How would you upgrade an old school SF E2 Executive?

One of my earliest acquisitions as a budding flashaholic was a SureFire E2 Executive that I purchased new in 2000 or 2001 IIRC. The excellent little light did nightstand duty for a short period of time before ultimately being swept up in the tsunami that was the LED revolution. And so it is that I find myself, eight or more years later, in possession of a pristine, bone stock E2E. While I would never call this light obsolete by any means, I'd be interested to hear what current LED based makeovers you would most recommend that might help earn this E2 a spot back on the nightstand.

Any recommendations from mild to wild are totally acceptable. Consider the primary use to be for when things go bump in the night in a suburban environment - ranges from 10 to maybe 120 feet. Single or multi die LED is okay. Runtime is always welcome but not critical in this application. Anything over 30 minutes should be good. As for multiple modes, simpler is probably better. A low level wouldn't be unwelcome, but if it just turns on and off, that's okay too.

My only request is that recommendations be limited to components or mods that are relatively available. Sending it off to a genius like Milky (as one example) for several months is not a problem provided that the modder in question is currently accepting work. At the same time, I would like to avoid components that are either routinely out of stock, or were made once as part of a semi-custom production run but with no future manufacture scheduled.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I have an E2e that I alternate with an L4 for nightstand duty- the only change I have made is to add a LF l/a that allows the use of RCR123; certainly fills the bill for all your needs.
Save your money to buy another light.

+1 on the Milky...

I can tell you what I have done with 3 of my E2e's. The best option is to get a SureFire KX2C head, about $120, but you can find discounts. You get an hour and a half of 120 lumens with very good throw and good spill. You can research the difference between the KX2C head and the new L4 head. There are several threads on this.

The other head I use is a TLS from Optics HQ, about $80. The beam and brightness are not quite as good as the SF KX2C but you have to compare them side by side to see the difference.

You could also get an E2C adapter and put a Z44 P sized head with a Malkoff drop in on your E2e. I have done this also and it is a little bigger but the Malkoffs are GREAT.

SureFire Leggo Sure is Fun!

I have an E2e as well and it's a great light in terms of size but you are right, the incan bulb on this puppy has now been surpassed by LED output. My bulb blew a couple of years ago and I haven't bothered replacing it since I now have other lights that serve my purposes. Still I really liked this light for the size and the fact that my particular sample fits a 17670.

The reason I mention the 17670 is that you can pick up a NiteCore Extreme and use the head on your E2 body as it's designed to fit it. Without any down-time or modding, you'll get an LED on your E2 body, good output, multiple light levels and good runtimes - you'll just have to spring for a 17670 and charger. If the UI Extreme is anything like the NiteCore NDI (I'm not sure since I don't own an Extreme but I do have an NDI), then you can select a User-defined level and have the light always turn on at that level.

The only drawback is that you will have an E2 bezel and NC Extreme body that won't be used...

ugrey said:

You could also get an E2C adapter and put a Z44 P sized head with a Malkoff drop in on your E2e. I have done this also and it is a little bigger but the Malkoffs are GREAT.

SureFire Leggo Sure is Fun!

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the great suggestions thus far, gents.

Ugrey, I ordered a SF M2 back when the new shock isolated bezels were first released. As the result of a stockroom mixup, mine shipped with the old style, non-shock isolated hex head. A quick call to SureFire had the newer head in my hands in less than a week. But as a consequence, I still have the old head sitting unused on my shelf. Would this be a suitable host for a Malkoff drop-in and an E2C adapter?

Put any one of several Lumens Factory bulbs in, and use rechargables. You can go up to 350 lumens.

I have five E1 and E2's, all with a variety of bulbs. Lots of fun.

RGB_LED has a good point, is your E2 wide enough to fit a 17670? If no, you'll be limited to RCR123's of relatively low capacity, perhaps an upgraded bulb might give you the best bang for the buck. If it can take a single 17670, you can use a P7 w/ direct drive (3.7v): the Milky Roomsweeper.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/209239
It won't make your runtime criteria, but its output, shall we say, is 'adequate'.:devil:

There are a lot of good suggestions here, but one that I would suggest is to just get a good Lumens Factory bulb for it and call it good. One of the high output lamps they make, and maybe a few good rechargable cells and you are good to go.

I'm mostly an LED guy myself, but I have a few of the Lumens factory bulbs and they are very impressive.