Yup, considering the ROI on solar panels is 15 years, you definitely want a brand name. Not some china knock off junk.
We’ve got a few panels because we lived off grid for 5 years. Well worth the price and the ROI, for us, was 5 years of being able to run a small fridge to keep meat and milk and chill our beverages because two of those years were during the heat waves.
108 degrees with no AC was a biotch.
Happy to be back on the grid and we still have our battery bank and inverter so when the electric goes out, we still have a cordless phone, modem/router/internet, TV and LED lighting.
If it’s hot, we have a generator that will run a window AC and recharge the batteries. We’re hanging on to our two burner coleman stove too.
Will be doing electric fence at some point and that will be solar.
Sounds like you had a great experience. Although from the sound of it living off grid misses some creature comforts.