First and foremost, I would like to say that I have been a loyal user of SureFire flashlights for many years and consider them the very best flashlights money could buy. While I am not a rich man, I have over the years purchased and owned several of your models and have always said that if I had to trust my life to a flashlight, bar none, it would be a SureFire! Well, sure enough, one of your flashlights actually DID save my life—and the life of my son—a couple of weekends ago!

I live in the beautiful state of Idaho, and my family and I were on our last camping trip of the season in an area known as Island Park. We were camping in our 26-foot trailer, and it was a cold, dark night—one of the coldest of the year. My wife and youngest son had already retired into our trailer, but my six-year-old son and I decided to sit around the campfire until it died out. There we were, sitting in our chairs and enjoying the fire, when my yellow lab, tied up behind us, starting getting really fidgety and began to bark. I told him to stop, so he wouldn’t wake up all the other campers, but he continued. I went over to him, grabbed him, and pointed my SureFire M3 CombatLight into the direction of the woods he was barking at and said, “See, there’s nothing there to be barking at.” Boy was I wrong. Instead of the beam of light penetrating the woods, it illuminated the face of a grizzly bear standing less than five feet away from us!

The bright light from my M3 seemed to stun the bear as I stared in shock at his face, having never been so close to a grizzly before, marveling at how big he was. My son was still sitting by the fire, frozen in fear, and my dog had broken free from his harness and was barking frantically at the bear from behind me. As soon as the bear lowered he head to avoid the piercing beam of light, screamed at my son to run and get inside the trailer while I scooped up the dog and bolted for the trailer, practically throwing my son and dog inside and slamming the door behind us. The scariest part was that, as soon as the light was off of the bear, it was so dark that I had no idea where he was. Did he run off? Was he right behind us?

The next morning, rangers came by to ask questions and let us know how lucky we were. They told us that, that same day, a father and son hunting in Montana, about 60 miles away, had an encounter with a grizzly, and the grizzly mauled the father to death. When the ranger saw my M3 holstered to my belt, he asked if that was the flashlight I’d used and asked to see it. He was blown away at how bright it was and told me he was convinced the flashlight was responsible for saving our lives. “That beam is insane,” he said. “It must have disorientated the bear enough to allow you to get away.”

Just thought I’d let you know that it’s not always military and law enforcement guys that your products save—us civilians have stories of our own. Afterwards, I half jokingly told my wife that we were going to buy a new M6LT, and when I showed her how bright it was, even compared to our M3, she said, “We have got to get that for camping, because I am not going back out there without something like that!” Thank you for making such a great light. This could’ve ended a lot different—as in worse—if I’d been carrying another brand of flashlight.

Ernesto M.
Ammon, ID

See the M3LT and M6LT CombatLights:

It was November 21, 2009. We were all sitting down to our family dinner, me, my wife, and my three daughters. It wasn't but 10 minutes from when the kitchen door had closed and the food was on the table when we all noticed smoke coming through the cracks around the door. My wife opened the door, and all we saw was a wall of orange fire and black smoke coming out. The fire licked its way out along the ceiling and literally chased all of us out of the house. My Randall knife was by the door, so I grabbed it. We had three Chihuahuas in a side room of the house with a separate entrance. For whatever reason I could not get my key to work on the door, so I used the knife to break out a window. More smoke and flames billowed out, and I backed off. Not once did I ever hear my dogs cry or bark. It was as if they lied down quietly so as to not distract us so we could all get out of harm's way. I still well up to this day just thinking about that.

The fire department didn't let us in until the next day. Everything was pretty much gone; the house was a total loss. I noticed on the now-collapsed dinner table my SureFire M6^® Guardian^®, [now superseded by the M6LT Guardian--Ed.] standing upright. It had been in the living room, and I guess one of the firefighters must have placed it there. I pressed the switch and it lit right up. The lanyard was burned off, part of the rubber switch was melted, and the lens glass was smoky, but the light still worked. Where everything else was destroyed in the living room, only the SureFire M6 survived. A true testimony to the quality of the product.The only two items I have from before the fire are my Randall knife and SureFire M6, two things needed for emergencies. The M6 is now in my glove compartment, where it has come to good use numerous times since. I am an ordinary guy; I don't work tactical in any way. I just believe that the few items a man has should be the best quality he can afford. You have a customer for life, SureFire.

Ken K.
Honolulu, HI

See the M6LT Guardian flashlight

My December 29, 2005 trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for my wedding was phenomenal. The marriage was performed outside on a beautiful, moonless night. Unfortunately, after the wedding, one of our wedding guests had an accident when their motorbike plunged into a canal nearby. Two people were injured, but to add insult to injury, one of the victims also lost her bracelet. One of the passengers asked me if he could use my SureFire L4 Lumamax to search for the lost bracelet. He was amazed by the brightness of the L4. He said that, as soon as he turned on the flashlight, the powerful L4 reflected off the bracelet, making it look like it was floating on the water. Now I have more love for my L4, and I'€™m looking forward to investing in an M6 Guardian [superseded by the M6LT--Ed.]. (Hopefully without ending up in the divorce court.)

Anthony P.
Saint Paul, MN

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