Cheap MPPT Controllers for casual use

[inetdog]

Suckers will buy them.

And, once upon a time low voltage (low cell count) "battery" panels were widely available and competitive in price, before the advent of grid tie made a market for higher voltage panels. Couple that with the newness of the MPPT technology and you had a reason to make PWM controllers.
As of now, though, high power PWM controllers are a holdover product that has not realized that it is dead yet.

[Sunking]

So why do they even bother manufacturing PWM controllers?

Think of it like VCR's and DVD's. When DVD players came out both the disc and players were really expensive. Would you buy a VCR tape or player today if they were available?