Firstly here, I wanna mention I have nearly as many posts as Dan.
Secondly, I want to get back to this topic and finish my thought now that I have more time.
I called Falcon Industries and asked to speak to someone in marketing. Mr Hines had no idea I was going to call, and when I got him on the phone and asked him for a few minutes of his time to answer a couple questions regarding the Ergo products, he was happy to oblige.
I explained to him my interest in understanding the differences between the Ergo and Surefire forend. He had absolutely nothing bad to say about Surefire. What he did say is their (Ergo) production process begins with a one piece extrusion which is then machined into what we recognize as the Ergo tri-rail forend. The former design wasnt truly a mil-spec tri-rail. It didnt entirely conform to the mil-spec 1913 code with regard to picatinny rails. The process has recently been retooled including entirely new dies so that a "true" mil-spec 1913 picatinny tri-rail forend is now being produced.
With the new extrusions it allows Falcon Industries to better compete for military sales. New products have been submitted to the military for testing.
Also of note worthiness here is that AIMPRO tactical uses Ergo products extensively.
Bottom line, there is nothing wrong with the Surefire forend. No problems or concerns have come to light and you would be hard pressed to find any issues at all. This all comes from Mr. Hines of Falcon Industries. He attributes the higher cost to indexing, the extra drilling that is done to lighten the forend as much as possible, and the Surefire name, which Mr. Hines pointed out is a reputation Surefire has earned. In fact, Mr. Hines didnt even try to sell me anything...
Thus far, I have tried to obtain the same information from Surefire but they have yet to return my calls or even take my calls with the exception of an answering machine.
As of right now, I would feel very comfortable purchasing from Ergo and wouldnt hesitate to send anyone else to them as well!