Buy once, buy right

On the specs that decide whether the thing works for the job, scored by us. For a power station that means real delivered watt-hours rather than the number on the box, recharge speed, and whether the spec sheet is honest. For a fridge it means what it draws in real ambient temperatures. Brands cannot buy a position, a score, or a kinder write-up. When something is mediocre we say so, including gear we earn a commission on.

Some of them, yes. Retailer links on gear pages may be affiliate links, meaning we get a small commission if you buy, at no change to your price. Those links are marked sponsored in the page code and the arrangement is described in full in our advertiser disclosure. If you would rather not send us a commission, search the product name directly: the information here is the same either way.

Because the number on the box and the number you get are different. Rated capacity is measured at the cells; what reaches your laptop has been through an inverter and lost something to heat and conversion. Delivered capacity is commonly 85% or so of rated, and it varies by brand. When you are sizing a system, that gap is the difference between making it through the night and not.

The fridge, and it is not close. A 12V compressor fridge runs intermittently all day and typically lands somewhere around 500 to 900 watt-hours a day depending on size and outside temperature, which is a meaningful share of a modest solar system on its own. Everything else, lights, laptops, phones, is small by comparison. That is why the fridge decision cascades into the panel decision.

Sometimes. For gear where failure is an inconvenience, the budget option is often fine and the premium is brand. For gear where failure strands you, or where the cheap version quietly costs you elsewhere, it is false economy. A cheap thermoelectric cooler is the clearest example: it costs a third of a compressor fridge and draws so much more power that it can cost you two extra solar panels.