Window Film Brands Compared: Madico vs Tekton, Line by Line

Two, and they are not related to each other. Joey installs Madico and Tekton Performance Films.

Madico is an American manufacturer, based at 9251 Belcher Road North in Pinellas Park, Florida. Tekton Performance Films is Canadian, at 79 Regal Road in Guelph, Ontario. Neither company owns the other. That is worth stating plainly, because a lot of what looks like brand choice in this trade turns out to be two labels on one factory, and this is not that.

What we are not publishing is the exact grade sitting on the van for your job. Joey has confirmed the two manufacturers. Which specific lines he stocks for a given job is a separate question, and it gets answered after we measure your glass. Every figure below comes from the lines these two manufacturers publish, so you can see the range each one covers before you ask anyone for a price.

The maker's name is also the weakest of the four things that decide your result. In the order they actually matter: the film construction, the rated numbers for that exact grade, the glass those numbers were measured on, and the person applying it.

Anywhere from 36% to 81% of the sun's total energy, depending entirely on the grade. Madico publishes per-film figures on two sheets, both read on single pane 6mm clear glass, so the two tables below can be read against each other but not against anything measured on different glass.

Madico's architectural sheet covers the lines most Niagara homes and storefronts get quoted on. Every film in this table publishes UV rejection of 99% or higher.

Madico's Sunscape sheet is a second family on that same 6mm basis, and it is where the ceramic grades live.

Two patterns are worth reading off those tables. First, IR rejection is always the larger and friendlier looking number, and it is not the one that decides comfort: Nova 70 publishes 78% IR rejection against 46% TSER, and we set out why in window film percentages explained. Second, darker is not automatically better. Reflective Silver 40 rejects 56% at 44% VLT while Solar Grey 35 rejects 53% at 35% VLT, so the reflective grade keeps more of your view and stops more heat.

Madico prints one caveat on both sheets, and it governs every Madico figure on this page: "Reported values are typical properties and should not be used as a specification." - Madico, Architectural Film Performance Measurements, revision 3/23.

Exterior grades sit above everything else on that same 6mm basis. Solar Grey Exterior 20 publishes 67% TSER, Solar Bronze Exterior 35 publishes 65%, Solar Bronze Exterior 20 publishes 76%, and Reflective Silver Exterior 20 publishes 81%, the highest TSER figure on Madico's architectural sheet.

Between 42% and 80% of total solar energy on single pane glass, and consistently less on double pane. Tekton publishes both columns, which is the genuinely useful thing about their tables and also the trap in them: a single pane number is not a promise about a double pane window.

Single pane first, from Tekton's Keramos, Clarion, Nocturna, Visio and Silver Reflective tables.

The same films on double pane glass, from the same tables.

Keramos 35 drops from 57% TSER to 47% between those two tables. That is a ten point swing on the same film, and it is the single best argument for asking which column a quoted number came from.

One vocabulary warning that catches people out. Tekton publishes SIRR, solar infrared rejection, where Madico publishes IR rejection. Those are not the same measurement, so lining a Tekton SIRR figure up against a Madico IR figure is not a comparison. Compare TSER against TSER, on one glass basis, and you are on firm ground.

Tekton also lists an exterior series, rated single pane only: Silver Reflective 15 at 87% TSER and 16% VLT, Neutral 20 at 73% and 22%, Silver Reflective 40 at 71% and 40%, and Clarion 60 at 57% and 59%. Those are the highest TSER figures Tekton publishes, and the warranty requires edge sealing on every exterior install.

Both build them the same way, as a thick laminate that holds broken glass in the opening, and neither one is a heat film. Tekton's Fortis series is the one with a published spec table. Tekton describes Fortis as protection in three areas, safety, burglary resistance and blast mitigation, and the numbers show what that costs in solar performance.

Read the TSER column against the solar tables above. A 14 mil security laminate rejects 17% of solar energy on single pane glass, where Keramos 35 rejects 57% on the same basis. On double pane, the Fortis grades publish 24% to 26%. Security film is a glass retention product, and a quote that sells one as a heat solution is worth a second look.

Madico groups its safety films in the warranty schedule as Clear Safety in 4, 7, 8 and 14 mil, Solar Safety in Reflective Silver 4 mil, Reflective Silver 8 mil and Neutral Grey 8 mil, and a Decorative Safety 12 mil Frost Matte. The 8 mil clear grade is the one with an independent listing: NFRC's applied film directory carries it as CL 800 PS SR under CPD number ADI-K-066, and on 3mm clear glass it moves solar heat gain coefficient from 0.71 bare to 0.68 filmed and visible transmittance from 0.74 to 0.71. A film that changes heat and light that little is doing its job, because holding the pane together is the job.

Impact performance is a separate scheme from any of the above. A summary of the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance standards explains that the current safety glazing test, ANSI Z97.1, uses a 100-pound soft body impactor, with Class A requiring 400 foot-pounds dropped from 48 inches and Class B requiring 50 foot-pounds from 18 inches. Ask which impact standard a security film was tested to and get the answer in writing. Our security and safety film page covers how we scope that work.

Madico goes at privacy with frosted and opaque film, Tekton with reflective film, and the two behave differently. On Madico's 6mm clear single pane basis:

Black Out transmits 1% of visible light and cuts glare by 99%, which is as close to a solid panel as either sheet gets. Frost Matte holds 67% VLT while cutting glare by 25%, so it obscures the view without darkening the room. NFRC's directory also lists Madico's Night Scape 7% one-way film, which on 3mm clear glass takes visible transmittance from 0.74 bare to 0.07 filmed while solar heat gain coefficient only falls from 0.71 to 0.23. That is a privacy result rather than a heat result, and the 3mm and 6mm figures are not interchangeable.

Tekton gets privacy from exterior reflectance instead of opacity, so its privacy films are also its solar films. On single pane glass:

A film that reflects 56% of the light off its outside face gives privacy in one direction, towards whichever side is brighter. After dark with the lamps on inside, that direction reverses. It is why we treat reflective privacy film and blackout film as answers to two different questions in security film versus privacy film and on the privacy film page.

Both manufacturers give their opaque decorative grades shorter cover than their solar films. Madico warrants White Out, Frost Matte 200 and Black Out for 5 years commercial and residential, and Tekton warrants Fortis 13 mil Frost, White Out, White Frost and Black Out for the same 5 years.

NFRC certification covers three numbers, and the warranty is the document worth reading before you sign. The National Fenestration Rating Council is the independent nonprofit that tests, certifies and labels window films for energy efficiency, and its applied film directory publishes solar heat gain coefficient, visible transmittance and U-factor as paired bare and filmed values on 3mm clear glass. It does not publish TSER or UV rejection. Every TSER figure on this page, from either manufacturer, is the manufacturer's own measurement.

Madico's films appear in that directory with CPD numbers, Nova 70 as ADI-K-080 and the 8 mil clear safety grade as ADI-K-066. The Tekton figures on this page are taken from Tekton's own published product tables.

On UV, the Skin Cancer Foundation's Seal of Recommendation requires proof of blocking 99% or more of UVA and UVB rays. Most of the films above clear that bar and one on Madico's own sheet does not: Blister Free 200 publishes 39% UV rejection alongside 89% VLT. Ask for the UV figure on the exact grade you are quoted rather than accepting a claim about window film as a category.

The warranties are where the two differ most plainly. Madico's 2025 architectural warranty runs:

Tekton's residential and commercial warranty, version 2 dated 12/31/2025, runs:

Three things are identical on both documents and all three matter. Glass breakage and seal failure are capped at $500 per window. Cover extends to the original purchaser only and does not transfer with the house. And both require an authorized dealer, with Tekton also requiring a film-to-glass approval form submitted and accepted before the film goes on. Tekton's exterior series carries 7 years on vertical glass; Madico's exterior films carry 3 years.

At least as much, and the failure modes are documented rather than asserted. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that poor preparation and installation lead to bubbles and eventually peeling, and that fading and crazing are long term durability issues with low quality film. The same report puts a professional installation of traditional plastic applied film at a typical 6 to 15 year warranty.

Both manufacturers agree with that in the only way a manufacturer can: neither warranty pays out on film applied by anyone else. Tekton voids cover for film installed by a non-authorized dealer or by methods inconsistent with its installation standards, and Madico warrants only professionally sold and installed film and requires pre-approval for sloped glass, skylights, laminated glass and single panes larger than 100 square feet.

Worth checking with any installer, ours included:

• A written manufacturer warranty certificate, issued at the time of install
• Experience with double pane and low-E glass, since both makers restrict what goes on it
• Reviews you can read
• The film name and grade on the quote, not just the brand

We back our work by film type, lifetime residential and 15-year commercial, on top of whatever the film maker's own schedule covers, and every install runs through Joey. We hold a 5.0-star rating across 31 Google reviews.

Residential film runs about $8 to $28 per square foot installed, and commercial glass about $6 to $18. Neither manufacturer sets your price; film type, window count and size, glass type and access do.

Residential film costs roughly $5 to $12 per square foot for standard material and $10 to $20 for specialty, plus $3 to $8 per square foot for installation. Adding the low ends gives about $8 per square foot installed, the high ends about $28. For commercial glass, a Toronto and GTA guide puts installed cost at about $6 to $18 per square foot. The ceramic and reflective grades in the tables above sit at the specialty end of those bands.

On what the film gives back, the measured evidence is narrower than the usual sales claim. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that film applied to the outside of double glazed windows cut measured cooling energy by about 30%, while the same film on the inside saved 8% or less, with total energy rising in that building because of extra winter heating. That is one building, and it is the reason both manufacturers rate exterior film separately.

Climate cuts both ways here. The Department of Energy's Building America Solution Center advises that window films are most appropriate in warm to hot climates, should target a low solar heat gain coefficient, and may increase heating needs in winter. In Niagara that is a room by room trade rather than a whole-house rule, which is why we measure before we quote. Our full breakdown is in the window film cost guide, you can sketch a budget with the window film cost estimator, and for a real number on your glass call 905-359-7077.

Work from your goal down to the grade and let the brand fall out at the end. The two ranges overlap almost completely, so the decision is which grade suits your glass, not which logo you prefer. Five steps, in this order:

• Name the goal: heat and cooling cost, fading, glare, privacy, or holding glass together.
• Pick the construction. Ceramic and spectrally selective grades such as Advanced Ceramic 3000, Keramos 35 or Clarion 70 hold light while cutting heat. Reflective grades such as Reflective Silver 20 or Visio 5 reject more and change how the building looks. Clear safety laminates do neither and are not meant to.
• Get the four numbers for that exact grade: VLT, TSER, UV rejection and SHGC, with the glass they were measured on.
• Check the warranty row for that series, not the headline. A decorative grade carries 5 years where a ceramic one carries lifetime residential.
• Confirm the installer is an authorized dealer for the film being quoted, since an NFRC listing rates the film and the warranty rates the installer.

If glare is the specific complaint, reflective beats ceramic on the published numbers. On Tekton's single pane basis, Keramos 35 cuts glare by 61% at 35% VLT while Silver Reflective 20 cuts it by 79% at 19% VLT, and Visio 5 reaches 91% at 8% VLT. The ceramic grade is the one that keeps the room looking normal, so the honest trade is glare control against the daylight you give up to get it.

For most Niagara homes with west-facing glass that bakes all afternoon, we lean toward a non-reflective ceramic grade, because it holds the view while doing most of the heat work. That is our judgement from our own installs rather than a rating any standards body publishes. See heat and solar control film for how we scope it, or ask Joey for a free measured quote.