Surefire question; please look and advise!

PJD

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I went to a Gun Show at the Pensacola Fairgrounds, and there was a light vendor there who had a GREAT selection of SF and SL lights! I got a chance to see and handle a lot of the lights that I've only had a chance to see or hear about here at CPF. My light collection has grown to about 85 or so, but I don't have a lot of "high end" lights, so this was sort of an exciting experience. However, I think I may have pissed off the vendor a little, because I knew considerably more about his "wares" than he did. Being a CPF member for around two years, I've picked up quite a bit of product knowledge. I don't have a lot of technical knowledge, but manufacturer's specs and ratings just seemed to flow...to the point that the customers gathering around his booth were asking their questions to me instead of him! I wasn't trying to upstage him by any means, it just sorta happened that way! In his defense, however, he WAS fairly knowlegable about his products. He did say something that was sort of troubling, though. And maybe someone with better access to inside scoop than me can clarify this...he told me that after Jan. 1st, 2004, Surefire was going to stop selling through most of their authorized dealers, and sell factory direct only, with the exception of only two other authorized dealers. He then proceeded to tell me that web dealers such as Tactical Warehouse, Meridian Tactical and others would not be able to carry SF products after Jan 1st. Personally, I think it's BS, but this IS what this particular vendor told me. (...incidentally, he said that his company was going to be one of the two authorized SF dealers after Jan 1st). I'm not trying to start controversy or breed an unfounded rumor, I'm just looking for clarification from someone with more access to SF info. Can anybody shed some light on this (no punn intended...)? Is SF going direct sales only, with the exception of a couple authorized distributors after Jan 1st?

PJD
 

dano

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This is going to be moved to Cafe...

I've been told that SF will control distributorship (wholesale to dealers), and there will be no independent web-based dealerships...

--dan
 

BlindedByTheLite

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yeah.. from what i made the last time i read the thread awhile ago, only some brick and mortar stores will be selling Surefires..

i believe Meridian Tactical and Tactical Warehouse are brick and mortar stores, and they will stil carry Surefires, altho i don't think they'll sell them online..

only time will tell i guess..
 

PJD

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Sorry...I'm a day late and a dollar short on my post. I haven't been on CPF NEARLY as much as usual lately, and I see that this is old news. None-the-less, I'm a little PO'd about it...

PJD
 

lak

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Oct 20, 2003
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Dan from Tactical Warehouse reassured me that he just signed a new contract with SureFire last month.
 

smokinbasser

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as soon as the first rumors floated to the surface about surefire and on line sales I called Dan at TW and was told he was a brick and mortar store and would continue to offer surefires but absolutely no ARC products
 

DieselDave

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PJD,
Thanks for the info. I was out of town until last evening and had planned to attend. I will try and swing by there today and of course I'll be wearing my L4 on my hip. Or...should I go full-out and wear my Royal Robbins vest with the L4 peeking out of a pocket and make responsive comments like, "Oh, this little old light, it's nothing, really." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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