I haven't tried those ones personally.. but they should be the same ( all the electronics are, and the filters perform the work the same as the e cores )
The other question...... Depends on your loads and how they line up with the solar day.
I think the combination of the battery direct and grid tie is the best of both worlds. If your day loads are of some consequence, then the grid tie is the best, as it gives you a very potent daytime inverter.... if the suns out, you get your 2.5kw continuous from the gird tie direct to your loads, and this means you can drive very hefty loads for long periods in the daytime if you so chose.... ie you get the kws of the grid tie and the kws of the inverter, plus the massive surge of the inverter..... bit like running a generator on the expensive brands for extending the power out of the inverter.
I use this function every day for driving the hot water, washing machine etc etc... It means if there is at least a bit of sun, or brightish cloud, the power for the hot water unit is easily supplied from the grid tie, as well as some for charging. The direct battery charging from the "normal arrays" takes care of the batteries 60-80 amps@50-60 volts..... but my system is usually 90% charged and hot water charged ( 4kwh?) by 9.30-10.30am most days at this time of year.... but I have heaps of solar panel... it is the cheapest thing around now days. Recently got 10kw for 5000 dollars....power to burn even when it rains all day.
At this time of year, once the hot water is done, I can run a 1.5kw mono cp1600water pump and pump water all day for the grass areas needing it. The batteries and inverter do not see these as the grid tie drives them without bothering the inverter with that load.... can run it all day for free.... thats worthwhile.... and still some extra for the batts or other loads as they turn up.
Most days there is at the very least least 30kwh of power not used. If very overcast ( 8/8 all day and double cloud layers), I would need most of this to fill the bank and hot water .... but that s very rare.
So, if you have plenty of panels, then Off-grid tie to them, it is probably more efficient as you can use the power direct..... and if in Aust, a decent grid tie is only 50-100 dollars for 2kw or so ( I bought 10 1.5kw units for $400 and another 12x 1.5kw units for less than 1000 dollars)..... much cheaper than a multi kw mppt direct unit.
i have so much power, I don't bother to mppt my direct charging panels.... as I use low voltage panels ( 60 cells per "24v" panel @ 8amps + ), so a mppt would be marginal anyway.... and the controller costs virtually nothing to make for a 80-90amp 60v unit.... rather buy more panels than throw money at electronics or tracking arrays..... now days with 50c/watt panels CEC approved, trackers and fancy controllers are a useless impediment to a rock solid system.... something else to go wrong, and less surface area available on a cloudy day... you can't beat surface area when the chips are down..... and when it's sunny .... anything works anyway.
Be aware, you still need to have some way to shut the grid tie down when the batts are over voltage. I don't think the power jack likes voltage much over 62v. ( 48v system)
My experience is that you home grid voltage will rise as the batteries get fully charged ( within 10%), and so the voltage will rise to 252v or there abouts, and the grid tie will stop anyway....
I have a cut out built in the inverter box that shuts power down to the grid tie if battery voltage exceeds 59v anyway... as well as. Generally, the over voltage grid will shut it off, but sometimes, the battery voltage will turn it off first.... depends on loads , and inputs and SOC of the battery bank... ie if your banging in 100 amps or so, the voltage may rise above 59v, but the grid volts will still be low as the grid tiw is being used for the batteries, not for driving the grid voltage higher.... then the battery voltage cut off works first.
...............oztules