If you’re a flashlight connoisseur, chances are you’ve heard about SureFire at some point. It’s one of the most popular flashlight brands in the world, and despite selling at a premium, consumers are willing to pay the cost of admission for the U.S.-made quality. Is it really American, though? Who makes SureFire flashlights?
Headquartered in California, US, SureFire LLC is an American company established in 1986 that specializes in a variety of lighting solutions. This includes high-performance flashlights, as well as weapon-mounted lights and tactical equipment. And yes, all its products are built in the USA, and the company proudly highlights that fact.
Because it owns a fairly large facility and employs approximately 300 people, SureFire has the capacity to handle all its manufacturing in-house. Though the majority of materials used in manufacturing are American, SureFire doesn’t classify its products as “Made in the USA” for one reason: the company has to source LEDs from overseas (likely China because it’s the largest LED manufacturer), presumably due to the lack of suitable domestic suppliers. Thus, the products aren’t labeled as U.S.-made strictly to comply with Federal Trade Commission standards, despite the flashlights being fully designed and built in the United States.
Should you stick with SureFire?
Being American through-and-through may be the strongest selling point for some, but a few of SureFire’s competitors may provide more value. For instance, if you’re dead set on buying the most powerful EDC flashlight, SureFire seems like a clear winner. The SureFire EDC2-DFT (Turbo series) has a beam that reaches slightly over 2,000 feet, coming in at a premium of $304. Meanwhile, the Fenix LR35R has a beam distance of 1,640 feet, which doesn’t sound as impressive, but it can be yours for about $100 less. The question is whether you want to pay extra for those extra 400 feet, especially when you factor in that SureFire’s power comes at a significant cost — its battery life. The Fenix LR35R has a runtime of about 80 hours, while SureFire EDC2-DFT provides mere 2.75 hours at peak power (likely the mode that reaches 2,000 feet) and 46.5 hours in low-output mode.
Say you’re looking for the most powerful flashlight on Amazon and don’t care if it fits in your pocket or is easy to use. Something like the Imalent MS32 (200,000 lumens) has a reach of around 5,300 feet, which dwarfs the SureFire, and is also $100 cheaper. There are other options if you don’t want to bust the bank. The Sofirn Q8 Plus is only a few feet “shorter” than the SureFire EDC2-DFT but retails at just $124. In other words, you don’t need to pay an excessive amount for a flashlight.
who-makes-surefire-flashlights-and-where-are-they-manufactured
