Gotta brag on stream light.

[Delta4-3]

So, I had a stream light that endured hell plus a little and held out like a champ for 3 years. Finally, my 8 month old daughter got ahold of it and chewed the rubber end cap off and drowned the internals with baby slobber. It gave up the ghost and I sent it back to stream light with a not asking that they charge me for repairs and shipping as it was clearly my fault. A week and a half later a brand new one shows up at the house with an invoice for $0.00, and they paid to ship it back!

Now, what's crappy is that I spent my hard earned E-5 pay on 3 surefire lights while deployed in 07 and 08. Two were weapons mounted and gave out under recoil. The third was a white/blue/IR helmet light that just up and quit working. They wouldn't fix any of them. I'm not sure how they got such a good reputation but to me it's unwarranted.

Also, I was wearing a Luminox dive watch on a foot patrol one day when I god hit with an IED. A piece of copper shrapnel went through the lens and stopped in the face. I called Luminox and asked them if it was covered under the lifetime warranty. The sweet lady replied yes, however their is a $200 service charge. Are you f-ing kidding me!? The watch was $250! Needless to say I didn't send it back.

Two companies that will never get a dime of my money again. Stream light, on the other hand, will continue to get entirely too much of it.

 

[Exo]

Delta, first off thank you for your service!

secondly, I agree with you 100%!!! Streamlight has far surpassed surefire in my book. Ive had 2 surefire's, both have failed on me and neither were re-chargeable (CR123's = suckage). I have one streamlight that has been ran over, kicked, dropped into water as well as hard surfaces. Left on, left sitting in direct sunlight for 10+ hours in the AZ heat. That thing is still kickin like it aint no big deal!!

 

[Delta4-3]

Delta, first off thank you for your service!

secondly, I agree with you 100%!!! Streamlight has far surpassed surefire in my book. Ive had 2 surefire's, both have failed on me and neither were re-chargeable (CR123's = suckage). I have one streamlight that has been ran over, kicked, dropped into water as well as hard surfaces. Left on, left sitting in direct sunlight for 10+ hours in the AZ heat. That thing is still kickin like it aint no big deal!!

Thank you, and your welcome!
They are a great value for the price they charge, especially when compared to their competition that charges several times the price for a less durable product. One example is the SuperTac IR for $80 there's no illuminator that comes close without spending a lot of extra dough.

 

[bullseye13]

Thanks for the post Delta. I have some Streamlights and one Surefire. I like them, but I was under the impression Surefire would be the ones to bend over backwards for you? I think my next weapons mounted light will be a Streamlight instead of a Surefire.

I have a Luminox too, thought it would be a good dive watch... It sits in a drawer because its a piece of shit

 

[Delta4-3]

Thanks for the post Delta. I have some Streamlights and one Surefire. I like them, but I was under the impression Surefire would be the ones to bend over backwards for you? I think my next weapons mounted light will be a Streamlight instead of a Surefire.

I have a Luminox too, thought it would be a good dive watch... It sits in a drawer because its a piece of shit

I'm sure there are a lot of guys that have had great luck with surefire's CS, I'm not one of them though. Not that military guys are any better than civilian, but you'd think they would want to repair lights that failed in combat for a multitude of reasons.
Another thing I've noticed is that a 120 lumen stream light is noticeably brighter than a 120 lumen surefire.

 

[Facemelter]

Streamlight Protac HL is what I carry with me. 500 lumens is pretty damn bright,and it fits in your pocket. Ive beat the living shit out of the one I have. Keeps clicking and turning on. I havent been the biggest surefire fan,non of them seamed all that great for the price. Could be Im just a cheap ass too.

 

[lonely_wolf]

I have a Streamlight TLR1 that is excellent. Been banged around endlessly and keeps on clamping tight and lighting up.

 

[sneakymedic]

I have had my share of Surefire's , but that ProTac at 600 lumens (under $100 if you can find it on sale) cant be beat for a weapon light. I also have a sidewinder when I have my NOD on and it works great also. Plus my TLR-S is great on the Glock. Unless I HAVE to spend ridiculous amounts of dinero on a flashlight....Ill stick with Streamlight.

 

[Redmanss]

Glad to hear Streamlight took care of you, but I wonder about the Surefire issue. Hoping [MENTION=8883]Chucky[/MENTION] could maybe shed some light on that or even help you out. I prefer Surefire for weapon mounted options, and Fenix or Four-Sevens for all others. I've run a TRL 1 and 3 before, but have since gone over to Surefire x300/u due to the mount style and output.

 

[rleffel]

I use my stremlight daily. My surfires occasionally.

 

[JaysonF]

Before we bag on surefire, let me say that I have had nothing but great customer service with them. I had an X-200 pistol light which was given to me and for some reason it didn't work. I was the second owner and the light was at least 3 years old. They were issued to the guys before us and the guy was getting out so he gave it to me. I call SF and sent it back and 2 weeks later, I got a brand new X-300 in the mail. No charge and no questions asked. I only run surefire lights on my gear and guns. I like streamlight and I have one for inside my truck, but if my life depended on it, I'll take surefire. What is good for me to take to durka durkastan (and let me just say this, that hell fighter heavy spotlight is a beast!) will be just fine for me in any shtf scenario.

 

[muggs13]

My Luminox crystal face cracked. Sent it back and paid $75.00 to have it fixed. When returned found the crystal was replaced with plastic type face that became so scratchy over the next month the time could barely be read. No more money to those guy's.....

 

[Delta4-3]

Interesting turn of events here! Chucky (surefire rep who is a member here) pM'ed me asking for details. I responded and he is sending me a return tag and gave a good explanation as to why the incandescent lights failed. I'm rather impressed that he chose to PM me as opposed to arguing publicly in this thread. I'll give him props for that.

 

[CBR]

Great to hear about your excellent experience with Streamlight and props to Chucky for getting your Surefire taken care of!

 

[JMC]

I've had good experience with both Surefire and Streamlight. I use both for work, a Z2 (LED) + G2 (incandescent) and a LED Stinger with the Dual switch. I'm pretty tough on them and I had small issues with both on switches and I'm satisfied with customer service on both. The Streamlight is bigger and I grab when I do a traffic stop or know I need a flashlight but I like the Surefire and one stays on the belt all the time for the times when I need a light but didn't expect or the Streamlight ever went down. (two is one and one is none) Price on the Streamlight is a bit better for the same size light though and it has taken a beating well.
Both are Good To Go in my book.

 

[aubie515]

I used to work for SL in the repair department. SL sucks in terms of QC. Only reason why I have SL is because I used to get such great discounts on the products. If I had to pay regular prices, I would have gone with Olight.

 

[Major]

I have Streamlight, Surefire, and Fenix lights. I've been fortunate enough to never have had an issue with any of them, but Surefire definitely offers the least bang for the buck. I don't think I'll buy another Surefire simply because the others are greater values.

 

[muggs13]

They are an awesome crew! They have a walk in repair shop. Walk in tell them it's broke and usually you walk out with a fixed light pro bono!!!
Also they used a few fellas from the local PD a few years ago for their catalog shots! First class. Way to keep it real.

 

[Cubbetm]

I love my streamlights! I have 4. One pocket one, a strion, and two stingers. One of them was dropped in gear oil and they sent me back a new one for free. I plan on sending in the one at work soon. I doubt it will be fixed for free. It's been ran over, smashed with a hammer, thrown on cement, and across the shop. But I know they will at least fix me up in a timely manner when I send it in