Where These Products Originate
All LED tape and panels brands hire a select few factories in China to build their products to specification. The differences between these brands include the thickness of materials used and the quality and type of LEDs.

Quality
Thicker copper and substrate material both lead to longevity of the product.

A more subjective point is cost- LEDs are usually not as bright, and are a little bit inconsistent in color. High cost brings higher CRI (color rendering index) and much higher consistency of brightness and color.

Purchasing
Among the highest quality of retailers is Litegear.com. Others include AdaFruit, Chauvet, Elation, ENTTEC, Environmental Lights, GLP, TMB, and several more.

For everything else, there is a huge selection at Amazon. The brands, names, and specifications are changing all the time, but the products are fairly consistent for any given price range.  ​

Doing Optional Modifications
You can cut most tape on marked lines, and solder the power supply/control wires to the cut segments.  It’s easy to make short strips to fit wherever you need them. Make sure to buy extra so that you can practice soldering! The solder pads are very small in some cases and it takes practice to hold.

Tip: Wrapping LED tape around a cylinder to make a 360-degree light source works well inside lamp shades and other places where regular lamps are normally used.