Editorial Policy
The standards behind every recommendation.
A solar generator that cannot handle your actual load is not backup power. It is an expensive thing that sits in your garage and fails you when you need it. Getting the recommendation right is not optional on this site.
How Recommendations Are Formed
Rated capacity figures on solar generator boxes are measured under controlled lab conditions that rarely reflect how a unit performs in actual use. Inverter losses, battery chemistry degradation, temperature effects, and real appliance draw under surge load all reduce effective output below the number printed on the product page. This site accounts for those gaps when translating manufacturer specifications into practical guidance.
Every recommendation is built around real watt-hour math for the specific use case described. When a claim cannot be traced to a verifiable source, a real test, a confirmed user account, or official data from the manufacturer or an independent lab, it does not go in the article. When a unit performs well under light loads but struggles with high-draw appliances or low winter sun, that limitation is stated explicitly rather than buried in a footnote.
Situation First, Product Second
A solar generator that is the right call for a weekend camper with a phone, a light, and a small cooler is the wrong call for a homeowner who needs to run a chest freezer and a CPAP for three days after a grid outage. Load requirements, charging conditions, battery chemistry, and use environment all affect which unit fits a given scenario. Articles on this site identify the specific situation each recommendation applies to, and flag when a different scenario would point to a different answer.
Where data from the DOE, EIA, NREL, or manufacturer spec sheets is relevant to a sizing calculation or performance claim, that data is referenced and linked directly. A recommendation that ignores your actual power needs is not a recommendation. It is a guess.
Keeping Content Current
Battery technology moves fast in this category. LiFePO4 cycle ratings, MPPT controller efficiency, and inverter loss figures all shift as products are revised and new independent testing gets published. When any of that affects the accuracy of something on this site, the relevant content is updated before it sends someone toward a purchase based on outdated information.
Corrections that change a factual claim are noted in the article. Readers who bookmarked an earlier version deserve to know something substantive changed. Routine fixes like broken links are handled without annotation. Dates on articles reflect meaningful revisions only.
To report an error, use the contact page and include the article URL and the specific claim you are questioning.
Commercial Pressure
Solar generator brands actively court review sites. Affiliate programs, free unit offers, and sponsored content requests are common in this category. None of those arrangements influence what is written here. A product is evaluated on whether the watt-hour math supports it for the scenario described. If it does not, that is the conclusion that gets published regardless of the commission attached to it.
For full details on affiliate links and advertising on this site, see the Affiliate Disclosure.
Who Writes This Site
Every article on Pick My Solar Generator is written by Scott Grant, who managed a regional solar equipment retail store before leaving to build and run an off-grid homestead in rural Nevada. Nothing here is outsourced, AI-generated, or published under a name that does not match who actually did the research and wrote the words. Every external source is attributed and linked to the original.
If you have questions about a specific article or want to know more about the background behind the site, the author page and contact page are the right places to start.