Permanent Lighting · Buyer's guide

Gemstone Lights: cost, reviews, and how to compare a quote

Updated September 13, 2026

Gemstone Lights is a professionally installed permanent outdoor lighting system: LED track lighting designed, in the manufacturer's words, to blend into your home, driven by a controller Gemstone calls the Hub, and sold through a dealer network. Gemstone does not publish pricing on its site and its warranty terms sit behind a registration page rather than on the product pages, so anyone quoting you a number or a warranty length for Gemstone is telling you their dealer's terms, not the manufacturer's. What Gemstone does publish is a customer rating from a large review base and a free AI preview that renders the lights on a photo of your house. This guide covers what the system is, what is and is not published, what to check in reviews, and how to compare a Gemstone quote against the alternatives.

What the system actually is

Gemstone's site describes permanent track lighting that blends into the home and positions the product for architectural lighting year-round as well as Christmas, New Year's and other holidays. Three details are worth knowing:

• The Hub. Gemstone's controller has two generations, the Hub, sold from 2017, and the Hub2, introduced in 2024. If you are buying now you should be getting a Hub2; if you are looking at a used or older install, ask which one it has and whether it is still supported.
• AI preview. Gemstone offers a free tool that renders its lights on a photo of your house. It is a sales tool, but a genuinely useful one for deciding on colour and spacing before anyone comes out, and worth doing even if you end up with another brand.
• Review base. The manufacturer states a 4.9 rating from more than 950 reviews on its site. That is a manufacturer-curated figure; see the reviews section below for how to weigh it.

What the site does not spell out, at least on the pages we checked: the power arrangement, whether there is a dedicated warm-white channel, and the mounting hardware in detail. Those are questions for the dealer. Our brand comparison shows where Gemstone sits against the others.

What Gemstone says it costs

Nothing, on its site. Unlike Jellyfish and Trimlight, Gemstone does not publish a per-foot figure or a project range. That is not unusual for a dealer-sold product, but it means you cannot sanity-check a Gemstone quote against a manufacturer number. You can check it against the other brands' published ranges and against the factors that drive every permanent lighting quote: length of run, corners and peaks, height and access, and where the power comes from. Our cost guide covers those with ranges.

The practical advice: get a Gemstone quote and at least one rival quote for the same house, and if they differ by a lot, ask each installer to walk you through what is driving their number. The differences are usually in labour and access, not in the hardware.

The warranty

Gemstone's site has a warranty registration page, which tells you a warranty exists, but the terms were not stated on the pages we checked. We will not guess at them. Ask your dealer for the current manufacturer warranty in writing, and separately ask what labour the dealer covers and for how long. For comparison, Trimlight publishes a lifetime product warranty on core components, EverLights publishes five years on parts and one on labour, and Oelo publishes seven years for dealer installs and five for DIY.

What to look for in Gemstone reviews

Gemstone's headline rating comes from reviews collected on its own site. That does not make them false, but it does mean they are curated, and the useful signal is elsewhere: Reddit threads, YouTube walkthroughs, and the reviews of the specific dealer who would install yours.

• Find your dealer's reviews, not the brand's. Search the dealer's business name. Gemstone's rating tells you about Gemstone; it tells you nothing about the crew coming to your house.
• Separate product from install. "The Hub lost connection" is a product complaint worth reading. "The track colour is off" or "a section sagged" is an install complaint that says more about the dealer.
• Weight reviews from a year or more after install. App reliability, controller support and warranty handling only show up later.
• Reddit threads comparing Gemstone to Jellyfish come up often. They are useful precisely because nobody is selling anything, but each is one house and one dealer.

Gemstone versus the alternatives

Gemstone's distinctive things are the AI preview and the size of its review base. Its gaps, on the site at least, are published pricing and published warranty terms. If you like what the preview shows you, the next step is a dealer quote with the warranty in writing, compared against a rival quote for the same house.

How to find a Gemstone dealer, and why to get another quote too

Gemstone's site has a dealer verification tool and a dealer path. Both show you Gemstone dealers only. A directory shows every permanent lighting installer in your area and what they carry. When you have quotes, ask each installer:

1. Have you installed on a house like mine? Ask to see it.
2. Which track colour, and can I see it against my trim? The AI preview helps here, but a physical sample is better.
3. Which controller, Hub or Hub2, and what does it need to connect?
4. How do you handle corners, peaks and transitions?
5. What is the manufacturer warranty, and what labour do you cover? In writing, because Gemstone does not publish it.
6. What is in the quote and what is extra?
7. When can you do it?

Installers are listed by state and city under permanent lighting. For a DIY kit instead, start with the Govee guide.