True Stories

I use my SureFire E2E Executive Elite® every day in the emergency room at Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. One lifesaving but risky procedure we unfortunately have to perform fairly often involves making an incision on the left side and pumping a patient's heart by hand while the patient's aorta is clamped to shunt blood to only the most vital organs (heart, lungs, and brain). Getting to the aorta is hard enough without being able to see inside of a dark chest cavity, but my SureFire is small enough to avoid being in the way and bright enough to operate by its light. Whether it's a quick wound check, assessing and extracting casualties from vehicles at the gate, or reaching into a major injury to clamp an artery, my SureFire lights the way.

Tom W.
Baghdad, Iraq

The durability of my SureFire E2E Executive Elite® was tested in a harsh civilian circumstance during a recent camping trip. My E2E was resting comfortably on my lap; I forgot it was even there while enjoying the warmth of our fire. I stood up to refill my cup with beer and unknowingly launched my E2E directly into a pile of red-hot embers.

I returned to my camp chair, fresh beer in hand, and rejoined the conversation. After a few minutes, I gazed into the fire and saw my SureFire in the embers. Without thinking, I grabbed for my E2E. Its hot metal surface seared the tips of my fingers, so I plunged my hand, my SureFire still in it, into the ice-cold cup of beer in my camp chair's cup holder. My SureFire remained fully submerged for about 20 minutes while we attended to my burnt fingers.

When we finally pulled out my E2E, it was unaffected. There was no visible damage or operational dysfunction. In fact, it works today as great as the day I opened it. I'm looking forward to even better night visibility on our next camping trip, now that I've also obtained a new L2 LumaMax®. Thanks, SureFire.

Ted W.
Portland, OR

I carry my Surefire E2E Elite® in my back pocket day and night. One summer afternoon, I was getting into the passenger seat of a friend's convertible. No sooner had my pants hit the seat than my friend launched into a tire-squealing donut-style left turn. My door was still open, my seatbelt was off, and the top was down—there was nothing to grab hold of!

I was sling-shot out, screaming the whole way, onto the hard blacktop. My weight landed on my Surefire E2E, and I eventually slid to a complete stop. My cell phone was crushed and my sunglasses were history, but my flashlight was fine. It took me nearly two months to re-grow all the skin I lost, but the hard-anodized finish on that flashlight hardly got a scratch.

Thanks for making such a durable product.

Steve D.
Memphis, TN

I cannot say enough good things about my SureFire E2e Executive Elite®! As a C-130 pilot on active duty I used an Air Force issued 2 D-cell Maglite® for over eight years. Not only was it cumbersome to carry in my helmet bag, but between dead batteries and bad bulbs it was notoriously unreliable. During Operation ENDURING FREEDOM we flew most of our missions into Afghanistan at night and the lack of a good flashlight was a big hindrance to my job. It was at that point I knew I needed to find something better.

During my transition from active duty in the Air National Guard, a pilot friend recommend SureFire. After seeing his SureFire 6P™ I went out and got my E2e. One month later my new SureFire was put to the test after my squadron deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. During 40+ combat missions into Iraq my E2e never failed. It was significantly brighter than my old flashlight, so I was able to shine it through my window onto the wings to check for icing during flight, yet it was still small enough to carry comfortably in the pocket of my flight suit. Throughout numerous pre- and post-flight aircraft inspections, the E2e worked every time, even after I dropped it down the flight deck stairs, out the crew entrance door and onto the ramp. The E2e is so light weight I was able to hold it with my teeth while my flight engineer and I made a hostile environment engine repair.

Since my return stateside I have replaced all of my home and vehicle flashlights with various models of SureFires and I never fly with out my E2e. Several of my squadron mates have even gone out and bought SureFires after seeing mine in action. A SureFire flashlight is definitely one tool no aircrew member should be without.

My E2E Executive Elite has been a great tool in the duck blind. On early, dark mornings, I was able to use the lightweight light to tie decoys and set out my spread. It was also a great help in getting the equipment and guns organized before the sun began to rise.

I was extremely disappointed when I couldn't find my light after the first weekend of duck hunting. I looked everywhere for a couple of months but wasn't able to find it. Then on a late-season duck hunt, I dropped my duck call in the back of the steel blind into about 10 inches of water. While looking for the call, I raked my hand across the flashlight and pulled it out of the water. I clicked it on, and to my amazement, the light powered right up, just as bright as the day I bought it. For over two months, that light had been completely submerged in freezing water and mud.

Today, a year later, the light still works flawlessly. The O-ring seals and durability of this flashlight are amazing. Thanks for making such a high-quality product!

Ryan S.
Baton Rouge, LA

While attempting to reach the tip of Madagascar, in search of new botanical species, disaster struck—the rainy season came early. Pushing to make it before the rains made the roads impassable, the Land Cruiser's motor died. Then, after the driver drained all of its power winching the vehicle out of the mud, so did the battery. We were forced to hire six men to act as porters to get us to a fishing village where we could catch a boat back to Antseranana, in order to catch a plane back to Tana, the capital, and then another plane to Europe from there.

We were down to the wire, and I was due back in the States, so we set out in the darkness with our porters, miles of muddy road ahead of us. Only two of our porter s had shoes, and none had flashlights. Fortunately, I'd recently installed an MN02 extended-runtime lamp in my E2E. We walked through the night, the mud, and the rain, with only a couple of headlamps and intermittent illumination from my SureFire to keep us from stumbling and falling into the deep erosion rifts in the road. The couple of headlamps we had soon died, leaving only my E2E for illumination. We made the fishing village with an hour to spare, minus two porters and a third of our gear; they had gone ahead, without a light, and gotten lost. We found them later, covered in mud but no worse for wear, under the eaves of a fisherman's hut. It turned out that, in the dark, they had slipped down a ravine.

Despite dunkings in the Mozambique Channel, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean, my used-and-abused SureFire came through unscathed. I have purchased flashlights from other manufactures, with much less happy results; some of those lights even failed to work in my own living room. Thanks for making such a great product. I'm a customer for life.

Mick C.
Twain Harte, CA