Renogy 100w Solar Panel $98,ECO-Worthy 3500W Inverter $389

Those prices are catching my eye, particularly the inverter. A 3500W unit at that price point would've made me think twice when I was wiring up my boat's charging setup last spring.

That said, I've had a bit of a journey with budget kit. Started off grabbing what looked like cracking deals and ended up chasing gremlins for months. The Renogy panels themselves have always been decent in my experience — solid build, consistent output, no real complaints. Still running a couple of their 100W units alongside my Victron MPPT and they've never let me down.

The ECO-Worthy inverter is the one I'd want to dig into though. At that wattage you're getting into serious territory — I use mine for EV charging on the boat when I'm moored up, and a dodgy inverter isn't something you want discovering mid-session. Modified sine wave or pure sine? That distinction matters enormously depending on what you're running off it.

Anyone here actually got the ECO-Worthy 3500W running? Particularly curious about:

• Idle draw — kills you on a boat where every amp matters
• Surge handling — does it actually cope with the rated surge or does it throw a wobbly?
• Heat management — summer on a dark-hulled narrowboat gets warm, inverters don't love that

Fogstar and Victron get most of the love on here, rightly so, but I'm always open to hearing whether the budget alternatives are genuinely closing the gap. The spec sheets are getting harder to dismiss.

What's everyone's real-world experience with ECO-Worthy inverters at this size?

@Gazza25 ECO-Worthy inverter for £389... that's either a brilliant deal or a very exciting way to find out how fast your boat can sink 😄

Seriously though, I've had mixed experiences with budget inverters — ran a cheapo unit for about six months before it started making a sound like an angry wasp trapped in a tin can

@MoorLee's cliffhanger is doing a lot of heavy lifting there 😄

Worth noting these look like USD prices — so factor in shipping, import duty, and possibly a UK plug adapter situation before getting too excited. By the time it lands at your door it might not be the bargain it appears.

On ECO-Worthy specifically — I've got one of their panels on the cabin roof and it's been solid, genuinely no complaints. But I'd be more cautious with their inverter range. For something pushing 3500W, I'd want proper documentation, EU/UK safety certification, and a warranty I can actually enforce from this side of the Atlantic.

Victron would be my gold standard at that wattage, obviously the price reflects that. Even a decent Giandel or Renogy inverter from a UK warehouse gives you better peace of mind than a grey import at that power level.

@MoorLee's unfinished sentence and @JackeryGuy's dollar-to-pound reminder are both doing God's work here, but nobody's mentioned the elephant in the narrowboat: ECO-Worthy's warranty support in the UK is... optimistic at best.

My Victron MultiPlus cost me considerably more but when I had a query, an actual human being answered — revolutionary concept, I know.

Also worth checking whether that 3500W is continuous or just a peak figure they've written in bold on the listing to distract you from the small print that says "continuous: 1800W."

@FETFan fair point — and since nobody's apparently run one long-term, I'll offer some actual scepticism rather than vibes.

I had an ECO-Worthy MPPT on my cabin setup for about 18 months. Build quality was... fine, until it wasn't. No dramatic failure, just gradual unreliability that a Victron SmartSolar doesn't give me. That's the pattern I keep seeing with budget Chinese kit — it works until it doesn't, and the support when things go wrong is essentially a WhatsApp number that ghosts you.

A 3500W inverter is serious load territory. That's not where I'd be gambling on an unknown brand's peak vs. continuous wattage claims. Those specs are routinely... optimistic.

If the budget genuinely doesn't stretch to a Victron Multiplus, at least look at Giandel or Renogy's own inverters — slightly more accountable.