Just to be clear- our company is not a Marvin Dealer. We are a licensed building contractor that offers many kinds of construction services, from new construction, additions, remodeling, and small projects like window or door replacement. We or our customers purchase windows through a local dealer. We are in Colorado where it is very dry, but some of our customer use humidifiers and can get condensation on interior glass. This can affect woodwork that is not properly maintained. A high quality varnish or paint can easily last 20 years. Infinity dealers include installation in their price, operating with a business model similar to Andersen Renewal except that Marvin Infinity dealers are more independent than Renewal and often provide other services such as siding, roofing, and a wide range of other business services. Many general contractors prefer to keep the window installation in house so we shy away from dealers who perform installation. We have had some bad experiences with Andersen Renewal on some jobs-they kept mis-ordering windows and did not complete their installations on schedule. Our local Marvin Infinity Dealer/Installer has a great reputation and is sure to be much more organized than the Andersen Renewal outfit. Back to the question of Quality- Marvin Signature is the Top of the Line, with more options and bells and whistles available than any of the other lines. They come in wood, wood clad with aluminum, or the Modern line which is Ultrex Fiberglass with aluminum interior. They are a the best wood window made in the USA and the best fit for the historic renovation and restoration jobs that we do. Loewen Windows, made in Canada, are the only ones we have ever installed that are of similar quality. Marvin Elevate, formerly Integrity, is a Ultrex Fiberglass window with wood interiors. Elevate offers many options, awnings, casements, double hungs, sliders, trapezoids, etc. in a wide variety of colors and glass configurations including SDL. This is a very high quality window with a life expectancy as high as any window on the market today. Marvin Essential is and All-Ultrex window that has fewer options but are made to order and ship very quickly, They are a great window, very high quality and will out live and out-perform any Vinyl Window on the market Infinity Windows by Marvin are of as equally high quality as any other Marvin product, and have a great range of design options colors and glass configurations. Infinity dealers choose to work with Marvin, a company that stands behind their products, offers great dealer and customer support and great warranties. I am not a schill for Marvin, I do have extensive experience, having first installed Marvin Wood windows with true divided lites and storm panels in 1985- those windows are still working. We started installing Marvin Integrity for ourselves, our friends, and our customers I have been to the Marvin Factory in Warroad Minnesota for training and we have sent 2 of our carpenters there as well. I have seen how meticulous they are and witnessed windows undergoing arduous testing against wind and rain. I have also received great service whenever there was a problem with a unit we installed. We choose to use Marvin because we care about our customers, we care about our reputation, we care about our work.

Some corrections to my previous post: Just finished installing my new Marvin Integrity windows and doors. They are the higher end, (more options available)fiberglass exterior, wood interior. (The all fiberglass Integrity comes with very few options.) The windows look good, and the fiberglass exterior should do well with the elements (let's see what time has to say about that), but I find the mounting system to be flimsy. The nailing fin is made out of paper thin fiberglass. The nailing fin is wedged into the fiberglass frame with a 3/16" wedge that slides in a slot in the window frame. Take a look at it when you go see the product at the showroom. That's it! That's all that holds the window, besides the loose cedar shims, which are not even screwed through. I'm accustomed to solid aluminum windows, which have integral to the window frame, solid aluminum mounting flanges (nailing fins). Comparatively speaking, these Integrity mounting system nailing fins are made of a sliver of fiberglass. I would only buy these windows again if they changed the mounting system. Hopefully, by the time that they do improve the mounting system, they'll also have the all fiberglass Integrity with all the options now offered in the fiberglass and wood models. Down here in Florida, any wood on windows does not last very long.

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?

Windows on Washington, Thanks for your comments. I've had replacement window Reps in my home who offer Lifetime warranties on their windows, Reading through Angie's List in my area there seems to be many complaints from customers who can't get the company who sold them the windows to honor the warranty or they make the process so difficult customers give up. Nor can some customers get the manufacturing company to send a rep to access the problem. More attention is paid to the selling side than honoring the warranty side after they're installed. And the older the replacement window...the harder it seems to get some companies to come out to inspect it or they come out and find a reason to not replace the replacement. I've read quite a bit of that on Angie's List for my area and online even for companies like Marvin which surprised me. The replacement window companies would have fewer complaints if their Lifetime Warranty side of the business was just as eager to honor the warranties as the sales side is to sell the windows. In addition, the online complaints never disappear. So, even if/when a window company cleans up it's act and starts addressing their Lifetime Warranty promise new prospective customers will run into those negative reviews which cast a bad light on some companies. Marvin seems to have a lot of complaints. We love our house. Our goal is to age in place for as possible. We don't want to go through replacing the replacements! Experts say, vinyl does not last like wood and it will need to be replaced 7 to 10 yrs, or if you're very lucky you may get 15 yrs useage on some of them. I know people who've replaced vinyl windows after 10 yrs due to the clouding problem which they experienced on too many windows. Maybe the reputation of replacing the replacements for various reasons is why some vinyl companies offer the Lifetime Warranty. We have spent countless hours doing the pros and cons. Our biggest concern is our huge cottage picture window and 2 matching large companion windows on each side of the pic window in front of the house. The picture window takes up almost an entire wall in our livingroom. The light is wonderful especially in the winter, it's a southern exposure all day with no obstructions. We use to have trees but they're gone so, we can see why they built the these big windows across the front in '63, all 3 had shade from 2 trees. We also want to replace the small single pane wood grid windows on all with a no grid double pane large window that is designed for full sun on the picture and the 2 companion windows with a double hung double pane with grids only on the top window. All the local window companies are only as good as the sales team, installations team and fulfilling the warranties especially, in a timely manner. Failing to do so in any of those 3 areas means I'd be less likely to buy windows from them.