Another aspect is this one grows over 30 ft. tall, is that the eventual size you want?

I had a fireglow in my small yard facing south, and it was gorgeous. Here is a photo of it. I planted it because it was smaller than bloodgood. I think it is OK for your zone, but you might want to double check. That is in full sun. You need to take good care of it though, it is growing under less than ideal conditions so don't stress any more than you have to. Mine up and died one day, never did figure out why. The graft died, not the roots.

If you do a Google search, various sites that focus on Japanese maples will have listings of cultivars that are recommended for full sun or hot climates. Frequently, red leaved selections will be on most of these lists. Bloodgood will tolerate full sun well but the coloring will not remain consistent.......it will often bronze or green out (greenish tones will override the red) in full sun. Other selections, like the Fireglow mentioned above, will retain their color in sun better.

Fireglow is absolutely gorgeous in the right setting. A real eye catcher. Also Hefners Red Select works well in full sun.

Thank you all.

I've been reading various heights for the bloodgood, seems like it tops at 20 - 30 ft. It will be planted in the front yard that is a large lawn, with nothing else, so I guess it will be a focal tree. Maybe the fire glow will look dwarfed? I really like the color though. I think the bloodgood might be a better choice for the amount of sun and location. My husband asked about a regular maple that gets really red in fall, any thoughts here?

There's a history of inferior seedlings being sold as 'Bloodgood', the true item has superior coloring. And produces a tall vase shape, with print references written by maple experts giving 33 ft. as a typical "mature" height - trees do not stop growing taller until they die or enter a phase of dying back repeatedly. Like the 397 ft. coast redwood that can't seem to keep water levels in the uppermost lead shoots consistently maintained above that height. So it is in a constant state of growing up taller and then dying back, with annual variations in weather conditions.

Not sure about the red maples as I have not saw one but a red leafed Japanese Maple with the sun shining through the leaves would be very hard to beat. It will glow as if on fire.

My good friend planted one of the fast growing red maple hybrids, I think it was Autumn Blaze. Lived up to its name and gave great shade to her patio in summer, but not colorful until autumn. Fast growing and will eventually be a large tree. I have seen gorgeous Bloodgoods and some not so great ones. Could depend on genetics, as E. suggests, or quality/skill of grafting. Not sure how big fireglow will eventually get. Mine grew very fast at first. Unfortunately it died, and I never could figure out why. But I suspect fireglow too will keep on growing, just slowly. I had shade within four years from it. I sure miss that tree!

Here it is during its first year. The photo I posted earlier was about four years later.