PICO: From what I gather from the patent posted in the OP, they are chemically etching the primary optics into the die mounting substrate. The primary optics, in my mind, would need to be ever so slightly different for every LED in their 4x4 multichips in order for the beam angles to overlap (-edit-
wrong). Creating a "spectrum" by mixing colors entails changing the ratio of individual chip wavelengths in the multichip. Where the chips actually sit in the array should make no difference since all optics are controlled to go to the same place. That said, keeping all the Blue's in a single row and the Red's in another potentially allows you to driver them at different voltages/currents... Potentially. I don't know if ANY of this is true, it's just my own personal speculation.
-Edit- Helpful link:
http://www.google.com/patents/US20120218750
X5 - 8 x Cool White + 8 x 660nm
F3 - 4 x Cool White + 12 x 660nm
There are other spectrums discussed. Everything was growing lettuce, radishes, tobacco, and other leafy greens from what I can tell. Light requirements of cannabis is most likely different, but both F3 and X5 look/sound pretty good to me.
Everyone: Henglight looks to be the
exact same thing as Illumitex/Envirolux, or at least very close to it. They even use the same spectrum connotation (F1, F3, F6, X5, etc.) and technical brochures across all three companies look painfully similar. Heng Light even indirectly claims Illumitex to be a collaborator with them in the technology. They have 3 year warranty. No idea on pricing. I've asked them a few more question to their sales department so hopefully I'll be back later with favorable news.