Hi August9
Welcome to the forum.
I took a look at Laserpoints.com- I see where you got your initial price-fair based on Laserpoints prices- but-they inflate prices-I see a SanWu Challenger II 520nm 1 Watt for $779! They doubled the price. The same directly from SanWU is $380. They also sell Laser 301's for $24.95 (on SALE) instead of $8-10 from Ebay.
FYI the 7W Striker is $350 by itself-directly from SanWU.
I'm glad I found the forum before I purchased.
Your current price seems more reasonable. I had no knowledge of "open can." Many of the folks here build their own and have a LOT of knowledge. They would be more likely to use an aluminum host (much superior heat sinking) and a different diode.
The smaller Challenger II uses a large copper heatsink-and the body is copper-nickel alloy-better heatsinking that steel.