All these great brands of lights, what is the primary market?

Hello Everyone:

I looked and cannot seem to find an answer to this.

With all these great flashlight brands like Surefire, Fenix, Olight, etc. Who / what is the primary market?

Are there that many flashlight geeks to justify the dozens of models of lights and features?

Is it the military? The police? Are there that many folks in the general population that purchase these high end lights?

I'd appreciate your opinions.

Regards,

Dave

Re: All these great brands of lights, what it the primary market?

That's a good point. My family members and all of my friends and work colleagues cannot understand a flashlight worth more than $20. Anything more than this is a Maglite and in their eyes that's ok to spend money on them because maglites are... maglites. They don't know any other brands and don't go in search of anything else if they're after 'the best light they can buy'. I'm a fan of AA single and double tactical styled lights as i find them great for work and play. If any of them found out what i spent on my Quark AA Tacticals or Klarus ST20 they'd be shocked - just like they are when i turn them on in the dark I don't think these lights are aimed at the general public but more for the gadget geeks, emergency services and people who go in search of decent lights, for work or pleasure who are going to use them on a regular basis.

I just bought my dad a 2xAA Quark Tactical because he likes my AA lights. It's for his birthday, he can use it at work and when he's off with his volunteer emergency service. I wouldn't dare tell him it cost $55, he'd think i'm a fool for spending that on a light but he won't deny the light is an awesome bit of kit.

cheers

Re: All these great brands of lights, what it the primary market?

For Surefire, Military/LEO is the primary target audience. It started out first has mostly LEO, but since September 11th, has largely shifted to Military.

Re: All these great brands of lights, what it the primary market?

Surefire has a lot of military contracts and does a lot of sales in the tactical market (home and LEO).

A lot of the Chinese brands started by catering to people like us, and then slowly trickled down into other markets. Fenix, for instance, has become quite popular in cycling forums, as well as amongst cavers, urban explorers, and hikers. There are lots of jobs and hobbies that require good lights... most of them are just a lot less vocal about their illumination tools than we are.

Re: All these great brands of lights, what it the primary market?

There are lots of pockets of portable illumination users beyond military and police. Check out any firearms, hunting, hiking/backpacking/camping, bicycling, diving, emergency preparedness or EDC (every day carry) forum and you'll find a section on lights. CPF and a few other forums are primairily concerned with portable illumination. For many other forums portable illumination is just a supporting tool to the main activity.

I come from a military/ law-enforcement background and that was what got me into high-output lights in small packages. Since I am now retired, I use my lights for hunting, hiking, camping, etc. but I still appreciate bright, small, durable lights.