I am not a fan of a pocket sill (Amerimax) to be honest and see only drawbacks. Thermal data is decent on the Amerimax, but I can't find any air data on them. Did you salesperson present you with that information? I am leaning heavily in the direction of the Sunrise window right now based on the clean lines (vs. the Simonton), sloped sill, tight air infiltration numbers, and general prettiness of the window. None of the units sizes you have are of a size that I would be really concerned about it, but see if the vendor has included, or will, that option in the Vanguard.

A sash kit with Dual pane and low-E would have similar performance to a triple pane unit. The STC rating would be better and much less loss of glass over an insert. Installation can be simple to comlex depending on who is installing and the condition of the existing opening . I rarely see them installed correctly by pros unless they are somewhat specialized in these, the ones they got right were because the openings and window needed no modification.

Our neighbors have black outside and white inside and is a beautiful modern home…..although it’s probably wood not vinyl. We wanted that look too, I got a bit confused when ordering. I thought just the just the interior grills and sashes would be black and the casing would be white. ( they are wood as well)… not great for dogs nails!) Oops! The whole things were black. Could have been an awful mistake, but it looks good against our light walls. We did get vinyl in the bathrooms white on the interior and black exterior. It works well with our tile… got that right. Here’s a picture of the black windows from inside…it caused sleepless nights a first. I like it now, but we put in temporary blinds( that just stick in with command strips… because we needed privacy and found out that if we screwed holes in the windows, it voided our warranty!) I’ve seen it done in a lot of houses so I don’t think you will be unhappy with the results. I would recommend you look closely at samples of the vinyl windows very closely. I went to see them ( our builder had a sub he recommended). Look at the workmanship closely. The samples I saw were a bit disappointing… there was sloppy silicone caulk and gaps where there shouldn’t have been…we ended up using jeld wen windows instead. Pretty expensive though. Good luck.

I have Milgard all aluminum black windows throughout my home here in San Diego. I prefer aluminum. Milgard has always responded as quickly as possible. I want it NOW but its not always possible, however that being said, i have aluminums for over 20+yrs with no problem. Don't care for the vinyl. I have a modern home. Don't let sales reps convince you that their windows are better. Check them out for yourself and compare. But having Milgard introduced to me by a well known SD contractor over 20+ yrs ago, i have stayed a Milgard customer