Sorry, I guess I was answering the title of the thread and not what you actually had asked.
I have a slight bias against "all in one" things, and plus I already had a separate battery monitor, but I did install one of the "all in ones" in a friend's van, and it's actually quite nice. In his case I put in a Blue Sky 25 amp MPPT controller. The one we chose can be used with their smart display, which works as not only a display, but also an amp counter type meter (like a Victron BMV), and a programmer. So with the display you can see what the solar controller is doing, monitor the battery bank, and program the controller. Slick! The programming part is especially nice for people like me who don't typically run windows (my Sunsaver requires not only Windows but a serial port (and/or adapter) -- for me that's a bit of a headache (although granted, I'm not programming it on a daily basis).
It also has an "end amps" feature for stopping the absorption cycle, which is a very slick and super accurate way to do it. I'd say that would be my choice out of all the possible ways to go about it. Other controllers use other ways, which also work, but to my mind it's hard to beat end amps. (Outback also does this, IIRC, but their controllers are all bigger than what I need and have fans to boot.) That said, absorption stage is a lead-acid thing, so I guess it won't be so important if/when people go to lithium batteries.
So why don't I have all Blue Sky controllers? Well, it's like I mentioned above: To me, there is no clear best choice, because they all either seem to have a feature I don't like, or are missing one I do want. Things that I don't like so much about the Blue Sky are that it has very small connection points (IIRC 10 AWG wire is the largest that will fit), and they are very close together (so negative and positive are almost touching, granted they likely have heat shrink on them at that point). But in many 12-volt systems (i.e. 17-18 volt panels), you'd want much larger wire coming into the controller. You can get around this by going to power posts (or a switch on the positive side and a power post on the negative side) with larger wire and then to the controller with smaller wire, but that takes more space and is just something extra with more connections. They don't have a voltage sense wire, so you really do want to have as big a wire as you need. The terminals are screws that will take ring terminals, so that's good. Also, the Blue Sky controllers tend to be very tight on voltage if a person wants to run two panels in series. Either they are de-rated (amp wise), or you just can't do it (over voltage will kill the controller). Some of their controllers are a little better with this (e.g. the 15 amp), but it's still a bit tight, especially if you are going to be in a place with cold mornings. And this isn't an "oh darn, I'm going to lose some of my power" thing, but rather the controller will instantly, permanently die if you put higher voltage into it than it can take (this is basically true for all controllers, but most controllers now have huge volt ceilings like 75, 100, 150 vs. the lower Blue Sky limits). They do have external temp. comp as an option. My nits aside (and they may not matter to some, depending on setup), I think they are pretty slick. I could just use the 15 amp controller if I used two of them, one for each pair (and shut off my panels on mornings below around 28º), but the 25 wouldn't quite work (has an even lower voltage limit). But it's annoying as none of the other contenders would have the least worry about over voltage.
I really like the Victron controllers, but (ha, you knew that was coming given what I said above, right?) they have some things I don't like too. My biggest gripe is that they have no optional external temperature compensation
(Unless you step up to their largest and most expensive one, which is much bigger than most of us here would want or need.) This just kills them for me. I mean, why take so much care to get juuuust the right voltage going to your precious batteries (set the system up, customize the parameters, eliminate voltage drop), and then have it be way off due to the controller being at a completely different temperature than the batteries? Guh. And I know this would be a problem (at least for me in an RV or boat), because I have my Sunsaver controller mounted right to the outside of the box that holds my battery bank. And this "box" doesn't have end walls (just beams), so it's not like it's sealed. They are both under my couch. And yet, for the "charging day" (early morning to late afternoon), the controller is always much, MUCH warmer than my batteries. Two hundred+ pounds of lead just doesn't warm up as fast as a 10 oz controller does. They probably do catch up to each other by nightfall but I'm not charging then (actually I'm not sure if they do even then; I tend to watch it during the day). The remote meter for the controller has two successive button pushes that give controller temperature, and then temperature compensation lead temp (that's on the battery post), so I can easily see how they compare. So that just cuts it out for me. Which is too bad because they have some VERY slick features, and are in general a very cool and forward thinking company, who is easy to interact with. Again though, this won't matter with lithium batteries, in which case they'd probably be my top choice in controller. They still do have a couple of other "things" that may or may not make them everyone's choice (for example, they need to be at battery voltage plus five volts to start up in the morning). They use a smart algorithm to determine absorption stage length. I'd say it's a little slicker than Morningstar, but not as good as end amps (again, that won't be a factor with lithium batteries).
I do have a Victron 75/15 (can go up to 75 volts/15 amps) solar controller in a car though. Why? Well it's a tiny system (so I have less invested in it being treated perfectly just in case the lack of temp comp is not so gentle on it), the controller is tiny, very inexpensive, no fan, and I really wanted to try one out now that they have cheaper/easier ways to monitor and program them (you used to have to have a Windows computer, same old story). Now you can use either a relatively inexpensive "MPPT control" (same size/shape as their BMV battery monitor), or a Bluetooth phone app that uses a dongle you put on the controller. I have the latter and having used it for some months, I'd say it's pretty nifty. I might still prefer a "real" gauge in a larger vehicle, but for a car this is perfect as it's not like there is a wall to put a gauge on. The app can also program the controller (no more needing to borrow a Windows computer), and shows a 30-day history. Their larger/more expensive "real" gauges also interface with a website that gives you nice graphs and longer history, but that's way more than I'd want for a tiny system. So what about temp comp? I still think it's a huge minus (for lead acid) not to have it, but this is a small, single battery (Group 24), so lots of surface area, and the car of course warms up more quickly than under my couch in the Chinook. Also if it does die "younger" than it otherwise might have it's less of a hit than if it were a big house bank (and with the heat in the car it's likely not to live a full, long life in any case). And as I said, I wanted to try one just because I like to see how the different brands work. I don't even have a battery monitor on this small system, but I can get a good idea of the state of the battery by watching what the solar does (it's a 100 watt panel for only 80 amp hours of battery so as long as there is sun the battery can drink its fill and that basically shows me what's up). Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention that I very much dislike: Small wire connectors of the type that you just push in the wire and then tighten a screw. What a pain. This might not be quite so bad if I bought some of those crimp on pins, but .... Why? Why not a screw you can put a ring terminal under? Also on some of the Chinook sized controllers, you'd likely have to run wire to power post, then to the controller to step down the size (depending on voltages and distance). (On the tiny car system, 10 AWG wire to the controller is ample, but those push in connectors... ugh!.) To be fair I'll see about some of those pins though.
So in summary, I like Victron as a company. They are innovative, you can communicate with them, and the products are very nice and have some great features. Really nice that way. They've been in the boating industry for years so I already was familiar with them as a name, and I've been using their battery monitors for some years (they made it so much easier by using a Cat 5 type cable vs. a handful of tiny wires that had been the typical way before). What stopped me from using one of their controllers in my Chinook was the (at the time) need to use a Windows computer to program them (no longer necessary), and the fact that they have no external temperature compensation option on any of their controllers of a size I'd use (still true, although if I move to lithium in future that's no longer a need).
I hope that was more in line with what you intended to be the focus of the thread? I got a little lost on that first response, sorry.
BG
)