The bands
90–100: best-in-class. We use these panels ourselves. 75–89: solid, occasional small issues. 60–74: workable but watch closely. 40–59: risky for production reseller work. Below 40: we recommend against unless you have a specific reason.
What moves a score down fast
Sustained downtime (more than 4 hours in a week), denied refill claims, unannounced API rate switches, and ticket times above 24 hours. Any of these can drop a panel 10–20 points in a single sync.
What moves a score up slowly
Consistency. We don't reward marketing claims — we reward 90-day delivery on those claims. A new panel can't score above ~80 in its first quarter, no matter how good it looks on day one.