I refuse to design in any maxim (They don't get a capital M from me) products, unless there are readily alternative pin compatible alternatives, (such as for their analog switches). And even then I don't like to spend any money that may end up in the company, and rather use that other chip, which is probably also cheaper.
They have a long history of designing chips that fit well in niche markets and sell them at inflated prices until they're so expensive nobody wants to buy them anymore and then they obsolete the chips.
This has happened so often that I have strong suspicions it is a deliberate policy, although I must admit: If you design chips for small niche markets, then those markets won't last long.
I bought a few of the 8*8 matrix LED's with chinese clones of the MAX7219. It's a very simple chip, it does not even do proper dimming, (What you'd expect from a decent LED driver) so automatic adjusting to lighting conditions is out. And for the price they sell the original chips for, you can get a dedicated microcontroller and some extra circuitry inclusive assembly costs.
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About the Chinese MAX7219 clones. They're fun cheap displays to toy with, but the chip seems very sensitive to "latch up". When you add an external P-MOSfet for their power, then at startup, drive all data connections to the chip low and only then open the power MOSfet to apply power to the IC it works a lot better.