My visit to Surefire

[Mr45auto]

A few weeks ago I got to visit Surefire in Fountain Valley, CA. I was given the grand tour of thier facilities and was pretty surprised at what I saw. First off was thier redundancy, CA is known for earthquakes and Surefire hedges their bets with duplicate facilities and can move production to one of several buildings for any particular need. The .gov and other clients dont take earthquakes as a valid excuse for late delivery.

Another surprise was the testing each and every light model goes through. Now mind you it's not every single light produced but there is batch testing. I'll run you down a little of it.

We'll start off with the fridge/oven. Surefire subjects it's lights to a heat/cold cycle over several days taking them up to 300? ( if I recall that correctly ) down to a bazillion below zero and doing this repeatedly. They also introduce different levels of humidity and pressure.

How bout salt spray?

I didnt get a picture but there's also a UV unit that bakes the ever loving hell out of it to check how the anodizing or other coatings hold up.

Now like every gear queer I enjoy seeing things in their semi finished state:

CNC gear anyone? These units take a pile of raw stock, feed them into the machine and spit out a finished part.

Surefire knife anyone?

 

[Mr45auto]

Re: My visit to Surefire

Various production line photos

6P bodies waiting for assembly

Hellfighters baby!

Another big difference in Surefire vs the china lights is the sheer number of components. I was looking at the details of a flashlight head that had more than 20 parts to it and each was there for a reason. It's alot more than a head, lens, reflector, and o-ring I dont know what the hell all the parts were for but after seeing the testing I can assure you there's a reason they're in there. Each body is laser engraved ( cool machine btw ) so if you find one that's just painted you might just have a counterfiet.

Of partcular note I saw a new headlamp they have out and just like the other surefire stuff it's way over engineered. I want one! I should have got a pic or two of it but didnt.

Stopped by a piece of their suppressor line too, and no they wouldnt let me take a single photo.

After taking the tour of their facility there's no way I'd buy any other light on the market. Surefire's attention to quality control is second to none. They dont make expensive lights for the hell of, there's a reason they're expensive.

This was not a tour the general public gets to take. This was a visit to a match sponsor and I thank them for the opportunity to go see their operation. I hope to be able to return and at least look at the full suppressor production even if I cant take pics.

Hopefully I can soon bug a few of the other match sponsors for a tour and pics.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: My visit to Surefire

Where is everybody? It's like the Langoliers!


I love Surefire's lights and knives. I even own a few! Thanks for the photos.

 

[jasonk]

Re: My visit to Surefire

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: queequeg</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Where is everybody? It's like the Langoliers!


</div></div>

I saw 2 people, maybe a 3rd, it's like Where's Waldo!

 

[Mr45auto]

Re: My visit to Surefire

I try not to take pics of guys working. There were guys in the shop but I intentionally did my best to keep them out of it. I'd hate to put up a pic of a guy without his consent.

 

[slowkota]

Re: My visit to Surefire

I don't know what that hellfighter thing is... but I'm pretty sure I "Need" one!!!

 

[coctailer]

Re: My visit to Surefire

These pics look familiar.

 

[Mr45auto]

Re: My visit to Surefire

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: coctailer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">These pics look familiar.

</div></div>

Of course they were on the most important place first

 

[Mr45auto]

Re: My visit to Surefire

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: slowkota</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't know what that hellfighter thing is... but I'm pretty sure I "Need" one!!! </div></div>

By the way, the new and relatively inexpensive G2X is very impressive. The G2X is wayyy brighter than my older 6P LED. What surefire does with LEDs now is amazing. It has nearly the throw of my M961 incandescent weapon light.

 

[The Mechanic]

Re: My visit to Surefire

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: slowkota</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't know what that hellfighter thing is... but I'm pretty sure I "Need" one!!!</div></div>

It will melt the paint on the lunar rover from Apollo 15 on the moon

 

[bikemancs]

Re: My visit to Surefire

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: slowkota</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't know what that hellfighter thing is... but I'm pretty sure I "Need" one!!! </div></div>

It's theLight fo God! It's been instrumental overseas for us.