Surefire E1B Broke - Returning

I'm mailing my E1B back tomorrow. It doesn't ever go to full high power and even at the relative high mode it kicks down to low after a few seconds. I've cleaned contacts and tried several new cells from different batches, nothing.

Anyone had a similar problem?

Try bypassing the tailcap with a piece of wire. If high and low work fine then you can just get Surefire to send you a new one. If it doesn't work then it's probably in the electronics in the head and you'll have to send the whole thing back.

I tried the tail cap from my E1E, same problems. Thanks.

On the plus side, I HAD to order an ITP A3 to keep me busy while the E1B is out...

I have one E1B and it´s perfect.

Never had a problem with it...

Been carrying my E1B everyday for over a year now with no complaints. SF's excellent customer service will take care of you. A broke SF thread seems rare around here compared to many of the other brands.

I have had many Surefires and very few problems. I have had several E1B's and not a problem with a one. Surefire CS will take great care of you. By the way if you need to contact them do it by phone and DO NOT send them email. For some reason they are really bad with email CS in my experience but you get a live person on a phone and they are great.

Usually that means a dead cell or bad contact somewhere, how are you sure it's never reaching high at all?

I'll admit I don't have a super scientific system for checking if it reaches high, but it used to be that if I shined it on a white bedroom wall at night I couldn't stand to look at it and it appeared substantially brighter than my E2E, now it is just sort of bright and the E2E appears much brighter (both on fresh cells).

I cleaned the spring in the tail cap (plus the tail cap swap w/the E2E, and I think my E1E as well, actually) as well as the contact on the head. I regularly clean the threads and apply a tiny amount of nygel (sp?) I purchased at battery junction.

As for surefire quality, generally flawless, and even in this case, the light never left me in the dark. I'd much rather have a failure where I can't run as peak power vs. losing all functionality. SF quality is the reason I've mostly given up on less expensive lights. That said, Fenix has been pretty trustworthy (gifts mostly) and I'll let everyone know if the ITP A3 breaks. I'm fairly hard on stuff, not intentionally, but my regular use seems rougher than others'. For now, I'll have to rely on the trusty Arc AAA.

As far as carrying this, I've carried it pretty much everyday since February 13th, 2008. I'll spare the list of abuses it has endured and leave it at "I'm not disappointed". By far my most often used Surefire of the bunch, though I'll admit that E2E saw some use back in the day.

I got back my E1B today. I believe the number under the Surefire emblem on the light is a serial number, can anyone confirm this? If so, then they gave me back a new head and tail-cap with the same body. I know the head and tail-cap are new because the head was pretty dinged up, and the tail-cap wasn't much better. Also, the old head had a marker mark insdie it from the factory and this one does not. The body is a slightly different shade of black and the clip is pretty familiar looking (fairly warn), so I think I'm right about all this.

Yay working flashlight.

R

*EDIT* - I bought and used an ITP A3 Upgraded while my E1B was out for service, worked very well, not quite as bright as the E1B, though now that I have the E1B back it seems HUGE. We're so LED spoiled!