Are Surefire Flashlights Outdated?

[BlindFarmer]

Newbie question, is Surefire behind the times, or do they trade bleeding edge for dependability? I notice the big chinese brands claiming high lumins or pocket lights with 8000mah batteries, etc. Is it simply marketing hype? I love my new Stiletto, yet on paper at least it would seem Nitecore offer a smaller brighter light with longer runtimes. Is surefire taking a conservitive approach to maintain long lasting durability, or are they outdated like a Maglite? Either way, I like the Stiletto.

 

[WarriorOfLight]

In my opinion from technological view Surefire is outdated. Over the years the Flashlight setup also decreased significant. It is obvious that Flashlights are not the main income source for Surefire.

But the build quality and reliability is extremely high. I own a lot Surefire lights and 1-2 years ago even the Surefire EDC1-DFT and EDC2-DFT came into my collection. Both are also in use.

If you are seeking for a well made and really reliable light Surefire may be right to you. If you want highest possible Lumens check out the China Brands. There are nice China Brands, but at least in my opinion not all are reliable and worth the money....

 

[LRJ88]

In my opinion from technological view Surefire is outdated. Over the years the Flashlight setup also decreased significant. It is obvious that Flashlights are not the main income source for Surefire.

But the build quality and reliability is extremely high. I own a lot Surefire lights and 1-2 years ago even the Surefire EDC1-DFT and EDC2-DFT came into my collection. Both are also in use.

If you are seeking for a well made and really reliable light Surefire may be right to you. If you want highest possible Lumens check out the China Brands. There are nice China Brands, but at least in my opinion not all are reliable and worth the money....

The reliability is decent, but the last few years they've dropped off massively in their quality. You can look at something as simple as the threads on the Tactician or how they're put together, when you get a flashlight that costs more than $200 it shouldn't chew up its o-rings when you simply turn the head.

 

[troutpool]

A good old 6P or G2 with a Malkoff dropin is still a great light for many applications.

 

[Monocrom]

In terms of tech.? Yes.
In terms of reliability? No.
(But other brands have gotten reliable enough over the last 20 years for most folks' needs.)

 

[BillBond]

IMO nothing beats a Surefire as a working light.
But if you want a toy, then go with the Chinese stuff.

 

[WarriorOfLight]

The reliability is decent, but the last few years they've dropped off massively in their quality. You can look at something as simple as the threads on the Tactician or how they're put together, when you get a flashlight that costs more than $200 it shouldn't chew up its o-rings when you simply turn the head.

I can speak only for myself. I am happy with the Tactician, works perfectly.

The last Surefire lights were EDC1-DFF and EDC2-DFT, I guess last year. I am happy with both lights
The four Aviators (RD,YL-GN, BL, AM), I am also happy with
The E1B-MV, a light I like a lot.
But I "missed" the Fury DFT. I never bought one due to the fried LED problems
I still love my old 45lm(?) Kroma MILSPEC! :)

At the moment Surefire does not have something that I would like to have... I guess they are making the money in different areas.
But I agree the build quality and the price is not matching anymore

At least I have a lot great lights and I do not need every day a brighter light. I try to avoid buying stuff from Chinese companies (in all product areas). Only if I do not find an option I choose a Chinese brand. Last Chinese brand I bought was a Lenovo Notebook ~3 years ago due to the fact of display, CPU, memory and SSD options.

 

[BlindFarmer]

Thank you everyone. That is what I thout. Basically Surefire is the Chevy small block V8 or LS V8. Outdated but tough and dependable. Certainly tough for EDC. The China lights are white goods, disposable once the UI and screen fail. I am looking at you Nitecore. LOL

 

[BillBond]

Basically Surefire is the Chevy small block V8 or LS V8. Outdated but tough and dependable.

To take your analogy a bit further, the incadescant Surefires are the small block Chevy and the LED Surefires are the LS Chevy.

 

[LRJ88]

I can speak only for myself. I am happy with the Tactician, works perfectly.

The last Surefire lights were EDC1-DFF and EDC2-DFT, I guess last year. I am happy with both lights
The four Aviators (RD,YL-GN, BL, AM), I am also happy with
The E1B-MV, a light I like a lot.
But I "missed" the Fury DFT. I never bought one due to the fried LED problems
I still love my old 45lm(?) Kroma MILSPEC! :)

At the moment Surefire does not have something that I would like to have... I guess they are making the money in different areas.
But I agree the build quality and the price is not matching anymore

At least I have a lot great lights and I do not need every day a brighter light. I try to avoid buying stuff from Chinese companies (in all product areas). Only if I do not find an option I choose a Chinese brand. Last Chinese brand I bought was a Lenovo Notebook ~3 years ago due to the fact of display, CPU, memory and SSD options.

You could go and look at my posts in the Tactician thread, the tolerances have gone to poop in that production and it's really bad when you can't even make proper threads. There's been issues with the clip as well and other things which really shouldn't be issues at all.

 

[dc38]

You could go and look at my posts in the Tactician thread, the tolerances have gone to poop in that production and it's really bad when you can't even make proper threads. There's been issues with the clip as well and other things which really shouldn't be issues at all.

It makes you wonder if it's an inferior material, inferior machining, inferior design, or some combination of the bunch. I really like my older e2laa, and while the threads are sharp, they're only minimally gritty and don't eat the threads. I haven't had any issues with clips yet, thankfully.

 

[BlindFarmer]

To take your analogy a bit further, the incadescant Surefires are the small block Chevy and the LED Surefires are the LS Chevy.

I like that. Thank you.

 

[LRJ88]

It makes you wonder if it's an inferior material, inferior machining, inferior design, or some combination of the bunch. I really like my older e2laa, and while the threads are sharp, they're only minimally gritty and don't eat the threads. I haven't had any issues with clips yet, thankfully.

The material is good, it's just regular 6061 aluminium. The machining is poop though, and it seems the design was changed between the first one i ordered and the one i got as a replacement. Sharp threads are easy to deal with, you hit them with some sand paper or emery cloth and you're fine, but with mine the threads were properly jagged and messed up on both lights. The slot for the clip is larger than needed/the clip is smaller than required so in some cases they've pressed the clip in so hard it's broken the holding area and in other cases they glue the clip in place (so the clip isn't even straight) and both aren't acceptable for something that costs more than $20.

I'll just repost an image of one of the flashlights to show the threads there too.

 

[ghostguy6]

I view the pre 2010 Surefire's as good. The LED technology from Surefire was never the greatest. What made Surefire great was the lego factor that allowed the customization. Hardly anyone ran the stock led module but instead opted for Malkoff or other 3rd party drop ins.

 

[Monocrom]

IMO nothing beats a Surefire as a working light.
But if you want a toy, then go with the Chinese stuff.

Sadly, SureFire currently makes nothing that can compete with the individual Chinese lights in my collection that allow me to light up the four massive parking lots that surround the large building that I work at; during 3rd Shift. I wish that wasn't the case. But realistically if SF made such a light that I could use at work, they'd likely charge nearly $5,000 or more for it. I love my two dozen+ SF lights. But they don't cut it on the job.

 

[Monocrom]

It makes you wonder if it's an inferior material, inferior machining, inferior design, or some combination of the bunch. I really like my older e2laa, and while the threads are sharp, they're only minimally gritty and don't eat the threads. I haven't had any issues with clips yet, thankfully.

Once PK left, it was only a matter of time before quality would suffer. With the exception of the G2, Paul Kim's ideas were what generated SureFire's profits over the years.

 

[WarriorOfLight]

You could go and look at my posts in the Tactician thread, the tolerances have gone to poop in that production and it's really bad when you can't even make proper threads. There's been issues with the clip as well and other things which really shouldn't be issues at all.

Really interesting. Is your Tactician one of the "early" or a "later" model. I was buying the Tactician when it was available. Don't ask the year, I do not remember, but the light was fresh on the market...

----
And in general, my "outdated" Kroma MILSPEC with (I guess 45lm) is still 45lm and I still use the light, and it does the same good job as always since.... 20 years or so.

Outdated does not mean it is JUNK
Outdated does not mean it is usable anymore

Most lights I own are "outdated".... :)

 

[dc38]

The material is good, it's just regular 6061 aluminium. The machining is poop though, and it seems the design was changed between the first one i ordered and the one i got as a replacement. Sharp threads are easy to deal with, you hit them with some sand paper or emery cloth and you're fine, but with mine the threads were properly jagged and messed up on both lights. The slot for the clip is larger than needed/the clip is smaller than required so in some cases they've pressed the clip in so hard it's broken the holding area and in other cases they glue the clip in place (so the clip isn't even straight) and both aren't acceptable for something that costs more than $20.

I'll just repost an image of one of the flashlights to show the threads there too.

Yeah...I've seen that. I was wondering if the material might have had inclusions that cause that kind of chipping when manufacturing...I imagine that it might also come from just getting tossed into a box after being machined, so it's possible the threads get beat up...but that looks like something snagged the thread an peeled it off, possibly not enough cutting fluid?

 

[Chauncey Gardener]

I enjoyed a small, but growing, collection of Surefire lights in 2010. But then they changed their name to Suefire, and were dead to me.

I sold all of them except the G2 (because it was my first high-quality light), the G3, and the orange 6P. Does anyone want either of those two?

 

[ZMZ67]

I am a fan of basic tech flashlights so I still like the G2,G3,6P and 9P. Easy to upgrade with a Malkoff or other led lamp. The newer SF lights with their higher prices really don't interest me. Generally they have had good quality over the years but I wonder how they actually measure up to the cheaper competition these days.