Sam Goh, Most dealers would be happy to sell to you even if they are hours away. But how much are you saving for that hassle? The local dealer is less likely to help you out with any problems if you left the area to make your purchase. That one small change you want to make after the fact might be $200 from your local dealer, but $800 if the other dealer has to make the drive to you. Same with Home Depot-do you think HD is going to help you at all if you need help later? If it's an appliance that will wear out in 5 yr anyway, that's one thing. When it's a part of your house that will be there for decades, I'd be glad to pay even a few thousand more from a reputable dealer that will be there for the minor problems. If you have ~60 windows, just keep in mind that it will be exponentially more expensive for you if you have to change them all out in 5-10 yr because they're junk... Just my $0.02, hope you can find a good solution that works well for you.

Regarding pricing, make sure you are comparing apples to apples with respect to materials, style and cladding. If you can't see the actual door, the salespeople should at least have a cutaway where you can see the thickness of the aluminum cladding, and how the door is constructed. Since you say you need a custom size, make sure the Peachtree and others you have looked at are quoting you the custom size option too. Also, there is a way to get around the custom size issue. Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact method my installer was talking about (it turns out I didn't need it), but try posting here and asking. It was something about you can get a standard size sliding glass door if it is within 2" of your custom size, and use some kind of frame and filler to get it to fit. My installer said he has been doing this for years, and there is absolutely no problems, as the frame/filler gets fused to the door and become one. Sorry I am so lame at describing this, you should ask this forum and/or the Remodeling Forum, because you could save a lot by not having to go custom (post something like "How can I Install Standard Size Sliding Door in Custom Size Opening?"). Also, prices do vary regionally, and I think a lot depends on how available a product is in your area. I believe if I shopped for Loewen on the west coast it would be much less expensive than the price I saw, because there isn't much Loewen availability here. Conversely, I can buy Marvin at a dozen places within just a few miles, and they are all competing with each other, so the Marvin prices are better. I didn't know Weather Shield bought Peachtree. Actually I was at Menard's this morning, and saw Peachtree there, so it is sold here locally. I am not sure I agree with your salesperson that it's just a question of "sticking different labels on them". You could post on this forum, and ask that question. Having now looked at both, I think the analogy is Toyota/Lexus (setting aside the whole Toyota recall thing!), in that Toyota and Lexus cars are the same platform, but the Lexus has many more luxury features to set them apart from the Toyota. The Peachtree to me looked more lower-end than the Weather Shield I saw. I was impressed by the Weather Shield cutaway that was at the showroom, which made it seem comparable to the Marvin in thickness of materials and overall build. However, evidently the Weather Shield pre-2008 had problems, and the redesign is supposed to be so much better, but I didn't have enough verification for that to make me choose the Weather Shield over the Marvin, since they were priced so close together.

We are looking at a similar project at the moment. The installer who recommended Andersen as an option for us said the difference between these two was that the A-series uses a combination of fiberglass/fibrex on the exterior of a wood door, where the 400 series is a thick vinyl paint on a wood door. The same installer recommended Pella Designer Series over both of these.

DoorProz & Homesealed, I thank you both! I have not made up my mind yet but I did know before posting, that I was not going with American Jewel and that is why I emailed the installer/store back and told them to give me a quote for the Sunrise as I knew he was a sunrise dealer since his name and store was given to me last year from Sunrise.. Tomorrow night, I have a Okna approved dealer coming by whose name was given to me last year when I was going to get windows but decided to wait as they were so much money. I will share everything when I get my other quote and then I will make a decision. Anderson Renewal is not being considered and I do not want American Jewel windows despite the specs looking the same after doing reviews the other day. Thank you both and everyone on this forum that posted above for sharing what you know. Anyone else who wants to give input to this thread, that would be helpful. Homesealed, thank you for letting me know that the entry door and sliding doors is a good choice. :)