Hmm... Turns out I actually got ventureshield that was cut to the xpel pattern.... Not the xpel ultimate I requested. The owner prefers ventureshield (thinks xpel is unproven) and didn't want to do xpel cuz he figured i wouldn't want to pay double for it when he thinks ventureshield is better anyway. i am Kind of unhappy about that, but hopefully ventureshield works... He also thinks ventureshield is self healing... I probably would have paid double for the xpel if he did offer it.
edit: this difference between cutting another material to xpel patterns and actually using xpel is probably why people are getting such a wide range of quotes for xpel. Those who got it for about the price I did, probably actually got ventureshield just cut to xpel patterns. Even xpel's website shows different ratings for vendors. Some are listed as actually selling xpel, while others are shown as using the xpel software (for patterns). Rocky Mountain window tint was on xpel's website (which is how I found them in the first place) as a vendor who just uses this software. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this difference in vendor types until after I realized what was going on, so I unknowingly picked one from the list of xpel vendors one that didn't actually sell xpel material. Rmwt's website discussed xpel ultimate (and it takes reading between the lines to realize they aren't actually selling it), so that didn't help me realize what was actually happening, instead, it led me further into the belief that they actually did install xpel ultimate.