Consumers Digest

what windows are better:1) Alside Excalibur, 2) Alside Ultramaxx,3)Silverline 8500 byAndersen,4)Simonton 5500?

Trying to choose between the following: 1) Harvey Classic .30 U $5800, 2) Ultramaxx R10 .21 U $5255, 3) Alside Excalibur .30 U $4955, 4) Silverline 8500 .30 U $5531, and 5) Simonton 5500 and .30U. $4955, Ultramaxx has triple pane with Krypton gas. The other windows are double pane with Argon. The lightest window appeared to be the Silverline. The Alsides were the heaviest then Simonton and Harvey. Not sure how long I will keep the house. I understand that the Simonton is rated well. The Excalibur has the Consumer Digest award. Alside's include glass breakage warranty as does the Silverline. The house is small ranch house. Any opinions are to what windows are best? If the R10 is after the Ultramaxx name, does that mean it's warrantied through the retailer and not Alsides? THe Alside's site doesn't have a R10 after the name. The prices are for 15 windows. 11 double hung and 4 hopper. Pella came in at 6800 for their windows so they were eliminated from the top three prices. One company gave me the same price for the Excalbur as the Simonton. They told me to choose either window for the same price.

Public Comments

1. Find out if there is a guarantee on the seal for the gas, with a free replacement if the seal is ever damaged. As far as I've been told -- from window manufacturer reps -- is that the Argon and/or Krypton gas WILL been lost within 5-6 years - the seals just aren't able to contain it for much longer than that. So, especially for that kind of money, I'd want to see a full-replacement guarantee on those seals. What's most important is the Low-E glass. That offers significant insulatory advantages vs. standard. We replaced every single window in our home with Low-E and it DOES make a HUGE difference. (But we just did the Pella $250-300 per window vinyl replacements -- piece of cake to install and absolutely incredible -- noise reducing AND super insulative. We didn't want to ever paint windows again and wanted to be able to open/close with with one finger even after 10 years. (We had to screw in a 2x4 and HAMMER force open some of the old wooden windows, because they had swelled up and gotten stuck with paint.) True story: when we put the last window in, there was literally a suction sucking sound and suddenly the house went SILENT. It was totally incredible. We have huge storms with wind and hail come through now and we don't even hear them! I can't speak to those brands, one vs. the other, but it sounds like every one of them is super expensive. So just make sure you are getting your money's worth in terms of guarantees/warranties. Personally, we love the Pella vinyls. Reasonable cost, worth every penny, easy to maintain, and they do the job spectacularly. We would never go with wood again.