Thanks, windowsonwashington. And to the novice, I've done some further digging and I now feel dumb about the amount I was about to pay for windows. I did not realize the mark-up until I priced the Ultimate and Integrity product without the installation (Do this first if you can before you invite anyone into your house. I did not). On average, I was being charged $1700 per window for window and install of the Marvins (Integrity, Infinity and Clad) and about $1,050 per Inline window installed. This seems a lot given that only a few were full frame replacement. Worse, only one of the six quote did a decent job explaining the installation process. A word of advise to folks window shopping, be discipline, methodical, analytical and do not treat the process as something to get done immediately (though I understand why you would feel this way). If you do, you likely will be taken advantage of. Do yourself a favor and give yourself the time to work through the process. Also, there's lot of misinformation out there about the superiority and inferiority of one product vis a vis another. Caveat emptor certainly applies for a purchase this costly. Another thing, read the warranty before you sign. By doing this, I was able to rule out the Infinity product, much as I liked the aesthetic of the casement. I'm sure there's more to come.

My daughter has purchased a new home with 50 year old double hung windows that need to be replaced. It is a colonial home in Massachusetts several miles from the coast. She is trying to decide between the Anderson 400 series and the Marvin Integrity. She wants to stay with the same traditional 6 over 6 white double hung windows. Any thoughts on which is better - the Marvin Integrity, or the Anderson 400 Series?

Hi, this is not a "better" or "best" answer :-), just sharing our older research data. ProLine is Aluminum clad while Integrity is Fiberglass, so they are not Apple to Apple. Here is some 3-yr and 3-month old info: 1. Pella was using "rolled" aluminum at the time. Extruded Aluminum supposedly has more uniform strength and thickness. This seems logical. At a window shop, we saw a cross-sectional view of extruded and rolled. The difference was along the "bent" edges. The extruded had uniform thickness and thicker too. The rolled looked good on the outside but around each sharp "bend", we can see slightly thinner metal. Will this be a problem? I really do not know. 2. Pella uses Endura coating versus the Kynar coating to protect the Aluminum. Kynar is used on cars to protect against light chip, dent, scratch and to protect paint from fading. Kynar is supposedly better but I am not chemist. :-) We do have experience with Kynar on our door. After wind whipped gravel smacked our doors, we could find no dents and no scratches. No first hand experience with Endura. 3. Fiberglass is a tough inert material and moves very little in heat and cold. It moves just a hair more than glass. Aluminum moves several times (5?) more than glass. Vinyl moves a lot in heat and cold, a large number of times (10?) more than glass. We opted for solid wood, so no first-hand experience here. 4. We found two reports (3 yrs ago) of fiberglass windows not working well at a UC Berkeley parents/homeowner's forum. One had to do with joint seperation/splitting. One had to do with seal failure. Forgot to write down the brand, sorry. At the same time, some 10+ homeowners happy with their fiberglass installation posted their positive experience. So may be just the 1% defect in the 99%? 5. Wife and I love wood so we are very picky when it comes to wood. Based on what we saw then, and taking directly from my old notes :-), Pella had noticeable gaps while Marvin seemed tight. Pella wood choices were ho-hum while Marvin wood choices had tight beautiful grains. If you plan to paint the wood, then it does not matter. We learnt at end of our research that there is really no "best" or "better". With all things being equal (Aluminum vs Aluminum, Fiberglass vs Fiberglass), we do pay for what we get. Cheaper competing models made with similar material are not always bad but manufacturers do have to compromise in various places to save cost in order to lower price. We, as buyers, just need to know where those compromises are. We can then decide if we should pay more for less compromises or pay less for more compromises. Nothing beats looking at and touching the models in person. Good luck to you both.

qbryant, thanks for considering Integrity All Ultrex fiberglass sliding patio doors for your project! You're absolutely right that All Ultrex doors offer incredible durability -they also resist sagging and misalignment issues that can be troublesome with vinyl patio doors. We've put Ultrex to the test to show just how tough it is (and had a little fun along the way): As you continue to consider your patio door options, please let us know if we can help with any additional questions. And thanks for getting this conversation started!