I don't know anything about Certainteed, but we are using Hardiplank and absolutely love it! Our builder is so impressed with it--he talks about it all the time.
Susan

We used Certainteed and love it. We got the prefinished and the only difference we noticed between the two was that the warranty on the Certainteed prefinished was longer than the warranty on the Hardiboard. I believe that it was 20 or 25 yrs for certainteed vs 15 yrs for Hardiplan, but don't recall for sure. I believe that they use different prefinishing processes which is why the warranties were different. This was almost 2 years ago and things may have changed since then.
We got fiber cement because we wanted to avoid woodpecker problems-our last house was natural cedar and the woodpeckers loved it. Well, on our new house the woodpecker are going after our roof! I wish that we had gotten concrete shingles too.

If you are looking for prefinished, I also want to mention that when you look at fiber cement siding you see displays with only about 20 colors or so. With Certainteed anyway, you can really get a lot more colors than that--I think it was something like 120 or 150 colors. The prefinishing is done by certified prefinish subcontractors, so the available colors may vary by subcontractor. Also, the subcontractors will sell you gallons of the special prefinish paint if you have other things that you want to paint to match your siding. I can't remember why we needed it, but we did get it. With our prefinished siding we have very little (almost no) touch up to do after it was installed--very few dings.

I've done a little research on both and found that most sources consider them equally good. We're in the process right now of picking siding and we can go with either - it's just a matter of finding the right pre-fab color. Our sider was able to bring us a whole box of Hardie samples but only the brochure for Certainteed. I've had a really hard time finding any lumberyard or dealer that can show me the Certainteed in person and obviously, I can't make a decision based on a color on the Internet. I would love to use one of the Certainteed wood look stains but I've never seen them in person. We'll probably go with Hardiplank.

We chose Certainteed because we were able to get a stained finish with a factory warranty. The product seems of very high quality. The finish is fantastic, but that's done by a 3rd party, so may vary depending on the area where you live. The picture is our house with Mahogony stained horizontal lap siding on the main parts of the house and Redwood stained shakes on some of the gables. Its hard to see the shade difference in the picture. Beware that the shake style takes about 2 times longer to put up than the lap.

surprisingly, our builder uses both. We have Hardie lap siding on the lower part of our house and Certainteed shingles on the upper.

drdugit- That combination is stunning! I didn't know siding came in finishes like that. Oh great- now you've given me yet another thing to obsess about!

I am very impressed with everyone's fast and helpful responses. I will be doing some further research based on your comments and then make my final decision. Which ever one I finally choose, I will be going with the simulated wood grain effect. They prestamp them for the texture and they come with a white primer that you apply stain directly on top of. When the stain is applied correctly and in the right color,it can resemble real wood. I have found out that "Mason's Select" is one of the companies that has a selection of different color stains that are made for fiber cement. They can even be mixed to acheive a wider variety of colors as well.

Thanks again for your responses,

Tony

I am curious on the colors you have on your house. Are these prefinished colors or did you paint the siding with a color you got at a paint store? If so, what brand and color number is it? It looks beautiful!!