Lars - thx! Actually, if you buy from the DM site, they quote higher shipping cost, coming in at $1.20 per watt. If you buy from Amazon, you get Amazon fulfillment and a lower price. It looks like the shipment sold out in a week. I hear they have more coming.
dnix - they did have some early packaging complaints. From the factory, these panels are packaged two to a box, double-boxed, foam-padded. On early orders, they were breaking them down and selling re-packaged individual panels. Bad idea I guess. This go-round, you could only buy pairs in factory packaging. My first two pairs arrived last week. One pair was in unscathed packaging. The 2nd pair had badly torn outer box, but the padding and inner box was nearly perfect with no visible signs of impact on either the box of the panels. They arrived UPS Ground.
The pairs are heavy and awkward to handle.
My 3rd and last pair is two days past due. It will either arrive okay, or not. We'll see...
Mastiff - you are welcome! My system will be 870 watt 24v battery backup. It's primary objective is emergency power. In normal times, i can use it to run my office or maybe my small electric heater that keeps the garage just above freezing during winter. Grid tie is not an objective.
Thx!