Break even can be quick if you are carfull on spending wasted money on the setup.I have a two panel grid tied swstem,two 85 watt panels,one enphase micro inverter,cuttoff switch on side of house,grounding wire for panels and inverter,underground wiring to meter loop box,my whole swstem only cost around 750 dollars,i installed it myself which was ok with the utility company.Because i installed it myself i can not get the gov money but hat is ok.The utiliy company done an inspection and some test,installed a smart meter and it has been operating for around five months now.It lowers my electric bill in two ways,one in the day it cuts down on my use of electricity from the grid,two i over produce around four killowatts every month that is also deducted from my bill.My plan is to go up to ten panels in groups of two,from now on each group of two will be cheaper than the first group because the underground wireing is allready there,the cutoff swith is allready there.I done a lot of research on panels,they are all made basicly the same way,same thickness of glass,my panels cost 200 dollars each and they are fully certified and meet all the gov certified standards,they are made by UL SOLAR,25 year output warrenty just like all panels,the enphase inverter is an outstanding inverter,for every two panels i will have a micro inverter,they cost about the same as one panel.To me there is no gain in buying high priced panels,i could have bought other 85 watt panels for double the price,same warrenty,same construction,same power output,just different name,if i went with un certified i could have got 85 watt panels for 150.