This seems like a very reasonable deal? Is there some hidden catch? Also, can anyone explain to me the $500 difference between buying first batch and second? It it simply because they think the difficulty will rise substantially following second batch? Just wondering. Thanks. Anyone have suggestions on hosting options?

Yes of course there is a hidden catch...I was caught of guard as well by the price (lower than the original L3 at twice the hash power?). Its obvious bitmain is prepping to dump these on the market. Scrypt hash power will tripple in the next 2-3 months.
Don't forget that they are also taking advantage of the recent price hikes to make it look like this is a super deal. Dont think that this LTC price will last forever (though I hope I'm wrong).
The shipping date for April has already been sold out! don't understand why they cant just ship all of them out at the same time

does anyone know what any other PSU I can use on the ant miner L3+ besides the APW3+-12-1600W? ..
These two should work ok with the L3 +
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252701978823?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT you can plug two L3 + in to this one maybe 3
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191640171414?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l5999&_trkparms=gh1g%3DI191640171414.N36.S1.R1.TR1 one L3 +
break out board that runs both :
https://centrix-intl.com/details.asp?Parent2ID=1&productid=13329I have a few of PSU and Break out boards they are really nice, the 2400 watt is brand new ..
for now I'm gonna stay with A4's mines running stable ...and buy one two more , i don't care about Power usages i worry more about how long will it last .. and how stable they are
I know all to well what bitmains support is like and how bad it is .. so far INNOSILICON gets back with the me the next day ..and so far with INNOSILICON i don't have to buy direct for Support .