[4arch]

I'm in the market for solar and have looked at these and a few other flexible products (some even cheaper than the Grape panels) that seem to be me-too competitors to the Solbian and Aurinco panels. While they get good user reviews at online stores, the few reviews I've found on boating and RV forums and blogs are decidedly more mixed. There also aren't a lot of reviews reporting real world performance over an extended period, probably because they haven't yet been on the market very long. While I believe flexible panels will continue to grow in market share and drop in price over the next few years, it's currently too early to tell which of the second tier brands will perform better than others over time and with the premium brands it's difficult to justify $7-9/watt, even when their simplified installation is accounted for. As much as I'd love the low profile and weight savings of flexible panels, I'm going with tried and true hard panels at $1.50/watt until the flexible panel market matures a bit more. Of course, someone has to be the "early adopter" for every new product.