Are Some Surefire Flashlights Made in China?

Just wondering?

No.

However, some parts of some Surefires are made outside of the USA. Just from memory I believe that is some LEDs in the far east (not sure if China or somewhere else), and I might have read once that some incan lamps are made in Mexico, but don't quote me on that.

Also, the ICON lights are made in China, but they are a subsidiary (or whatever the word is) of Surefire, not an actual Surefire.

Thanks for the reply and the info.

no
Some may have USA made XRE emitters. The white backed XREs are USA made, silver backed ones are made in China.

As stated above, some of their incan lamps assemblies were made in Mexico (I have 2 of them), and, IIRC, they had to have their L.A.'s made there for a few months when Welch Alyn (?) closed one of there factories?

I think there was a thread on "Made in USA" here a while back. Two things I remember, and one thing I know. I remember that there were two different standards for "Made in US," one from the DOD and another from some other federal agency (Commerce? not sure). They were a fair bit different.

What I know (and you know too ) is that SureFire has a LOT of DOD sales, so it's a pretty sure bet that they're complying with the fairly stringent DOD standard.

Niconical said:

Also, the ICON lights are made in China, but they are a subsidiary (or whatever the word is) of Surefire, not an actual Surefire.

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ICON is a completely different company to SureFire. It is PK's venture into a very different kind of product and target market.

Regards,
Tempest

SureFires are designed and assembled in the USA from both domestic and foreign components. They qualify as "American Made" under the Buy American Act.

SureFire use LEDs that are not themselves always "Made in the USA". As a result SureFire can not use the "Made in the USA" claim without qualification because a flashlight's light source is not a 'negligible' part - it is essential to its function. Given SureFire's diverse product range I understand they opt for using the Buy American Act description even though some of their lights can meet the "Made in the USA" rules as well.

Unlike the "Made in the USA" rules, I understand the "Buy American Act" allows for functional foreign components where there is no viable domestic alternative.

angelofwar said:

As stated above, some of their incan lamps assemblies were made in Mexico (I have 2 of them), and, IIRC, they had to have their L.A.'s made there for a few months when Welch Alyn (?) closed one of there factories?

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SureFire uses Carley for their bespoke incandescent bulbs, and Carley haven't always been able to meet SureFire's demand using their US facilities.
SureFire makes it's Lamp Assembly components in the USA. Carley bulbs are made in the USA - it's Carley's potting of the bulbs into SureFire's assemblies that is done just across the boarder in Mexico.

I know that SureFire cares very much about making their own components at their state of the art manufacturing and assembly facilities in SoCal
They use long-established domestic partners for anodising, and for polymer components such as their bespoke Nitrolon.

When you speak to SureFire employees you quickly recognise their integrity and pride they have in their products and their mission. Impressive American enthusiasm.

Al

Size15's said:

SureFire use LEDs that are not themselves always "Made in the USA". As a result SureFire can not use the "Made in the USA" claim without qualification because a flashlight's light source is not a 'negligible' part - it is essential to its function.

Click to expand...

Interesting...on a slight side note, perhaps this is why Maglite uses Luxeon LEDs? Although the LED models say "A USA Manufacturer" rather than "Made in USA"...

Size15's said:

SureFires are designed and assembled in the USA from both domestic and foreign components. They qualify as "American Made" under the Buy American Act.

SureFire use LEDs that are not themselves always "Made in the USA". As a result SureFire can not use the "Made in the USA" claim without qualification because a flashlight's light source is not a 'negligible' part - it is essential to its function. Given SureFire's diverse product range I understand they opt for using the Buy American Act description even though some of their lights can meet the "Made in the USA" rules as well.

Unlike the "Made in the USA" rules, I understand the "Buy American Act" allows for functional foreign components where there is no viable domestic alternative.


SureFire uses Carley for their bespoke incandescent bulbs, and Carley haven't always been able to meet SureFire's demand using their US facilities.
SureFire makes it's Lamp Assembly components in the USA. Carley bulbs are made in the USA - it's Carley's potting of the bulbs into SureFire's assemblies that is done just across the boarder in Mexico.

Al

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Now thats interesting. I wonder were in Mexico some of their stuff gets made. I'm kind of confused too. So some of their stuff gets shipped across the border to get assembled in Mexico and then get shipped back assembled? Damn no wonder their stuff is expensive.
Either way I like their stuff. The other day I saw a Surefire sticker on the window of an SUV in Fountain Valley and it brought a smile to myself

LightJaguar said:

Now thats interesting. I wonder were in Mexico some of their stuff gets made. I'm kind of confused too. So some of their stuff gets shipped across the border to get assembled in Mexico and then get shipped back assembled? Damn no wonder their stuff is expensive.
Either way I like their stuff. The other day I saw a Surefire sticker on the window of an SUV in Fountain Valley and it brought a smile to myself

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That's right. I understand it is Carley that ship it's elements of the process between it's factories before it returns the completed or partially completed Lamp Assemblies back to SureFire.
There have been occasions in the past that to expedite delivery those Lamp Assemblies that are completed once Carley is done with their role, the finished Lamp Assemblies are drop-shopped directly from Carley to dealers or even customers.

Al, is it true the Icons are made in china? I would imagine that SF would make them.

SureFire is SureFire. ICON is not SureFire.

SureFire is American Made, as has been outlined already.

ICON is made in China. ICON is PK's, not SureFire's.

They're very different companies, both in terms of the products they are making and, accordingly, the people they are aimed at.

Regards,
Tempest

SureFire and ICON are individual and distinct separate brands.
PK is masterminding ICON as a separate entity to SureFire branded products.

ICONs are made in China to PK's exacting standards according to his designs.

Robin24k said:

Interesting...on a slight side note, perhaps this is why Maglite uses Luxeon LEDs? Although the LED models say "A USA Manufacturer" rather than "Made in USA"...

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I've wondered this too. BTW other than the Crees Surefire use that may or may not be US made, they also use Seouls, which are Korean.

There's been a lot of rumors that SF uses overseas manufacturing to keep up with demand. Not sure how true that is, however, SF has used Streamlight in the past for the 8X/9N models (to manufacture the aluminum bodies).

Just got back from the local Shack...they had a solid black Icon Rogue 2 for $50...I was like "Wow"...what the hell are these doing here". Of course, I immediately looked at the back (remembering this thread). The address for the company was

Icon Lights
18300 Mount Baldy Circle
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(Same as SF's address)

And at the bottom,

"Light made in China".

So, I'm guessing Dr. Matthews kinda worked with PK and let him use his companies muscle to help him get it up and running? I mean, while the Icons are made in china, if you wrote a letter to the company, it would (essentially) be going to Surefire's "Icon" department. It was a really sweet looking light, I might add...the hollowed frame looks much better in person. PK made some lights to appeal to the "other kinda people" that require well made/nice looking illumination tools.

Just thought I'd share...

Oh, it did mention the Honorable Paul Kim on the back of the packaging, which I think was really cool as well...

When's the last time he visited this place???

Tempest UK said:

SureFire is SureFire. ICON is not SureFire.

SureFire is American Made, as has been outlined already.

ICON is made in China. ICON is PK's, not SureFire's.

They're very different companies, both in terms of the products they are making and, accordingly, the people they are aimed at.

Regards,
Tempest

Click to expand...

angelofwar said:

Just got back from the local Shack...they had a solid black Icon Rogue 2 for $50...I was like "Wow"...what the hell are these doing here". Of course, I immediately looked at the back (remembering this thread). The address for the company was

Icon Lights
18300 Mount Baldy Circle
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(Same as SF's address)

And at the bottom,

"Light made in China".

So, I'm guessing Dr. Matthews kinda worked with PK and let him use his companies muscle to help him get it up and running? I mean, while the Icons are made in china, if you wrote a letter to the company, it would (essentially) be going to Surefire's "Icon" department. It was a really sweet looking light, I might add...the hollowed frame looks much better in person. PK made some lights to appeal to the "other kinda people" that require well made/nice looking illumination tools.

Just thought I'd share...

Oh, it did mention the Honorable Paul Kim on the back of the packaging, which I think was really cool as well...

When's the last time he visited this place???

Click to expand...

I could care less who owns Icon or SF. But according to the second quote, unless PK owns SF then Icon is an conglomerate of SF. So in other words, SF sold out to China.

...and here we go (yet again)...

greenLED said:

...and here we go (yet again)...

Click to expand...

Yep.