Identification of single-diode model (SDM) parameter values from measured current–voltage curves of photovoltaic (PV) modules provides a solution for online condition monitoring of PV systems. Although the equation representing such a model is implicit, it can be made explicit by some assumptions that decrease the computational burden of the parametric identification at a cost of reduced accuracy. The accuracy and the computational burden of the process also depend on the parameters whose values have to be identified. In this paper, for the first time, an experimental comparison between an implicit and an explicit implementation of a state-of-the-art SDM parameter identification procedure is presented considering four different sets of identified parameters. The results show that the computational burden of the approach using the implicit model is roughly two orders of magnitude higher than that of the approach based on the explicit model. Only negligible differences appeared in the identified parameter values, by using the implicit or the explicit approach. Based on the results, it is concluded that the explicit approach should be preferred in on-field applications.