What is SureFires policy on Scratched/Damaged Lens ???

I got my L5 back from SF today, it had a bad doughnut hole.
Real nice beam now, and very white.

I like the light alot, and think its going to be one of my main used lights.
To the point that I am thinking of using it as a caving light.

But, I know that if I do this, the light will get very very toreup.
I am mainly concerned about the lens.
What is SFs policy on the lens? Can I asked to have it replaced?
Maybe with a small fee?

Also, what are you guys using as some good clear lens protection film?

Thanks
~John

John,

Surefire's warranty says everything except bulbs (excluding LED's) and batteries.

I am not sure if they changed it or not, but thats the warranty to my knowledge. I will keep my clipless, banged up U2 until well I want to send it in (probably only when it doesn't light up.)

Jason

I think that if you sent if back to Surefire for fixing the lens, they might just send you a new KL5 instead. Then you might have to go through the whole routine again if you have a donut hole......

Get a diffusion filter. For caving or most any use it will work just fine and it will protect the lens. You can always flip it up to get the entire brightness of the light but its nice to have for protection so you dont scratch the glass.

jtice,

From your history on this forum I have often enjoyed and find your contributions interesting and honest, but man do you think that what you are asking is ok? I mean why do you think it is right/fair for Surefire to pick up the tab for your sport?

Surefire make tough and reliable lights for use in situations that other lights would fall apart or fail in but the use of any make of light in caving use is extreme. In this situation the lens will nearly always get damaged or scratched and as such this could be anticipated/expected? Why then should Surefire pay to replace it?

I personally expect the warranty to cover failure of the light from fair wear and tear or from defects in design etc and not from extreme sports.

If Surefire (who go beyond the pale) are to maintain reasonable service and keep their already high prices low then it has to be by expecting their customers to only make reasonable warranty claims? IMHO this type of damage is down to your use of the light and not shouldn't be met by Surefire!

Of course you are entitiled to disagree and argue what or what not the warranty terms say but it still comes down to playing fair and I dont think you claiming on that type of damage would be!

Doug

I don't think he wanted to take advantage of SF.....

"What is SFs policy on the lens? Can I asked to have it replaced?
Maybe with a small fee?"

He just wants to know what the procedure/costs might be in advance of assumed damage.

Are there any lights out there made specifically for cavers? How do they deal with lens damage?

Marc

It's called customer service, Surefire is not going to go out of business because 3% of their customers want the lens replaced. The amount in cost they have in any light is minute compared to retail. When I pay for there product I expect customer service, this is one way you create a repeat customer and also why they are one of the top companies in nightime illumination!! Just my two cents. Good Things, Michael

SF replaced a cracked lens on my dropped M4 free of charge. But given that you know you will be abusing your light, I think nc987 made a good point about getting a beamshaper to protect it. If you can find one of the older F70 beamshapers made of rubber it might be even better (and you could remove the beamshaper lens if you don't need it). You could maybe look into something from Quake too: http://www.quakeinc.com/optic.html Makes a lot of sense to me.

I was asking them about the Pyrex and Lexan issue and they simply replied if anything happens to the lens, they'll replace it at no cost to me, so no worries. I guess they will change the light, but I don't really think they should replace 'knowing' damage and wear and tear but instead accidents and malfunctions.

I'd be surprised if it scratched rather than cracked.
Either way, as has been mentioned SureFire take good care of their customers and I'm sure if you explained how it happened they'll replace the window without hesitation.

Al

Thanks for the replies guys.

It is NOT my intention in ANY way, to take advantage of SF !
As I said, I would even be willing to pay a fee to have it replaced.

I was more concerned with it being a possibility at all, and how it would be done.
There is the point about them replacing the light...
I had to send my first L5 back, due to a bad doughnut hole beam,
yea, Im picky, but it bothered me, and I knew that it should have been better.
I called them up, they said to send it in, couple weeks later, I have a very white, very nice beam L5 :thumbsup: to SureFire !

So, I would rather not have the light replaced, but rather, have the lens replaced.

I should find something to protect the lens though,
I would rather not add bulk to it with a flip-up protector from SF though.
Some protective screen protector stype stuff would be nice though.

oh and Al,
It would get scratched, trust me

~John

Yeah, I often wondered why Surefire replaces some lights damaged by abuse while not accepting their responsibility for true warranty issues such as MN21 bulbs not fitting in the SC2 spares carrier. If you drop your light into a mill or a truck runs over it, why should Surefire pay for this? They cannot be expected to guarantee that a light will survive everything and never show any signs of wear. But when the SC2 spares carrier advertised as being designed for the MN21 bulb does not accept that bulb, their reaction is to tell you everything including that the SC2 carrier was not designed to accept the MN21.

I strongly agree with Doug, we should not expect manufacturers to replace or fix lights damaged by abuse or accidents. This will only increase prices and make the manufacturers become more reluctant to handle true warranty issues.

When I melted the lens on my G2 I sent them an email stating what had happened and they replied and asked for my address. They sent me a whole new bezel lens assembly. Not sure they would do that on an L5 though. But you never know. I have always been very pleased with Surefire's customer service.

It still baffles me that I was able to melt the lexan lens on my G2 with a P60!

Yeah, I am starting to think about how best to care for my M6. I know it is as though as heck, but I still want it to be taken care of. So I bought a black hawk holster for it, and love it. Now I need to get a beam cover to protect the lenses. I have not scratched it yet, but I have gotten close. And on the topic of SF customer service, when the beam on my 6p p60 had a doughnut hole in it, I e-mailed them and they just sent me a new one. I have some nice scratches in the lens of that one, but I just think I will live with it. I have wondered if they would sell me a replacement lens or if I could send them the light and they would replace the lens for a couple bucks.

while not accepting their responsibility for true warranty issues such as MN21 bulbs not fitting in the SC2 spares carrier.

Click to expand...

From what i know about "warranties" this has absolutely nothing to do with Surefires warranty. This is simply a mistake on their behalf, but by no means a warranty issue.

Part of the reason I pay all that money for a damn flashlight is knowing that Surefire is going to bend over backwards to make things right and make me as their customer happy. If their customer service was crappy, I probably wouldn't spend that much. I asked for a spare lens just in case I scratch mine up and they boxed up and sent me a spare, no questions asked free of charge. Did I take advantage of them? I don't think so. Today I spent $320 on their website ordering more stuff cause they're so cool about stuff like this and they have great products.

You might want to try the Invisible Shield that is getting a lot of talk on macrumors.com. It apparently protects the delicate iPod nano from scratches
from keys and coins. I don't know if it is clear enough for a flashlight though.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=157084

Greg

WilsonCQB1911 said:

I asked for a spare lens just in case I scratch mine up and they boxed up and sent me a spare, no questions asked free of charge. Did I take advantage of them? I don't think so.

Click to expand...

Hmm, I don't really like that. If the Surefire price includes a free spare lens, then the lens should come with every light. The lens they sent you was paid for by all the people who didn't get one.

Surefire's warrenty is apart of their marketing strategy. Their target market is military/law enforcement types, and any other group of people that need light that will not fail. I don't think they expect their customers to baby the product. Part of what you pay for in the light is the guaranty that you can use it without being preoccupied with it getting damaged. I personaly wouldn't want to depend on a light in a combat enviroment and worry about if failing or needing to baby it.

I say that Surefire would be proud to know that their lights are being used in extreem enviroments like caving and would happily replace the lense for you if damaged.

Edit: And all of the above is why I saved up enough from my limited budget for my L2. My money is where my mouth is, and I think Surefire's is too. I have lots of respect for them because of that. They are confident in their lights and will back them up.

My $0.02

Mark2 said:

Hmm, I don't really like that. If the Surefire price includes a free spare lens, then the lens should come with every light. The lens they sent you was paid for by all the people who didn't get one.

Click to expand...

If you say so... thanks for the free lens then. So if you can't have it, no one can? Does that mean that anytime Surefire repairs a flashlight for free that you are being cheated? You aren't getting anything out of it and it's free, so you yourself must be paying for it. The only line of thinking I can see would be that the only way to make you happy would be if Surefire did not have any customer service or warranty at all. You really are being awfully silly.