Hi thanks for the help. Narrowed it down between: Armstrong Rustics Premium: 12mm thick, 50"L, 5"W, low gloss, Rolled Edge/Rolled Ends, lock n fold, residential 30yr, commercial 5yr, AC3 or QuickStep perspectives: 9.5mm thick, 54.5"L, 6"W, low gloss, deep bevel w/distinctive grooved edges, uniclic, residential lifetime, commercial 5yr, AC4 Heard locking system is better on quickstep.

It's a great quality floor. My company, Quality Flooring 4 Less, has sold tons of Armstrong laminate, and have never had a complaint from a customer. If you are going to install laminate, Armstrong or Mannington are definitely your best options! Here is a link that might be useful: QualityFlooring4Less

All the problems mentioned above with Armstrong Grand Illusions, I just went through. I had the roasted grain color. It squeaked, popped, and even chipped from such bad popping. When I say chipped, I mean after 3 days there were chips on corners and edges everywhere. I hadn't even moved into the house yet. This was not caused by the installers because I inspected it after it was done. Called the retailer and Armstrong. Armstrong blamed installation and so retialer (whom did not do the isntall) inspected the work and said it was a great job, I had a level subfloor (new home), dry crawl space and they took the issue up with Armstrong. Additionally, the owner of this retailer told me that he has had a lot of complaints with Armstrong and that his solution was to glue all the butt ends together (partial solution). However, after my claim, he has pulled all Armstrong from his stores and took it upon himself to replace all of my flooring with another company. On another note, while my brother was shopping for laminate at Home Depot, the flooring sales person there also said that they have a lot of product complaints with Armstrong/Bruce and that she recommended Pergo. In any case, I chose to go with Lex Flooring's Cottage line. Anyone familiar with them? The retailer told me they have had zero customer complaints with Lex and after looking at it they have the same handscraped planks as Armstrong does but with ana ctualy locking system that works.

I have had it now for 16 months and it looks like the day it was installed. Keep in mind that I don't have younger children, only a 20 year old son and I rarely entertain large groups. My cat also has been declawed. However, we LOVE it. I would never go back to carpeting ever. This floor is a half-inch thick which is perhaps the most wear-resistant laminate on the market. We only have one small damaged spot where my husband dropped a china plate and after it broke, the sharp edge hit the floor and there is a tiny (and I mean tiny) scratch. It took some people a long time to find it and a couple people never did see it. Of course, I know it's there :-( High heels are the enemy of any laminate OR wood flooring. No one should wear them in your home (how rude!) unless they are on carpet or tile. Darker and glossier floors show dust and smudges more easily. But I'm a high gloss gal (all our woodwork is high gloss) so I would rather have that than matte any day. The color is GORGEOUS and as you saw it looks realistic. We had a contractor in the home last month and he thought it was real wood flooring. I had the funds to do real wood but I didn't want to spend that kind of money to do 1300 square feet. And, boxers is incorrect about no repairs possible. If something happens, there is a repair technique to remove just that one board and replace it and you would never know. This floor costs the same as a good quality carpeting but will last 3x as long with no recoating/refinishing necessary. Another reason I decided on laminate was that it doesn't fade. I had talked to so many people who had rugs down that couldn't move them around cuz the floor under them was a totally different color. You can also damage wood with dings and scratches as well. How many people with hardwood floors do you see sanding them down and redoing them but maybe once in their lifetime? That is another additional cost to putting down hardwood. I think you are going in the right direction with looking at this floor because it looks so realistic and you need that with the "real stuff" in other rooms.