I stumbled across this posting while learning a bit more about LowE3, and just can't walk away without a comment. First of all, I am part owner of a window company in the Seattle, Washington area. I'm not trying to drum up business, and we only do apartment and condominium buildings anyhow. For a house-package, I don't think that homeowners should be paying any more than $700 per window. That leaves more than plenty of money in the contractor's hands for a job well-done. If a sales'man' pulls out any weasel words like, 'this price is just for today.', or, 'ok, then how about this new lower price?', then tell them to 'GET the *&^% out of MY *&^% HOUSE!' These are not humans, and they are not redeemable in the context that they should be anywhere near your windows. They're crooks who'll sell out their own grandmothers if they can make a dollar. The same thing goes for anyone who stays for hours while trying to make the pitch and get you to sign a contract right then and right there. A decent contractor has respect, and an indecent one has no business being in business and should be told so at every stop. My other suggestions: Get a comprehensive list of the last ten jobsites of all non-crook companies, and go drive by them to make sure that their installation looks most-excellent. Check their insurance, bond, license info out at your state's government websites. Google their names and try to find any complaints about them. Please do your homework. Don't be too rushed to realize that you'll be living with your new windows (be they good or bad) for many years to come. -John

Typically you do see four reflections - I apparently had a bit of a brain cramp when writing my original reply. As you noted in your last post, the different colored reflection indicates the location of the LowE coating - or if all the reflections are the same then there is no coating. "Doing some more research I found this. I also found that if the sun hits the windows you want Hard coat to reflect it back, if not you want Soft coat to reflect the temp back." To follow-up on your post, hard coat LowE works well when you want high solar gain thru the window and into your home. But if the sun hits your window and you want to block it, then you want a dual or, better yet, triple silver softcoat. A hardcoat will allow almost as much solar heat gain thru the window as will clear glass while the multi-layered softcoat will block direct solar heat gain.

If the windows are otherwise okay, put a solar control film on them and send the differential check to.... Windows on Washington... Just kidding. But seriously, there is no reason (where you are located) to change to Low-e if the windows are otherwise okay. Put a good 3M solar control film and you are done and done.

If this is conditioned space then I would not even consider using clear glass IG units on any of the windows. Replacing the existing dual-pane glass with modern IG units that have low conductance spacers and LoE-272 with argon fill is going to make the room a lot more comfortable as well as significantly improving condensation resistance of the glass when it's cold outside. If this is unconditioned space then using coated IG's will result in a slightly more comfortable room in summer, but probably not so much in winter depending how much sunlight the doors/windows receive. Tempering glass is for safety and has no effect on whether or not to use coated glass or not.