I'm looking for panels for a 4-5 KWH system. The Sanyo (HIT) specs look good, but unsure after reading the posts on the forum. The posts I've seen go back to 2005 - Have things changed, or are they still problematic? Any ohter changes in the solar panel supply to think about? Manufacturing problems with one supplier over another. Good panels to look at, and others to avoid??

I wouldn't buy them ( HITS's )

Save yourself a bundle and get the Evergreen seconds from SunElec. They are GREAT performing panels and at the price, you'll save a bundle!

www.sunelec.com , ES-190-B are 3.58 watt and are almost the same watts/sf as the HIT's or SunPower panels. The Evergreens are -2/+4% of name plate, best in the business. I can't say enough good about these panels, they are outperforming the Other 3 arrays ( solarex and photowatt ) big time!

I've bought about 30K in panels from Sunelec and they are honest people, sometimes a bit hard to talk too, but worth it!

Thanks for the lead - The blemishes are just cosmetic? Any idea why they would need to give such a large discount for blemishes? Especially when panels are typically located at such a distance (roof) from people?

The panels are warrented for the power, the defects I had were cells were slighty mounted crooked, the slink screen on a cell was wavy, maybe a bump in the tedlar ... not one thing you can see at more than a few feet.

People have different values, some only buy "new" thinking there getting the best product, I buy mostly "refurb" and get the same product for 30-40% less and never had an issue, ever.

As for the panels, they have the same warranty, put out the same power, but since they are not work of art perfect, they are sold at a discount.

These evergreens outperform any panel I have ever owned, including my first arrays which were 5.25 watt Kyocera's ... Buy them, save the 8,000 and enjoy

What makes the sun/EG export panel non UL listed?

Its just a way to sell seconds cheaper and not get into issues with Evergreen resellers. The panels themselfs are identical in every way sns the cosmetics defects, which are trival IMHO. The Evergreen panels with SUN HS label perform the same as the full price panels.

If you don't need to should a UL sticker to install then these are the ticket and unless someone actually looks at the sticker on the back, they look just like the full price Evergreen panels. The Electrons sure don't care

There is an entire industry for selling seconds/refurbished products, some times its just a way for a manufacture to dump inventory and not have issues with retailers, IE its brand new in everyway, but labelled "refurb" just to move excess stock. As the Solar Panel market continues to expand, so will the availibility of "seconds" for solar panels as there is always minor "opps" in making panels that are frame art perfect