When I first saw this posted, I thought this (original Costo set-up)looked like a great inexpensive solor backup system. And it looked to me like it was ready to go pretty much right out of the box, no need to purchase additional parts save maybe a stand for the panels.

So now some of you have me wondering with all the sine wave discussion. That stuff is way over my head. I do understand the basics when it comes to batteries and inverters. I have a little experience using a deep cycle marine battery and inverter. But aside from charging and hooking the thing up to my sonar, lights, trolling motor or other whatnot, I know nothing.

So, my question, if I want an alternative backup power source for the house to use to power a few lights, maybe a TV, and recharge the phones, ipod, and laptops (I have a macbook and a windows laptop both), and the GPS is this a good option? And, is it ready out of the box like I say?