Full disclosure before anything else: I own the TruLight dealership serving San Antonio. I make money if you buy my system and I make nothing if you buy Haven Lighting, which is about as clear a bias as a person can have. So I have cited Haven's own published material rather than describing their product for them, and where my advantages are narrower than a salesperson would admit, I say so. If you want the condensed version, the TruLight vs Haven Lighting comparison page lays it out side by side.

Start with the service question, not the product question

It is tempting to shop permanent lighting the way you shop a TV: compare features, look at photos, pick. That framing is off, because a TV is a box you own and permanent roofline lighting is bolted to your house, where somebody has to climb up and service it years from now.

So the useful question in San Antonio is not "which product is better" in the abstract. It is: when a section of my run goes dark in the fourth summer, who physically comes out, what do they charge, and what document obligates them?

What Haven publishes, quoted from Haven

Haven's homepage describes permanent roofline lighting with app control and automation. That is Haven's own description of the product, and I take it at face value.

The document worth your attention is the terms page. Haven's general terms and conditions list a one year default warranty period, with longer exceptions written for specified L Series part numbers. Those exceptions are tied to those part numbers, so the cited terms page does not clearly establish the warranty for Haven's X Series roofline system. Ask the seller for the current written X Series warranty before you compare coverage against anyone else's, and treat any number quoted to you verbally as unconfirmed until it is on paper.

Even once you have that document, a coverage term does not tell you the part that determines your actual out of pocket cost:

A covered component and a covered service call are different things. If the part is free but the ladder work is billable, your cost in year four is a labor invoice.
Every warranty in this category has exclusions, and they are usually where the interesting reading is.
Component coverage from a manufacturer and a local person who will be on your roof next Tuesday are separate arrangements.
How a claim starts matters too: whether you contact a dealer, an installer, or the manufacturer directly, and what documentation you were supposed to keep.

I am not implying Haven conceals any of this. Terms pages get revised and product lines change. Confirm the current written specifications and warranty with the local dealer or seller, get it as a document, and treat that document as controlling over any web page, mine included.

Where the two systems sit

Question to answer before signing	TruLight	Haven Lighting
How the company describes the product	Professionally installed permanent lighting, 48V low voltage	Haven describes permanent roofline lighting with app control and automation
Published component coverage	Current terms published at /warranty	Cited terms page lists a one year default with longer exceptions for specified L Series part numbers, and does not clearly establish X Series coverage. Request the current written X Series warranty from the seller
Labor coverage	Confirm in writing with the dealer	Confirm in writing with the dealer or seller
White light architecture	Six LEDs per RGBW node: three RGB plus three dedicated warm white	Confirm the current published specification with the seller
Published light rating	100,000 hours	Confirm the current published specification with the seller
Mounting	Color matched aluminum track, professionally installed	Confirm the current published specification with the seller
Run design for your roofline	Ask to see it drawn before you sign	Ask to see it drawn before you sign

Several cells say confirm with the seller on purpose. I compete with Haven, so I am the wrong source for specifications Haven has not published in the material I am citing here. Go fill those in from the company itself and hold both of us to what you find.

Tile, complex rooflines, and why the bid should be a drawing

Whatever difficulty your house adds to this job lands on the installer rather than on the brand, so the bid worth trusting is the one drawn for your elevations.

Tile, older fascia, multiple gables, and detached garages can all change the mounting plan. Have each bidder mark the conditions present on your house, then price the layout that results rather than a generic front elevation.

Tile in particular deserves a direct conversation. Ask exactly how the track is attached given your roof material, what is being penetrated and what is not, and how the installer handles the transition where materials change. Get the answer before the deposit, not from a crew standing on your roof deciding in the moment.

Do not accept the voltage shortcut

You will likely hear from someone that a higher voltage system automatically means fewer power injection points. Do not accept that from any bidder, including mine. It is a simplification of something that is genuinely more involved.

How a run gets designed depends on wire gauge, the load carried on that run, distance, the controller, and the manufacturer's stated limits for the specific product being installed. Voltage is one input among those. Undersized wire and a heavy load will create problems at any voltage.

The way to cut through this is to stop asking about technology and start asking for the design. Have each bidder show you, on your house: where the runs terminate, where power gets introduced, what gauge they are pulling, where the controller lives, and what the manufacturer's published limits are. Ask every bidder to include the run design in writing, regardless of how the initial quote was calculated.

On a multi elevation home with a detached or offset garage, controller placement alone can change the whole layout. That gets worked out in the design, not on a spec sheet.

Daytime appearance and architectural review

You will look at this product turned off far more than turned on. In neighborhoods with active architectural review, that is also what gets approved or rejected.

TruLight uses color matched aluminum track, professionally installed. That describes how the channel is finished and mounted. It is not a claim about anything I have not published. If your association reviews exterior modifications, ask each bidder for a daytime photo of the track on a fascia color close to yours, and submit that rather than a marketing render of a lit house at night. A daytime photo gives the committee useful evidence of the track's appearance when the lights are off.

Strong sun and heat

South Texas UV and summer heat load are hard on exterior mounted anything, on limestone, stucco and tile alike. Rather than accepting durability adjectives from any brand, get specific: what is the mounting hardware, and does the written coverage document treat mounting hardware differently from electronics? Warranties frequently do, and that distinction can matter more than the headline number.

The six things I would demand from every bidder

The complete written warranty document, not a summary. Read exclusions first.
A direct yes or no on labor coverage, with a duration.
The name of the company that performs local service, and confirmation they still will in year six.
Current published specifications confirmed by the local dealer, since terms and products change.
The run design for your specific roofline, drawn, before deposit.
An in person nighttime look at warm white on a surface resembling your own.

If any bidder resists those, including me, that tells you something.

Sources

Haven Lighting homepage, for Haven's description of permanent roofline lighting, app control and automation.
Haven Lighting terms and conditions, accessed August 10, 2026, for the general one year default warranty period and the longer exceptions written for specified L Series part numbers. That page does not clearly establish coverage for the X Series roofline system.
TruLight warranty terms, for current TruLight coverage.

Get a number based on your actual roofline

How we scope and install is described on the permanent lighting service page, and current coverage terms are at /warranty. When you are ready for a real figure rather than a per foot guess, request an estimate and we will walk your elevations and show you the run design before you commit to anything.

TruLight vs Haven Lighting: A San Antonio Owner's Honest Comparison