Most any window maker can offer the same designs. I would base my purchase of new windows on how they work. If you go to the library, ask them if they have the Oct 2000 issue of Consumer Reports. They did a comparison on different makes of windows and how each one fared.

[This message has been edited by boilrman (edited February 01, 2003).]

CR is a pretty lame place to go for practical advice, IMO. Bunch of nerds looking at charts to come up with conclusions.

Norco is an excellent window manufacturer. Not in the top three but definitley top grade consumer product at a good price with nice options like the one mentioned.

It has been my experience that Norco is a brand to avoid. It is one of the lowest level of window grades available in terms of quality.

Only place I would use a Norco window is on a shed. jmho

That's interesting. What problems did you have with them, if you used them. Or What reason, if any, do you have for saying this?

Weathershield is another manufacturer that makes units with narrow muntin designs and decent quality that I like.

Piffin,

To consider someone a "nerd" to use unbiased reporting of how a product does to standardized testing, shows me you need to grow up.

Offer your opinion, but you dont need to criticize others for trying to get the best deal they can. It all comes down to research. When you find what it is you are happy with, go for it. As long as the buyer is happy nobody elses opinion matters.

How products stand up in real life, with real contractors, in real weather situations is a whole lot more important than what a few tests can tell. There are windows that test very well that many contractors would refuse to use because of a series of bad experiences with them.
Another indicator is the warrantee backup by the company that produces them. Any manufacturer can have some bad windows go to market just as any contrator can make a mistake building something or installing a product. The true measure is in how they deal with customer satisfaction re repair and replacement in the long run. That is real world experience.

I have no idea how Norco stacks up in the consumer reports, but I know from experience using them on four homes I've built or remodeled that they do make a good unit and that they stand behind it.

I've also known many people who are disappointed with their decisions on products because they based those decisions primarily on Consumer's Reports articles and testing which is only a third of the information they need. It is only a beginning.

And I have read some of their reports on other products where it was obvious that the way the tests were structured was to give advantage to certain types of items. Now, with windows, there is already industry standardized testing that all manufacturers submit to. Are you suggesting that CR has their own testing procedure? That would be specialized and not standardized. Who decides what to test for and how to do that test? The editors of a magazine or wiondow installers? editors go back to the office to work on something else next week. Professional window installers go back to jobs all year long and get to see what works and what doesn't.

By my objective evaluation, that makes the editors of CR nerds in comparison.

This info seems to be the most "real world" and you guys are really running with the ball. Actually, I worked for a company that installed Norco in their building and can learn first hand of the window's peroformance after three years. I appreciate the dialog here, and hope it continues. Thanks to all of the opinions offered, but it still looks good for Norco.