True Stories

I am currently a cadet in the Police Academy. As you can imagine running is now a big part of my life. While practicing my uphill workout in the hills that surround my academy, it got dark on me. I always carry my SureFire U2 on me while running in the evening. I was on a dirt service road, coming down fast, when I heard what sounded like a rattle. I tried to come to a stop, but my momentum carried me further than I would have liked. I finally stopped and swept the area for the source of the noise. My light caught a coiled rattlesnake no more than four feet from my foot. My SureFire lit it up and blinded it, rendering it still. Because of the intensity of the light, I was able to backup and safely move around the coiled snake.

My SureFire U2 saved my hide on that night. Thanks for making the brightest and most reliable lights around. I will take my SureFire with me into my police career.

Edward R.
Westminster, CA

It was 5:00 a.m., and I'd just gotten off work, after an exhausting 14-hour shift. I was on the freeway, heading north, when the next thing I knew, I'd drifted off the pavement. As I frantically tried to steer myself back onto the pavement, I overcorrected, causing my Honda to flip twice and land upside down.

Pinned and unable to move, I'd lost all feeling in my legs. To make matters worse, my car was obstructed from view by high brush and its headlights no longer worked, so I was invisible from the freeway. I was able to reach the horn, but this proved unsuccessful—the battery had evidently come disconnected.

I screamed and yelling at passing cars for about 15 minutes before realizing that my U2 Ultra™ was in my pocket. So I managed to pull it from my pocket and began flashing an S.O.S. to a passing car. The car pulled over, and the driver called for an ambulance.

I suffered a broken hip, a dislodged femur, a fractured fibula and tibia, some broken ribs, and a few cuts and bruises. There's no doubt in my mind that my SureFire saved my life that dark morning—the driver who saved me told me he was blinded by the light and had to pull over to see what it was. Boy, am I glad he did.

Thank you, Surefire, for making such a great product!

Xuan N.
Garden Grove, CA

While walking my dog at midnight, a car drove by me after skidding around a corner, blowing off the stop sign. A few minutes later, it did the same thing, but this time came out of a street ahead of me, turning towards me, about 75 yards away. I flashed my U2 a couple of times on the ground in front of me, as they were on the wrong side of the street coming straight toward me.

The car slowed as it drove past me, and then I heard it make a U-turn and saw the headlights sweep past me. A door opened as the car slowed down. Behind me, I heard footsteps running at me. It was nearly black out, with no streetlights. I carry a legally concealed handgun, so I drew it and paired it with my U2, prepared for the worst. As I drew a bead and yelled "Stop," using the U2's full setting to light up the scene, I saw a kid in a knit cap bearing down on me. Yep, a kid—maybe 18. The light from the U2 was bright enough for me to see him and stunned him, making him stumble and change direction back toward the car. He jumped in and they sped away.

Turns out that was graduation night, and these kids were just out having some fun, feeling a bit full of themselves. A weaker light wouldn't have let me properly assess the potential threat. My SureFire U2 saved that kid's life.

Scott V.
Los Alamos, NM

In the dark a flashlight is a priceless commodity your senses can't do without. This is especially true when your house is enveloped in darkness for days. Our house was one of the 260,000 homes in Northern Illinois that lost power for days after a torrential rainstorm. And for those powerless days, my U2 Ultra™ was the most valuable part of our household.

My U2's adjustable light feature was invaluable at night because we used the 100-lumen setting to read, then the two-lumen setting for household tasks--because the batteries lasts for 40 hours at this setting. Days of living in the dark demonstrated why the variable-output feature of the U2 makes it the ultimate personal flashlight. I've used the U2 Ultra's powerful 100-lumen beam in low-light shooting courses with my handgun, and now it has proven itself as a finely adjustable instrument for surviving a long-term power outage. Its balance between battery consumption and high-intensity brightness proved absolutely crucial.

Brian B.
Warrenville, IL

As a patrol officer, you respond to numerous alarms and deal with a wide variety of animals while working the beat. Recently, I responded to a home alarm around 2:30 a.m. I entered the fenced backyard to check all the windows and the back door. As I rounded the back corner of the house, without warning, a white pit bull came out of nowhere.

Luckily, I had my SureFire U2 Ultra™, one of my most trusted pieces of equipment, in my hand, because, by the time I noticed the pit bull, it was almost on top of me. The only thing I could do was shine the U2 in the attacking dog's eyes. The intense light stopped the dog in its tracks! This gave me time to transition to my duty weapon, which, thankfully (for me and the dog), I never had to use.

My U2 was my first line of defense, and it performed flawlessly. Another great product from SureFire.

Mike K.
Indianapolis, IN

I'm an inspector and compliance consultant in the housing industry, so I'm often called upon to accompany government subcontract inspectors when they inspect my clients' properties. I can't tell you how many times one of these guys has squinted into the darkness with his crummy flashlight in hand and said he was going to cite my client for a violation he "thinks" he sees. That's when one of my SureFires helps me earn my pay. I always keep an E1L Outdoorsman on a lanyard around my neck and a U2 Ultra™ in my hip pocket. I remove my E1L from its lanyard, hand it to the guy, and tell him he'd better show me a clear violation before he writes one up. It often turns out that, when the inspector sees things in "a better light," he discovers he is wrong. That's because my I've already inspected the area before him, using my SureFires, and already made any repairs that were needed.

Michael G.
Monkton, MD

Just the other night, my wife and I were on our nightly walk with our Springer spaniel, when, suddenly, a huge bull moose popped out onto the trail and made straight for my dog. Luckily, I had my Surefire U2 Ultra™ on me and had it dialed in to its "stun" setting. I yelled at the moose and hit it in the eyes with 100 lumens of light. It stopped in its tracks, and my wife grabbed the dog and slowly backed away, our hearts pounding. The whole while, I kept the light trained on the moose. He stayed put, blinded by my bright U2.

I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't had my U2 on me, but I was darn glad to have it. The situation could have turned out much worse without it.

Mark M.
Anchorage, AK

I am a crew member with a major airline and fly internationally. A few months ago, I was flying and laying over in Cali, Colombia. The Colombian people are some of the friendliest in the world, but it can also be a very dangerous place, as most people are aware.

One evening, we were picked up at the airport by our contracted van, and we began making our way to the hotel. Everyone cringed when we discovered, to the surprise of the driver, that we had run out of gas! It was late, and we didn't want to be sitting ducks in a van pulled off the dark road, so I pulled out my U2 Ultra and, like a row of nocturnal ducks, we headed down the road to the nearest phone.

The light from my U2 on full power made our walk safer, and instead of dread, the experience took on a comical aspect. The rest of the crew had taken out their two-AA-cell flashlights the FAA requires crews to carry, but they quickly put them away with disgust and embarrassment. Anyway, we made it to the hotel safely, and the experienced quickly assuaged any doubt I had about spending almost $300 for a flashlight.

Nothing even remotely compares to these lights for power and reliability.

Kevin S.
Sunrise, FL

On Christmas of 2005, I met my neighbor’s son — he was going to Costa Rica with his girlfriend, who studies snakes. He was curious about the flashlight in my hands; I was holding a U2 Ultra. I said, “Sorry, you can’t have my U2, but I can lend you my E1L Outdoorsman with SC3 spares carrier.”

Two weeks later, I ran into his dad, and he said, “Wait ‘til you hear the story of Scott’s trip.” It seems they took a walk at night with a guide and some tourist to look at the wildlife. The guide’s light went out, and Scott, with his SureFire, saved the day. Without it they may’ve stepped on some serious poisonous snakes and spiders. Scott later told me he had all of the young ladies holding onto him because he was the only one with a light. In his own words: “This light is a babe magnet!”

He has since purchased an E1L for himself — I wanted mine back. Right on, SureFire.

Thierry L.
Fort Bragg, CA

Just wanted to let you guys know how much I love my Surefire lights. I started off with the A2 thinking I was insane for spending over $200 for a flashlight, but boy was I wrong! Within moments of turning on my A2, I realized it was money well spent, and a week later I bought a U2 Ultra, which never leaves my side.

I work nights hauling liquid nitrogen and oxygen and depending on the task at hand I need different amounts of light. When I'm reading a LCD meter, too much power washes out the readings, so I set the U2's adjustable setting to low. When I'm inspecting my truck or scoping out a dark delivery area, I have the U2 set on high. ]

I've dropped my U2 several times and it shows no signs of wear at all. My company gave us "police style" flashlights made by another major manufacturer a few weeks back, and I just had to laugh at the build quality and the performance (or lack of it). Needless to say, that light is still sitting in my locker collecting dust while my U2 is my light of choice. My U2 is also the only light that, when people see me using it, they walk up to me and ask me what kind of light I am using. I let them try it out and direct them to this site so they can get their own.

Thanks Surefire for making my job much safer, easier, and brighter!

Les L.
Bethlehem, PA

I'm a transportation inspector for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, and our duty is to ensure safe and legal operation of commercial motor vehicles not only for the driver's safety, but also for the travelers around them. I was performing a routine inspection on a semi truck, and as I walked around the truck I could smell diesel. I had my partner get under the truck to see if he could locate the smell, but with his ordinary flashlight he could see nothing unusual. So I whipped out my brand new SureFire U2 Ultra™ and had a look. With my U2's bright beam, I quickly discovered that a fuel line was leaking and dripping onto a VERY hot exhaust line.

My partner and I immediately closed off a section of the parking lot to prevent anything bad from happening—all thanks to my new purchase. After that incident, the rest of the inspectors went out and purchased new SureFires.

Porfirio M.
Raton, NM

I'd recently purchased a SureFire U2 Ultra™ and had it in my coat pocket, when I took my car to a local mechanic for some routine maintenance. Fifteen minutes into my visit, the service writer pulled me aside and told me that my car's brakes were "unsafe" and badly in need of new front brake pads, unaware that I'd recently had my brake pads replaced elsewhere. The service writer took me out to the mechanic working on my car to show me the condition of my brake pads. In the relatively dark garage, he shined an extremely dim penlight into the tiny gap between the brake pad and front rotor and said, "See? There's nothing there." Then he told me he'd gladly perform a brake service for the mere price of $390.

I smiled at him and said, "You mean to tell me that you diagnosed my car with THAT little flashlight? Charging $390 for a brake job, you should be able to afford one of these." I whipped out my U2, set it to max output, pressed the switch, and filled his dark garage with brilliant light. When I shined it on the brake pad, it was clear as day that the brake pad had plenty of life left. Also clear as day were the glum looks on the mechanic and service writer's face.

The look on their faces was well worth the price of my U2. And it's priceless knowing that this shop will think twice about bilking people out of their cash for unneeded repairs. After all, they'll never know when another customer might whip out his SureFire to shed more light on the situation

Isaiah B.
Highland Park, NJ