Try and take a look at my thread, I am testing a bunch of different cheap china strips.
The Dual row 12V strips, in series seems to work pretty well and they are cheap.
Still a week+ from harvest, but so far the results are looking good.
I have only heard bad things about the onboard driver COB’s, and didn’t go with SolStrip for the same reason as you.
Import tax and custom fee, will blow the budget.