I'll offer my ideas. But if Bill differs in his response, listen to him. He knows a helluva lot more about Laticrete's products than I do.

Just for clarification, 1500 is sanded, 1600 is unsanded. So you'll choose one of those depending on joint width. 1776 can be used as an additive with either.

I haven't seen 1500 or 1600 in a while. Not that I've been actively looking though. If your guy is going to search the back closets of supply houses to find some, I'd be concerned with the shelf life of the product that he does find. If he finds any.

Permacolor blurs the sand/unsanded line. It can be used for all typical joint widths, I think the official spec is 1/16th" to 3/8". Not positive though.

I've never had a problem with Permacolor. Biggest thing is to mix it well and let it slake. The product needs that resting time to hydrate. So mix, slake, mix, and use it. It also sets off faster than "regular" grouts. So if the room is large, it can be non-stop. From installation through clean up. No resting for the unprepared.

If your guy is used to 1500/1600 timelines and decides to have lunch in the middle of it all, look out.

The Spectralocks, same there. Spectralock Pro Premium has slight advantages over Pro, which has advantages over Spectralock.

Honestly, I find the Permacolor to work fine. But if you've had grout issues in the past, or you simply want the idea of added protection that the SPP may afford you, certainly have him install it. A lot of people call for it nowadays. With grout issues that folks have had in the past, I don't blame them.

So if your guy can even source 1500/1600, I'd recommend Permacolor over 1500/1600. But SPP over Parmacolor? That's your call.

If it's a matter of locating Spectralock Pro Premium grout, I used this business that I will link below. I found them on the Laticrete site. Laticrete links 3 or 4 online sites, but I find them hard to locate so I bookmarked the store that I used. I was real happy with the packaging and time line for shipment. Their prices are good too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile Store Online

With reference to the Spectralocks, the difference is in using it, not to the end user, and then the only difference would be the Spectralock 2000IG, which is a 100% solids epoxy (what you usually see used in commercial kitchen floors). As for your question, Mongo was pretty much right on in his answer. All three-- 1500, 1600, and Permacolor are all still available. In fact, Laticrete must have changed their minds about using Permacolor to replace the other two, because then 1500 and 1600 have both been reformulated in the last couple of years. ANY of the Laticrete products can be ordered through any decent flooring showroom.

Now-- as for using epoxy in homes, my own opinion is that it's over kill, with the exception of a couple of specific circumstances-- if you're doing a countertop, you don't want meat juices getting into the grout joints, so epoxy is a must there. Same with having pets that are prone to "accidents". Other than that, for the amount of benefit you get from it, it's a whole lot of money for not much gain. The other grouts, especially if you're using the additive, will more than suffice.

Thank you all! I need to get my grout color picked and ordered then.

One last thing-- with respect to permacolor, there's no need at all for the 1776. It's a highly modified product, and adding the 1776 additive to it would only be a waste of money and could, in fact, be counterproductive.