A2

Well,
It's well past November 1,..... and the Christmas lites will be going up at my house very soon.
Anyone have a clue as to whether or not Ill be able to wrap some A2's up as gifts??
Cheers as usual,
Mrdi

Expect them around spring/summer `03........

November isn't over yet......................................

SF Customer Service gave me a price today. That means that they are close to shipping.
Hold onto your wallet.....

$225
Ouch. Too steep for me. I can buy lots of other neat toys for 225 bucks.----Marc

$225 ????? YIKES! I'll glue an Arc AAA to the side of my E2, thank you very much! No way to get that past the "budget police".

Originally posted by Quickbeam:
$225 ????? YIKES! I'll glue an Arc AAA to the side of my E2, thank you very much! No way to get that past the "budget police".

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">FULL ACK!

I got my M6 for $250 NEW!!!!!

Dang! Frankly though, I'm not surprised at all. When you look at the number of parts and consider the complexity and tooling involved, the price can be justified in comparison to the relatively simpler flashlights currently out there. One would hope for an economy of scale to kick in but with this starting price this may not happen.

- Don

The company's problems aside, the SF product line has always had 2 problems:

1) Insistence on 123A lithium cells. The rechargeables are treated as second-rate citizens-- like crap.

2) Silly prices, and an emphasis on over-machined, elaborate designs, with the economical ones treated as second-class citizens.

Everyone I've shown a SF to has said, "Wow!" then commented on #1 and #2 in some order.

Screw an E1 light onto a 2xAA body, simplify the machining, and sell for $50. How hard is that?

Prices of many electronic consumer items continue to decline. When prices are higher it's often for advanced features which soon become standard features as the technology advances, resulting in another price drop, etc.

Manufacturers often absorb R&D costs and try to pass as little as possible on to the customer.

Surefire is a relatively small company when compared with the electronic giants and may well claim that this precludes a similar pricing policy, which is geared more toward government institutions than toward the individual buyer.

Their recent removal of the BB, "disappearance" of Paul Kim and their apparent attempt to compete with their own dealers (ie Strategos's experience re the KLX series), along with seemingly exhorbitant prices for some new products suggests that we are now dealing with a Surefire that will not be "kinder and gentler".

OTOH, their KLX prices are relatively reasonable and their customer service remains excellent.

Brightnorm

[No message]

Originally posted by Blikbok:
....Insistence on 123A lithium cells. The rechargeables are treated as second-rate citizens....

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I think their rational for lithiums is dictated by military standards and requirements, and their prices reflect institutional budgets.

We are not their primary customers

Brightnorm

I cannot justify that price on my budget. I will have to live without the A2 till it becomes more affordable. I'm thinking Strategos will sell for about 200 plus another 20 off for CPF. 180 is still too steep for me.

Especially when I can get an E2e for 67 and I've already got any number of great LED's (Arc AAA, Newbeam, Infinity, X5T, KL1, Photon, etc...). Hell, an E2e and an ARC-AAA will probably take up less space than the A2 anyway.

Yes...I still want one though.

Well...guess I'll start saving. Maybe if I start saving now, about the time I hit half way ($150ish) they will have come down in price (To about $150ish) and I'll be good to go.

It's like this, I could buy an E2...or take that $60 and work on getting an A2...

Maybe Botach will buy a billion of them and sell them for $99 each?!

Looks like a Tigerlight is in my future.

Ya know if they were going to build a regulated light that retails for that kind of coin, why couldn't they designed one with more punch, say something M3ish in light output. At 60 lumens, it's going to be about as bright as my Surge on rechargeables and the Surge on rechargeables, holds a pretty steady beam thru the battery drain.

Did Surefire have plans on developing a regulated incandescent only? Or am I thinking of a straight LED light, not a conversion kit.

"SF Customer Service gave me a price today. .....
$225"
What??!! I mean... what?!!! you know what I mean?

I have to say that is a huge mistake!!! Who wants it for $225? AS I said I'd cancel it if the price is as steep as $200, now I have to cancel it twice!

Sorry, I'm just too freaked out!

Now I want even more to see Strategos' pdts coming out!!

"Strategos!Strategos!Strategos..."
"Ken J Good,Ken J Good,save us!save us!"

Is this the model with the incandescent bulb in the middle of the reflector with the 3 LEDs around it? $225? I'll pass on this one, too. I can probably acquire one through appropriate channels, but my old 9N will provide the same function.

Is this the one that someone said will "...change the way we use light?"

I don't spend nearly the time reading this BB (or any BB for that matter) as I did even just a few months ago. Someone please bring me up to speed; preferrably with a photo of the product.

KT

One thing is for sure, if this response here is typical, I suspect SF will find it easier to keep the A2's on the shelf than has been the case with the KLx offering.

KT,

This light still has the Hex on the bezel that as I recall, you love so much

- Don

Oh, yeah: