A2 - Assemblers' pride in workmanship?

A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

Yesterday I received a package from UPS. It was sent to me from TTS. I immediately got excited but I didn't understand, mainly because I hadn't ordered anything from them lately. (or anyone else for that matter, I'm trying to save up for a house) Anyway, I immediately opened the package and to my surprise I found an A2-HA-GN. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif (the dots are starting to connect) I saw the post in the dealers forum the other day and told my girlfriend about it. It was the exact one I wanted for a good price. Well, to make a long story short, she ended up ordering it for me from TTS. (BTW thanks, she said ya'll were very polite and courteous) It's not even my birthday!

So like most people here I had to see this thing is action. Being home at lunch a 2:00 in the afternoon didn't leave me with many options, so I headed straight for the closet. This light is cool. The LED's put out more light than I had anticipated, although the LED's aren't aimed directly ahead of the light. The main beam is very similar to the E2e. It has a little smaller hotspot but is whiter.

Now there is only one more thing to do. Take it apart. (you gotta look at the inside) Well, first off the bezel wasn't even on all of the way. And to my dismay there is a loose screw holding the LED's to the bezel and appears to be cross threaded. Anyone putting this bezel together should have noticed that the screw stopped and that it didn't go in straight (hard to see in picture) or all of the way down. To me it seems that they just didn't care.



Bigger Picture!

I ended up backing the screw out and I managed to put it in straight, although you can tell the bezel had been stripped. The LED's shouldn't require that much tension so it should work fine, but it does kind of tick me off. I understand that the assemblers put a lot of these together every day, but to allow this to go out just reeks of laziness or incompetence on the assemblers' behalf. What happened to people taking pride in there work? I'll get over this and in the grand scheme of things, it isn't that big of deal and it shouldn't affect the performance of this light. Plus I'm certainly not going to tell my girlfriend that the $120 light she purchased for me wasn't put together correctly.

Sorry for the long post but just had to vent a little.

Skid

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

i'm assuming they have people working on the line for minimum wage that couldn't give a crap, just collecting a check. you get what you pay for.

hypocritical of you look at their philosophy and prices.

sorry you got a lemon. send it back or forget about it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

Skid,

That is a bummer and does sound like an assembler's error! I also suspect that if you choose to contact SF CS that they will take care of you. Dang, signs of an incompetent or lazy American! Is it possible? Yeah, unfortunately it is possible and I think it's a bummer too. Perhaps it's the case of someone new on the job who hasn't learned better yet and is working without constant supervision. BTW, the screw is significant in that each LED has its ground path completed via this screw so if the threads are shot, you should consider having the head replaced. Sorry you got a unit that wasn't up to standard.

- Don

EDIT: I see that he with woodie for SF beat me to the post. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

Skid,

Sorry to hear about your A2 snafu but I felt compelled to rib you about your spelling. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I'm the first to admit that I post with many typos but you spelled 'straight' as 'strait' as in 'George Strait.' /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Does everyone in Texas defer to George? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Don't get me wrong 'cuz I have quite a few of his albums and have seen him in concert. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

All hail the power of George. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

I guess that's what happens when you try to do too many things at once. But in my defense, I got it right 1 out of 3 times. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif That should count for something.

Skid

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

You know, it's a real pain when you get a product that doesn't meet the standards you expect. I am sure, however, given all the praise I've read of SF customer service, that they will take care of you if you contact them.

What is also a pain is that this single mistake has branded the assembler, in some eyes, as a lazy/incompetent/unmotivated employee when it was probably an honest mistake. SF is too small to have the kind of bureaucracy needed for that kind of live-for-a-paycheck mentality. For their pricing you might expect 'zero tolerance' or 'ISO 9000' style quality programs - but I for one hope I never see any of that from them or in their brochures. For when it happens, I will know (from experience) that SF have traded a large amount of innovation & speculative development (what they call "cool science") for probably a small increase in quality for a much slower changing product line and the pursuit of "cost efficiency". After that happens, you can kiss cool science goodbye.

Don't get me wrong - quality initiatives and "zero tolerance" and ISO 900x can all be wonderful things. But they aren't free, and they generate expensive bureaucracy that has to be paid for. If existing products are selling well, R & D is an easy thing to sacrifice to pay for the other stuff. When buying stuff like this, I'd rather have the state of the art product with an occasional problem promptly fixed, than a perfectly made mediocre soon-to-be-sold-at-walmart product.

If you're worried about it being a hassle, rather than call them, I would pack it up and send it to them. It's harder to say 'no' to something that showed up in the mail, and it doesn't cost much more to send it back fixed than to just send it back.

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

I'd be surprised if Surefire employed minimum wage workers - after all, they have a high standard of quality. They also are located in California, which means anyone getting paid minimum wage isn't getting enough to live on. Plus, they don't appear to be making their products any cheaper.

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

[ QUOTE ]
shrap said:
I'd be surprised if Surefire employed minimum wage workers -

[/ QUOTE ]

assembly and warehouse work is always low pay. usually a few $'s over minimum wage. doesn't matter what state.

we probably should watch out, they might sue us too.

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

[ QUOTE ]
McGizmo said:
EDIT: I see that he with woodie for SF beat me to the post. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

it's a love/hate woodie. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: A2 - Assemblers\' pride in workmanship?

[ QUOTE ]
SteveD said:What is also a pain is that this single mistake has branded the assembler, in some eyes, as a lazy/incompetent/unmotivated employee when it was probably an honest mistake.

[/ QUOTE ]

I will be the first one to tell you that I have stripped my fair share of screws over my life. I understand how easily it can be accomplished but, I almost always catch it right when I do it, especially when it is as bad as this one. In my opinion, this seems a little excessive to be an honest mistake. This screw was inserted at about a 20deg. angle and only went about half way in. I realize that the picture I took doesn't do it justice but my camera doesn't take the best close up pictures (or maybe it's just the photographer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif). I took about 20 pictures and this one was one of three that came out correctly. Unfortunately, in all of these 3 pictures the screw is pointing straight (see jeff, I learn quickly /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif) towards the camera.

BTW, I am not disappointed in the quality in this light. I own many Surefire lights and will continue to own many more. I do also understand that mistakes will be made everyone and by every company. In my mind what makes a good company like SureFire stand out, is their willingness to do their best to correct problems and minimize them when at all possible.

Skid