Surefire warranty and special editions

Okay, I've got a one-of-a-kind Surefire, but it's borderline broken. Do I send it in for repair with a note that the special parts of the light are to be left intact, or suck it up and realize I've got my first shelf queen? Do I try getting the attention of Paul Kim or someone high up that does hands-on engineering or something?

Suggestions very welcome.

I've never sent any of my SF lights for warranty, so others might have to chime in. I would contact customer service over the phone and explain the situation. Ask the person you're talking with for his/her email address for follow up, and then ship it to SF with a note attached with your name, contact number, and email. It may takes some time to get it repaired, but it's better than having a broken light. Good luck

Chrontius said:

Okay, I've got a one-of-a-kind Surefire, but it's borderline broken. Do I send it in for repair with a note that the special parts of the light are to be left intact, or suck it up and realize I've got my first shelf queen? Do I try getting the attention of Paul Kim or someone high up that does hands-on engineering or something?

Suggestions very welcome.

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Nah, it's junk. Just send it to me. I have some space left on my shelf... :naughty:

Seriously, Surefire has excellent customer service, so you should be able to work something out with them. Good luck :thumbsup:

I have seen posts saying things that sound encouraging about Surefire paying attention to the specifics of items sent to them, such as: Damaged Surefire light sent in for repair; owner forgot to remove their batteries and somewhat-scratched red filter beforehand. Surefire returned it to them with new batteries and a new red filter.

are you gonna tell us what light you have?

You may like to give SureFire a call and if the regular customer service person doesn't understand the specific concerns you have, call back and ask to speak to somebody in tech support, or to a supervisor.

I don't know which 'one-of-a-kind' SureFire you have but you're right to be concerned because SureFire may not recognise it as as important as you do. For them its just another SureFire. They may not even be aware that it is special, or perhaps its not as one-of-a-kind as you think - 'normal' to them.

If/when you do send it in, write a letter - not some hand-written rubbish - type a letter explaining your concerns. Perhaps even using annotated photos to better illustrate your point. Wrap your flashlight in the letter so they have to see the letter when they receive the flashlight...
Tie a tag to your flashlight with your concerns written on it.
Include several contact numbers so they can give you a call if they have any questions or the individual taking care of your flashlight can contact you.

SureFire are extremely busy and have their own priorities and perspectives. Empathise with them and try to see your one-of-a-kind product from their point of view. This may help to determine what measures you feel you need to put in place to ensure that your message is effectively communicated and you achieve the outcome you can be satisfied with.

Without knowing the exact nature of the "one-of-a-kind"-ness you may be able to send in only those parts which they actually need and keep the unique parts safe yourself.

You're not making it very easy to help you so (I guess you have your reasons) - I doubt this same approach will work in your favour with SureFire so be careful.

Good luck!

Al

"CREW AIR FORCE 1"

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is wrong with it?

Yoda4561 said:

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is wrong with it?

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Yeah, we might be able to diagnose and fix whatever might be wrong - it's looks like an old-style e2e - not much can go wrong with those.

What is that thing? Incan, led or what?

Yoda4561 said:

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is wrong with it?

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I thought this thing looked familiar... sure enough, I had just seen it yesterday in the 'rare/unusual Surefires' thread (post was made about a week ago), with some more details.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2488162&postcount=139

Chrontius said:

Here's mine - anyone got any idea what this thing's worth?

Edit: Yeah, that comes off as a little crass and mercenary, but... I've not had this long, just long enough for a problem to crop up - it's silently killing its cells in the middle of the night. I've replaced the tailcap, and it's happened on Surefire, Energizer, and Duracell 123a cells. Next up is the lamp module, but after that it starts to get interesting - head and body? The problem is slow enough that I never know when I'm going to have light, so I can't EDC the rascal, and I can't afford to start a Surefire collection right now. It's an E2 roundbody purchased new without packaging or consumables, and with that inscription (not an engraving, not sure what it is) I can't countenance returning it for replacement. So, I'm considering finding it a happy retirement home somewhere and buying something a little more practical without so much potential guilt attached - maybe a Winelight 2?

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Thanks, Aluminous, that hits all the high points.

It's an incandescent lamp, MN03, bought at the local Surefire dealer.

:thinking: So, chrontius, your cells are getting discharged by that light? Am I understanding the problem correctly?

Yes. Runtime is lower than advertised, and output is yellower --- and I'll have a working flashlight when I go to bed, and a dead one in the morning. Or a working light in the evening, and a dead one when I'm looking for a power outlet in the middle of the afternoon.

Inspect the lamp assembly for any metal/solder that may be shorting the pos and negative contacts. If you've got deoxit, use it. Cover every possible electrical contact surface(including battery contacts) with it, rub it in real good with a soaked q-tip or rag, soak the tailcap, and let sit overnight. Clean it again with swab and deoxit the next day and reassemble with known good batteries. If that doesn't do the trick I don't know what will. The problem sounds like a partial short or high resistance caused by corrosion. This would make the light appear "off" when it's actually still draining current.

That's the thing - the 'off' is, because it's
producing light in the other setting.

On the other hand, that does sound about right - but I don't have any deoxit. I'll grab some at Rat Shack tomorrow on the way home.

Oh - new wrinkle - it's happened on the old tailcap, and a warranty replacement.

Chrontius said:

That's the thing - the 'off' is, because it's
producing light in the other setting.

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It's still possible that you have a small amount of current flowing and not be enough to power up that lamp.

Worry about the Deoxit later. Give the whole thing a thorough cleaning with alcohol: wipe, wipe, wipe, repeat, dry real well, inspect the lamp for bridged contacts, etc.


Since you've changed tailcaps, the problem is probably in the head somewhere, but go ahead and give all threads and contacts a thorough cleaning anyway.

That is quite a strange problem. I wonder if it's just a batch of bad batteries. :shrug: Do you think this could be possible Chrontius? In my experience one battery goes dead before the other = no light.

Do you have access to a multimeter?

As mentioned, there's not a lot that can go wrong with an older E2 with a twisty tailcap.

I often wondered what would happen if one of my special edition lights got damaged and I had to send it in. I don't know if they would even have spare parts to replace it. That's the risk I take though I guess.

Do have access to a multimeter - but it's not batteries. Surefire, Energizer, and Duracell do the same thing. (coincidentally, this thing's getting expensive to operate!)

There's some shiny (lubricant?) residue on the back of the reflector, and the lamp doesn't seem to have anything bridged anywhere.

Twisty, right? I would check the tailcap, it's turned off, no current should leak anywhere else because the circuit is supposed to be broken on this side of the flashlight.