. At present in terms of profit per unit I would say Surefire.

Can we get a market share total? if so i don't mind crunching the numbers.


Then again, what is the size of the "true" market? I'm sure flashlights do not have a SIC code LOL



in the words of the Tootsie roll dude "The world may never know"

Oddjob said:

I think Maglite to the majority of people are high end lights. These people would faint if they saw a Surefire display and prices.

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I was in a Wallyworld a few months back and a college age couple were looking at lights. Eveready or ROV, I don't remember. The guy was lustily looking at a Mag 3D. The girl says, "maybe you'll get a $20 flashlight for Christmas."

$20? I spent more on that in batteries and bulbs that month.

LOL My buddy called me last week GLOWING that he "bit the bullet" and bought a few Mag LED's....


I was speechless as his request for lumens did not make it to me first but... given the choices... he did jus tfone for what he needed


.... no... back to my lumen needs :lolsign:

swampgator said:

I was in a Wallyworld a few months back and a college age couple were looking at lights. Eveready or ROV, I don't remember. The guy was lustily looking at a Mag 3D. The girl says, "maybe you'll get a $20 flashlight for Christmas."

$20? I spent more on that in batteries and bulbs that month.

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swampgator said:

I was in a Wallyworld a few months back and a college age couple were looking at lights. Eveready or ROV, I don't remember. The guy was lustily looking at a Mag 3D. The girl says, "maybe you'll get a $20 flashlight for Christmas."

$20? I spent more on that in batteries and bulbs that month.

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LOL. I know. My wife about choked that I bought ONE $60 light (not counting the $70 Apex headlamp that I've already voided the warranty on by modding). Don't ask me how I managed to sneak THREE past her.

Although I can't say that I typically spend that much on batteries. I've bought a dozen CR123 primaries for my P3D and otherwise use rechargeable AAs for all my lights. I just felt the L2D was just too long for EDC usage.