Photosync, Pinnacle, or CXP

APTinting-Becky · October 3, 2014

Tying to find out which is the best of these tints:

Spectra Photosync

F1 Pinnacle

SunTek CXP

These are available in this area as "upper line" tints. Although you may not consider them all as upper-line, the prices on all three lend to being in that category.

Given these three options, what would you recommend?

I see alot of information and issues with CXP, but maybe that's because it's being used so much.

I don't see much talk about Pinnacle, and I see almost nothing about Photosync.

Photosync seems very interested, but again, I see literally nothing about it.

We sell quite a bit of Photosync. Dealer support from Prestige is awesome, they take good care of us!

Tesla, Porsche, Corvette and BMW owners love this film. I call it a chameleon film, as it looks different on every vehicle....it takes on the cars personality.

We have a review on our website from one of our Tesla clients, if you would like to read something from his prospective.

http://www.aptinting.com/consumers-praise-photosync-tint-review/

I love this film. Our installers tell me it is a bit harder to work with as it does not shrink as easy as some other films...

And here are a few forum threads that have a lot of useful information:

http://rennlist.com/forums/991/818128-ceramic-window-tint-3.html

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/11032-Model-S-Window-Tinting/page32

As Maryland's only authorized Formula One dealer, we sell a ton of the Pinnacle film. Pinnacle film is a film that you can't go wrong with. :thumb The Lifetime Nationwide Transferable Warranty is the best warranty out there.

customizer1000 · October 7, 2014

I use pinnacle daily never a problem, f1

October 18, 2014

Tying to find out which is the best of these tints:

Spectra Photosync

F1 Pinnacle

SunTek CXP

These are available in this area as "upper line" tints. Although you may not consider them all as upper-line, the prices on all three lend to being in that category.

Given these three options, what would you recommend?

I see alot of information and issues with CXP, but maybe that's because it's being used so much.

I don't see much talk about Pinnacle, and I see almost nothing about Photosync.

Photosync seems very interested, but again, I see literally nothing about it.

We sell quite a bit of Photosync. Dealer support from Prestige is awesome, they take good care of us!

Tesla, Porsche, Corvette and BMW owners love this film. I call it a chameleon film, as it looks different on every vehicle....it takes on the cars personality.

We have a review on our website from one of our Tesla clients, if you would like to read something from his prospective.

http://www.aptinting.com/consumers-praise-photosync-tint-review/

I love this film. Our installers tell me it is a bit harder to work with as it does not shrink as easy as some other films...

And here are a few forum threads that have a lot of useful information:

http://rennlist.com/forums/991/818128-ceramic-window-tint-3.html

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/11032-Model-S-Window-Tinting/page32

As Maryland's only authorized Formula One dealer, we sell a ton of the Pinnacle film. Pinnacle film is a film that you can't go wrong with. The Lifetime Nationwide Transferable Warranty is the best warranty out there.

Becky,

Love to hear your thoughts not he Photosync, How long have you been installing Photosync? Don't think anyone really knows if this film is going to hold up after a few years as its pretty new to the scene with some bold claims. They recently changed their specs as it was clearly pointed out they were all over the map. Their SC didn't match up with their VLT and suddenly it was corrected after this was pointed out publicly. Sounds like fudging the numbers to me. Perhaps testing it like the 3M at a different angle than industry standards? Also seen reports its scratching easily so time will tell on this one. Seems most shops that are carrying it are just after the price tag that comes with it. Is it worth the risk installing it without much history behind it? Not knocking this film just skeptical because of the bold claims and its construction. Good to hear they are supporting you as I don't think they have any reps do they? I hear they are selective in who gets to carry it but shop near me that has it is not reputable at all so not sure about that claim either. Other shop is a rat hole with many 1 star reviews.

Agreed on Pinnacle's warranty. Installed it for many years and its awesome. Warranty is same as LLumar line I think. Can't go wrong with either of those as they are proven and battle tested ;)

October 19, 2014

The Ctx 35% and Ctx 40% still have a blue hue kinda of cloudy look when the sun hits it at certain angles. Its not noticeable on VLT's under 30. I can say I have the 40 on my vehicle and it performs very well. The hue is also more noticeable on GM vehicles.

APTINT · October 21, 2014

Tying to find out which is the best of these tints:

Spectra Photosync

F1 Pinnacle

SunTek CXP

These are available in this area as "upper line" tints. Although you may not consider them all as upper-line, the prices on all three lend to being in that category.

Given these three options, what would you recommend?

I see alot of information and issues with CXP, but maybe that's because it's being used so much.

I don't see much talk about Pinnacle, and I see almost nothing about Photosync.

Photosync seems very interested, but again, I see literally nothing about it.

We sell quite a bit of Photosync. Dealer support from Prestige is awesome, they take good care of us!

Tesla, Porsche, Corvette and BMW owners love this film. I call it a chameleon film, as it looks different on every vehicle....it takes on the cars personality.

We have a review on our website from one of our Tesla clients, if you would like to read something from his prospective.

http://www.aptinting.com/consumers-praise-photosync-tint-review/

I love this film. Our installers tell me it is a bit harder to work with as it does not shrink as easy as some other films...

And here are a few forum threads that have a lot of useful information:

http://rennlist.com/forums/991/818128-ceramic-window-tint-3.html

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/11032-Model-S-Window-Tinting/page32

As Maryland's only authorized Formula One dealer, we sell a ton of the Pinnacle film. Pinnacle film is a film that you can't go wrong with. The Lifetime Nationwide Transferable Warranty is the best warranty out there.

Becky,

Love to hear your thoughts not he Photosync, How long have you been installing Photosync? Don't think anyone really knows if this film is going to hold up after a few years as its pretty new to the scene with some bold claims. They recently changed their specs as it was clearly pointed out they were all over the map. Their SC didn't match up with their VLT and suddenly it was corrected after this was pointed out publicly. Sounds like fudging the numbers to me. Perhaps testing it like the 3M at a different angle than industry standards? Also seen reports its scratching easily so time will tell on this one. Seems most shops that are carrying it are just after the price tag that comes with it. Is it worth the risk installing it without much history behind it? Not knocking this film just skeptical because of the bold claims and its construction. Good to hear they are supporting you as I don't think they have any reps do they? I hear they are selective in who gets to carry it but shop near me that has it is not reputable at all so not sure about that claim either. Other shop is a rat hole with many 1 star reviews.

Agreed on Pinnacle's warranty. Installed it for many years and its awesome. Warranty is same as LLumar line I think. Can't go wrong with either of those as they are proven and battle tested ;)

We've been installing the film for about a year. Just like any other new product, we're not sure of the longevity either. They actually contacted us with a few customers in our area that they wanted to take care of. I told them I wasn't interested in being a dealer, I was skeptical and the film cost is high. However I did a test run, got some film in to take care of a DC client for them. We starting seeing traffic and interest in the product very shortly after, so we picked up a couple VLTs case by case to help each customer....so far so good. As far as I know they do not practice the on angle performance data but Im not 100% sure. Bottom line is it definitely performs great, haven't had an scratching issues (other than expected cars), and it does bring top dollar and top of the line cars, what shop wouldnt want that? They are from my experience selective on dealers, im surprised to hear what you've said about that.

APTinting-Becky · October 21, 2014

:yeah

October 22, 2014

Tying to find out which is the best of these tints:

Spectra Photosync

F1 Pinnacle

SunTek CXP

These are available in this area as "upper line" tints. Although you may not consider them all as upper-line, the prices on all three lend to being in that category.

Given these three options, what would you recommend?

I see alot of information and issues with CXP, but maybe that's because it's being used so much.

I don't see much talk about Pinnacle, and I see almost nothing about Photosync.

Photosync seems very interested, but again, I see literally nothing about it.

We sell quite a bit of Photosync. Dealer support from Prestige is awesome, they take good care of us!

Tesla, Porsche, Corvette and BMW owners love this film. I call it a chameleon film, as it looks different on every vehicle....it takes on the cars personality.

We have a review on our website from one of our Tesla clients, if you would like to read something from his prospective.

http://www.aptinting.com/consumers-praise-photosync-tint-review/

I love this film. Our installers tell me it is a bit harder to work with as it does not shrink as easy as some other films...

And here are a few forum threads that have a lot of useful information:

http://rennlist.com/forums/991/818128-ceramic-window-tint-3.html

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/11032-Model-S-Window-Tinting/page32

As Maryland's only authorized Formula One dealer, we sell a ton of the Pinnacle film. Pinnacle film is a film that you can't go wrong with. The Lifetime Nationwide Transferable Warranty is the best warranty out there.

Becky,

Love to hear your thoughts not he Photosync, How long have you been installing Photosync? Don't think anyone really knows if this film is going to hold up after a few years as its pretty new to the scene with some bold claims. They recently changed their specs as it was clearly pointed out they were all over the map. Their SC didn't match up with their VLT and suddenly it was corrected after this was pointed out publicly. Sounds like fudging the numbers to me. Perhaps testing it like the 3M at a different angle than industry standards? Also seen reports its scratching easily so time will tell on this one. Seems most shops that are carrying it are just after the price tag that comes with it. Is it worth the risk installing it without much history behind it? Not knocking this film just skeptical because of the bold claims and its construction. Good to hear they are supporting you as I don't think they have any reps do they? I hear they are selective in who gets to carry it but shop near me that has it is not reputable at all so not sure about that claim either. Other shop is a rat hole with many 1 star reviews.

Agreed on Pinnacle's warranty. Installed it for many years and its awesome. Warranty is same as LLumar line I think. Can't go wrong with either of those as they are proven and battle tested ;)

We've been installing the film for about a year. Just like any other new product, we're not sure of the longevity either. They actually contacted us with a few customers in our area that they wanted to take care of. I told them I wasn't interested in being a dealer, I was skeptical and the film cost is high. However I did a test run, got some film in to take care of a DC client for them. We starting seeing traffic and interest in the product very shortly after, so we picked up a couple VLTs case by case to help each customer....so far so good. As far as I know they do not practice the on angle performance data but Im not 100% sure. Bottom line is it definitely performs great, haven't had an scratching issues (other than expected cars), and it does bring top dollar and top of the line cars, what shop wouldnt want that? They are from my experience selective on dealers, im surprised to hear what you've said about that.

Appreciate your feedback and glad to hear its working for you. I am really curious to see if it holds up over time like any new product. While I do like good money like everyone else I don't take risks using products in our shop. If it does fail in large numbers later it could reflect badly on our brand so I always lean to side of caution. Too bad they don't do SEMA as would have liked to check them out. Thats another worry all in itself, why would they not do SEMA if they have this great film?

Yeah local shop to me that carries it has horrible reviews and poorly skilled installers so not sure how they go about selecting a shop? They have multiple locations though so thinking thats why they were selected. Not the best around here though thats for sure.

gthollis1254 · October 24, 2014

I dont have any experience with ctx but i do with pinnacle and photosync. Of course the pinnacle is a great film. Its easy to work with and performs well against other films. Also, Formula 1 is a proven and trusted product. great product with a great manufacturer to back you. The photosync, it performs well. Its harder to shrink than the pinnacle but still very manageable. It also has a blue look to it. What i didnt like was that it there is no data associated with the NFRC, the their SAC(solar activated coating) adds very little change. Maybe 3 percent. And even more, its just what they call it. Its a coating. As that coating fades, so does performance. For the price you pay for their coating, you can have a true ceramic product with Huper Optik who has data associated with the NFRC and have been in business for 20+ years. Another thing i didnt like about prestige was that they told our boss who isnt very knowledgeable about the window tinting industry Not to give a sample of their film out because " they didn't want anyone to steal their technology". Also i dont think many people can testify to the longevity of the film either. hope this helps.

just noticed you asked about CXP instead of CTX, Our shop currently uses the cxp as a mid-grade film and it performs well. It shrinks very easily, has an aggressive adhesive which i personally like. It also looks nice. Sometimes the film wants to curl into iteslf as you are installing it. I dont like that about it but suntek will take the roll back as defective if it gets too bad for you.

addicted to tint · October 25, 2014

Huper - 20 plus years? I was one of the dealers that received the original marketing package from Faisal when the Ceramic series was called "Stark". I know I'm getting older, but that was not 20 years ago. I think they are still a teenager, 1999 or so, about 15 years. Not a big deal - they are well established, NFRC verified with many films and certainly nothing like "Prestige" in their business life. Unless you think about all those potential warranty claims out there now. :blink

Photosync - definitely been tested by the big boys. Telling dealers not to give out samples cause their technology may be stolen does not work very well. Any film on the market may be purchased and tested, and it usually is once any buzz about it occurs. If they accelerated weatherized tested their own product they'd probably not publicize the results. Or maybe they have...? Might be a good question for them. :unsure:

Carmeltinting.com · December 11, 2014

Photosync... I've used it, don't care for it. There are alternatives that have better support than some guy in a small office in California. $800 to do a car is outrageous and I'm sorry but I don't believe the technology is truly there to justify ripping a client's head off for the hype. I think and am almost sure this stuff is the latest entry from Asia trying to hook dealers. Why would I pay 3-4 times the price a roll for an unproven film?? Not gonna do it.