True Stories

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

About 0030 hours, my wife woke me, saying the disaster sirens were going off and that a tornado had been spotted and was getting close. I placed my wife and daughter in the safest room in the house and grabbed my "disaster kit," which included a SureFire E2L. We called to warn my father-in-law, who lives about 25 miles away. Ten minutes later we called him again, on his cell phone, and he told us that his farm was no longer there. "It's all gone," he said.

I immediately headed out with my E2L. I could only drive within a half mile of what was left of the farmhouse, so I got out and walked, in the driving rain, my E2L in hand and my spares carrier around my neck. Moving through the terrain, I had to avoid needing rescuing myself—some of the downed power lines were still live, and the possibility of being punctured from debris was a real threat. As I maneuvered through, I found three other people in the dark, trying to search for anyone who needed assistance. One of them did not have a light source, and two of them had dead flashlights that were no longer usable. None of them could see well enough to safely navigate their way out of the debris. Using my E2L, we all managed the terrain safely and made it to the farmhouse.

If it hadn't been for my E2L, four people could have sustained injuries or gotten hypothermia. Luckily, my father-in-law was okay and everyone was safely accounted for. Now every member of my family has a SureFire flashlight. Thanks, SureFire.

Kelly J.
Springfield, MO

I purchased my E1L Outdoorsman about six months ago. The E1L is indeed an excellent light with small size and great output. I always carry it with me.

There was a snowstorm a few nights ago in Ontario, Canada, and while I was driving home, I had a flat tire. I had to pull over and change the tire in the snowstorm on a small countryside road, surrounded by complete darkness. I clipped the E1L to the brim of my baseball cap, so I could light up the tire and have both hands free. The whole process took about half an hour, and the E1L performed its duty perfectly. It really saved me.

Thanks for producing such dependable flashlights, SureFire.

Yu-Jen C.
Ontario, Canada

As an ER doctor, I have been using a SureFire yellow G2® Nitrolon® for years at work, checking pupils, looking at wounds, etc, and I've always found its bright, dependable light amazingly useful. However, I really developed a new appreciation for my SureFire flashlights this spring, over Easter weekend here in St. Paul.

It snowed about a foot over three days, and during all the shoveling I did, my original (and favorite) SureFire, an E2D Defender® fell out of my jacket pocket without me noticing. Five days later, after worrying that my light had been picked up by a passerby or otherwise lost somewhere else, I found it. Our Jeep was parked on it in the snow/ice/mud, and had driven it completely into the goo, where it had endured the freeze/thaw of a Minnesota spring for a week. I'd read on your website all about SureFires stopping bullets or going through snow blowers, but I can't tell you how great the feeling was to hit the clicky tailcap of my own light and see it fire right up.

Now, after cleaning it off, it's right back in my now buttoned coat pocket. I can't wait to add an E1B Backup™ to my current stable of SureFire flashlights (two G2s, an E2D, a Kroma®, and a 6P® LED), as it looks like a real winner. Thanks for the great tools!

Luke A.
St. Paul, MN

I work on a drilling rig in Northern Canada, and I experience some pretty harsh weather sometimes. I started off my last rotation at work with a rig move in -40° C weather. At that temperature pretty much everything freezes and starts acting up. My watch and cell phone were the first items to freeze up and stop working. The next item to fall victim to the cold was my folding knife, which froze shut and proved extremely difficult to open. But, when it came time for my SureFire E1B Backup™ to perform, I was pleasantly surprised. After I cleared the frost from the lens and pressed the tailcap, the light came right on, which made me very happy. I used my E1B a fair amount that day, and, even in the extreme cold, every time I needed light, it fired right up.

I've tried many different pieces of gear at work, and nearly everything fails in these extreme conditions—but not SureFire. Thanks for making such a great light, one that can stand up to extreme, real-world conditions.

Cody H.
Ladysmith, BC
Canada

In NYC we've had a pretty brutal winter so far. Snow, negative wind chills for weeks at a time, pretty bad. I have an E1B Backup™ the backup, which I bought in October. After about a month of using it, I became very accustomed to having it with me all the time. One day, I reached for my handy-dandy, bright-as-hell little friend and it wasn't there. A strange feeling, since I carried it religiously. I felt lost without it.

The very next day, after searching high and low, I went out and purchased a new Backup. I started using my new flashlight without a though of the old one, figuring I'd never see it again. Two days ago, three months later, I'm walking my dog and there, lying in a puddle of mud and ice, is my original Backup! I couldn't believe it. I hit the button, and it was a bright as the day I bought it.

For over three months in subzero temps, wind, snow, rain, dirt, and water, this little flashlight laid there patiently, covered under a pile of snow and ice, just waiting to be found and used by its owner. I put the newer one in a drawer, and now I carry my original, and amazing, little Backup.

Paul C.
Yonkers, NY

I purchased a G2® LED at the recommendation of my brother, a retired military officer and army pilot, a few months before Hurricane Ike hit. I'm sure glad I did. I'd been using Mag-Lites for decades and, frankly, never really owned a proper flashlight. When Ike hit, my G2L was literally my best friend.

The storm rolled in, and I hunkered down. I used my light liberally to check my windows, doors, attic, and everywhere else water and trees might have breached my home as the storm waned down. My area had no power for six days, and my G2L's batteries lasted for five days without replacement, an amazing feat, considering how often I used my light.

I work for the largest chemical fertilizer plant in Texas. We sustained tens of millions of dollars in damages, as we are directly on the Houston ship channel and endured massive storm surges. Our plant had eight feet of water over 30 acres of offices and plant production rooms. While our staff and half dozen security officers used heavy, foot-long flashlights while we surveyed the damage, none shined as bright as mine. They had these $300 flashlights that wouldn't even last four hours without recharging, and they could not recharge without sticking them on a generator.

I was always one of those people who thought a $10 flashlight from a big box store was enough. I was wrong. As a gun enthusiast, I intend to also supply myself with your tactical lights. Anyone who lives in an area with extreme weather, as I do, should have a SureFire. Thanks for making an outstanding product.

Kevin L.
Missouri City, TX

I was disappointed when I lost my SureFire L4 while I was moving some items into an outside storage area in early winter, and I gave up hope of ever seeing it again...until today. When I returned to the storage area this spring, there was my L4, frozen in the ice. The flashlight had survived being frozen under snow and ice in -50º C weather in the Canadian arctic, and it worked perfectly when I chiseled it out. When I looked inside of it, it was dry, and the batteries were in great shape. I am now wearing it on my belt again.

Troy H.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Canada

I was camping out in Northern Minnesota, and one night there was a severe thunderstorm. As I was sleeping in the tent I was sharing with four other guys, I woke up suddenly to an unidentified object hitting me in the head. Dazed and confused, I noticed that the tent wall was starting to sag. About a half second later, the wind picked it up and threw the tent across the campsite, trapping one of the campers under 800 lbs. of wet canvas.

After putting my boots on in record time, I grabbed my G2® LED and woke up the rest of the guys. Two of them grabbed their SureFires, and we all got to work rescuing the trapped camper. Once he was out, we gathered up our important gear and made for the nearest shelter, about a quarter mile away, where we built a fire to fight off the beginnings of hypothermia.

Having those SureFires at camp helped us get out that much quicker and avoid any serious injuries. Thanks, SureFire.

Joseph S.
Eden Prairie, MN

I gave my son a SureFire U2 Ultra flashlight for his 36th birthday. He carried it with him at all times. Sadly, my son disappeared in the mountains near San Cristobal, New Mexico, in January of 2008. Nine months later, his remains were found. Beside him, still in working condition (except for dead batteries), was his trusty U2 flashlight.

I'm sure that flashlight helped protect my son from the wild animals living in those mountains. Unfortunately, the extreme weather he encountered was simply too much for his own survival.

Susan W.
Portland, OR

SureFire extends its deepest sympathy to Susan and all of her son's family and friends. It's our privilege to publish this story, which we know must've been difficult for her to share.

While I was in a pharmacy in Haiti, I suddenly felt the ground shaking beneath me. I rushed toward the exit, thinking to myself, "Earthquake, earthquake!" It was the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th, 2010.

I could see plumes of dust from crashing homes floating up in the sky as the earth shook. The following days would be in total blackout, without any electricity. That's where my E1L Outdoorsman came in handy. It was bright enough to pierce through the dark and dusty air of the pitch-black streets of Port-au-Prince. As it's not safe to sleep inside concrete houses, I used the Z61 switch I have on my E1L flashlight as a stand so it lit up my entire tent. I get a proud feeling whenever I hear someone say, "such a bright light for such a small flashlight."

Thanks for making this strong and durable product. It's just what I needed in the aftermath of an earthquake.

Osner F.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

It was after 3:00 a.m., and I was behind the wheel of a 48-foot 33-ton tugboat. The weather was rough: heavy rain joined by a 25-knot winds gusting to 35 knots. The all-steel tug was swaying back and forth as if it weighed 33 pounds, not 33 tons. It had been a long day, and now a long night, as I was on the last leg of a voyage that started in Charleston, South Carolina, and was set to end in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Navigating on the water at night presents a challenging set of circumstances for any captain. Throw in the wind whipping the sea into a frothy mess of turbulence, visibility of near zero, no crew, and the level of difficulty increases exponentially. My concerns were many, but mainly that the tug's draft was five and a half feet, and I was about a mile outside the port of Tarpon Springs, on the Anclote River, and it was a dead-low tide—the kind of dead low you normally only see in the winter, when it looks as if a giant sponge came down from the sky and sucked up all the water. Parts of the bottom I didn't even know existed were totally exposed, which meant if I didn't stay within the channel, running aground was a certainty.

Normally, flashing green and red channel markers point the way, and you simply stay within them to navigate, but not on this night. The only way to find the channel markers was to shine my LX2 LumaMax® in the direction I was headed. The light was so bright and so penetrating that it would bounce off the markers' reflective exteriors, allowing me to maintain my bearings—and sanity. The light's 200 lumens shot through the murky, heavy darkness with a beam that consistently found the next marker, sometimes literally hundreds of yards away.

If the conditions I was in were hell, the pure white beam radiating from my LX2 must've been the path of light to heaven. Thanks, SureFire, for getting me home safely.

Josh S.
New Port Richey, FL