I have a fair amount of experience with 445. I have both a WL arctic and I have ones I have built myself. If you are not interested in building your own, then you can consider something from WL, Dragon, Jet, O-like and Rayfoss.
I can tell you that even still Wicked Lasers is having problems getting these out the door so you will have to wait and go into it being very patient. Also the Arctic is going to be typically outputting around 700mW. I purchased 2 from WL, one does 1.1W and the other 850mW.
I have no direct experience with 445s from other manufactures but I understand the Spartan does >1W. Check the reviews section for other manufacturers. make sure to look for those reviews that include measurements on a laser power meter (LPM). also look at how close the laser is to the LPM sensor - it should be about 10cm/4in away. if its too close it will cause a higher reading which has to be taken into account.
If you look in the buy and sell section you will find people selling 445s. There is a seller offering a build your own kit that requires no soldering. you just assemble it. this looks like a good option for you. and you will be dealing with someone more local than china meaning that you wont have to wait or worry about customs issues. also the price was pretty good the last time i looked.
If you want to get into DIY and do all the soldering and stuff, check the Laser Pro Shop section. Jayrob, Flaminpyro, etc sell good kits with all the parts and many options depending on your needs and budget. These are the kits I built using their copper heat sinks, better lenses and focus rings. They are excellent kits.
One thing to keep in mind with a DIY build is that not all 445 diodes can be run with high currents above 1W of output. its hit and miss although many will. some people have gotten >2W out of theirs (but for how long?). i was getting 1.5W out of one LD i had and it lasted a few weeks of hobbiest use but then died. I decided to drop the next build down to 1.2W and so far its been working for months.
It would also be prudent, as another posted mentioned, to get a lowered powered 532nm green laser for you to mess around with. a 100mw 532nm will appear about as bright as a 1W 445nm because of the way our eyes work. but the 100mw will be much safer for you to use. not to be patronizing here. but 1W of laser light is a s**t load of power and until the nichia LDs it was not possible to get this kind of power without making a major financial commitment. yes they are interesting and fun but they are also dangerous and sometimes too even as an experienced laser enthusiast you don't want to risk playing around with that kind of power. i am more often going for my 400mW 532nm than my 1.2W 445 simply because i am doing more with visual experiments than all out power experiments and using the 445 would be over-kill and there is more risk of something going wrong.
Also make sure to use googles when you play with lasers. I am sure most of us on here dont use googles all of the time. but certainly when you start out, use them until you get used to the way laser light works, how it reflects off things, etc. one bad move and you could be permanently blinded. its not worth the risk.
