SureFire -- Reducing Staff and Cutting Production

[this_is_nascar 162]

Back when I was really into flashlights, I would have picked-up on this immediately. I just got and email from one of my subscribed mailing lists, that stated the following. Did anyone know about this? I hadn't heard of this before now.

 

 

 

 

In the past few months, Surefire has informed us that they have reduced staff and decreased production, even though it has been an extremely heavy sales period. Due to the lack of inventory available at Surefire and extremely long lead times, Spyder Tactical has chosen to discontinue stocking Surefire products at this time. We find that we are not able to give our customers the quality customer service we strive to achieve due to these issues. We will, however, be able to fill larger orders as the need arises.

 

 

All inventory in stock has now been moved to our

 

clearance section, all at or below cost! Once these are gone, no inventory will be replacing this stock.

 

 

While we will be able to provide special orders of Surefire products, we also carry other great product lines that will fit the needs of our customers, such as ExtremeBeam, Terralux, Streamlight, Pelican, and so many more!

 

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

 

 

 

 

Victoria Ingram

www.tacticalsupply.com

[papercutninja 24]

I have a feeling that it has more to do with corporate restructuring than a gun-related issue. Their longtime (since the beginning) VP of Engineering, Paul Kim retired last week. Or at least it was announced.

[this_is_nascar 162]

I never meant to imply it has anything to do with guns or firearms, if that's how it came off.

[papercutninja 24]

Gotcha. Or it could be a pissing match between Spyder Tactical and Surefire. Who knows.

[raz-0 1,259]

They have been issuing the government required notices, so yeah they have been reducing staff for a while now. They have been getting their butt kicked in the light market. Their price is high, which is acceptable to some for SOME things. When 80%+ of your product offerings make you shake your head at why one would even try to market such a thing at such a price, or it clearly competes with something else already in the product line with no clear reason why you would buy one over the other besides price, you have problems.

[this_is_nascar 162]

Agreed. Their prices have always be high, but I've spent thousands in SF lights. There are nicely made quality lights. Not sure if I have any SF lights left or not.

[MandM 2]

+1

 

I loved SF lights. For a long time they were king. Bright, durable... the best. Then everyone else caught up. Quality and features are improved among the competitors, and the prices are down. (Fenix, Quark, Jetbeam, Eagletac, Sunwayman, Olight, the list goes on.)

 

I have no more Surefire lights in my collection. Haven't for 4-5 years or so. While their quality hasn't gone down... there are better bang-for-the-buck lights out there by far.

[njluger 5]

I've got 1 SF flashlight that I picked up on clearance last black friday, it's a great light. But, I'll say that the $120 I spent on it doesn't put it above the performance or quality of my $40 Fenix that I carry and use more often. Like the previous poster said, there are better bang-for-the-buck lights out there.

 

Btw, I checked Spyder's site...not sure what they meant by Discontinued/Clearance sale...their prices are still high!

[Dan 177]

I agree with MandM, while SF quality is excellent, it is not commensurate with the price. This is especially true because the Asian market has caught up in quality , features, and performance at 50% price points to SF.

 

They should have adapted a long time ago.

[Zell959 40]

Agreed with everyone else. Good lights, but pricing got harder & harder to justify. I own a G3 I got on closeout for $30, the NRA gun metal version of the 6P I got for $30, and a Fury I paid $108 for. The two I got on closeout are solid lights, but didn't really shine till I spent the money on Malkoff drop ins that improved the output & the battery life. The Fury, I mean, it's nice, but I came to question my judgement in spending $108 on a flashlight, just because it doesn't really seem notably better than many other options in the $30-$60 price range.

[raz-0 1,259]

I have a feeling that it has more to do with corporate restructuring than a gun-related issue. Their longtime (since the beginning) VP of Engineering, Paul Kim retired last week. Or at least it was announced.

 

Yes as they have been ending out layoff docs since at least April of 2012.

[raz-0 1,259]

I have no more Surefire lights in my collection. Haven't for 4-5 years or so. While their quality hasn't gone down... there are better bang-for-the-buck lights out there by far.

 

It's not just bang for the buck. It's entire feature sets missing form their lineup, or the presence of bizarre feature sets or UIs that make you go Wha? Why would you do that?!?!?!

[NoThanksImOut 0]

I also think Surefire is out of touch with the enthusiast light market. They make basic, reliable duty lights but flashaholics want more.

 

With that said, my 870 has a Maelstrom MM-X Neutral on it and I am quite happy with it.

[cigarsnscotch 0]

I know this is a little OT, but I am in the market for a couple flashlights and am wondering what brands I should look at? You say there are better options out there, what are they? What sites should I be checking out?

 

I do not want to pay a fortune for a flashlight, doesn't matter what in the world it can do. Any suggestions is much appreciated? I'd like a new one for my truck, and one for my mossberg 500.

[this_is_nascar 162]

Like I said, I've been "away from flashlights" for probably 5 or more years now. From what I've seen, Fenix is the one who really has taken over the market. I have several different Fenix lights and have been happy with them.

[MandM 2]

Cigars here's a couple quality brands to look at:

 

Fenix lights

Quark

Jetbeam

Sunwayman

EagleTac

 

All decent lights. Lots of features, decent price point... and some (like the JetBeams and Sunwayman lights) even come in cool limited editions with cool paint jobs or bodies made of Titanium or Carbon Fiber. Right now I usually EDC either a JetBeam RRT-01 or my Sunwayman V10. However... I think my next light is gonna be a the EagleTac D25 clicky.