The 9E is a hell of a deal on a quality firearm. I've been waiting for Ruger to come out with a 9Ec, basically a cheaper variant of the SR9c, and a 45E, a cheaper SR45, but they haven't done it.
For $300 new, those pistols would put a hurting on the sales of many other newly manufactured pistols and even probably used Glocks. If I wake up one morning and find out Ruger is coming out with a .45 SR pistol for $300, I'm not even bothering to put pants on and I'm running down to my lgs to order one.