Good choice, the Starmark is a great window.

no, you are certainly not crazy, ansersen make a horrible vinyl window in my opinion and as you eluded to, it looks extremely cheap as well.
home depot offers andersen vinyl under the name " american craftsman", its the same poor quality window. i just removed an andersen vinyl patio door that someone picked up at home depot a few years back and its warped and leaks air ike its going out if style; talk about junk. we put in a high quality patio door and all is good and the customer is very happy.
good luck with your starmark project and please report back when they are installed.

Great job not getting sucked into the BS that is out there.

Given your choices....you hit one out of the park by comparison and got a great window.

Hopefully the contractor is a solid contractor and you get a great install.

The Starmark window is a premium composite window and is better than most if not all replacement windows on the market. That said, the Andersen product you are comparing it to is the entry level box store product and will not match up well with any quality VINYL window. It is simply the low end of the replacement market.

If you compare Andersen's top of the line replacement product, the Renewal By Andersen window, to a top of the line VINYL window (such as the OKNA 800 ...the Envirostar) You have two windows closer to each other. The OKNA 800 series is a fully welded vinyl window and the Renewal is a composite made of wood fibers and shredded vinyl mixed with epoxy. I prefer the construction of the 800 window, especially the welded corners. The Renewal material can't be welded, so it is 'butt joined' at the corners.

Also, the Renewal costs 2 to 3 times that of the 800, and is only sold by dealers who commit to sell only Renewal by Andersen, hence the cost difference.

This post was edited by vinylwindowguy on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 11:05

The Okna 800 also destroys the Andersen renewal in terms of energy efficiency ( Ufactor ) and air leakage.

Plus you don't get raped by the Renewal Salesman.

The Renewal does not compare favorably in any respect, other than they look nice out of the box. A warranty of only 10 yrs is not good at all. Mechanically fastened construction with a composition that has a high content of vinyl is a recipe for problems IMO, as is mixing in wood fibers. I have seen them in pretty rough shape after a decade or so.
The other Andersen vinyl option is Silverline/American Craftsman. A little bit of searching goes a long way in figuring out the reputation for quality in that line.

We made the mistake of buying American Craftsman in 2002. They were a far superior to the aluminum units we replaced. The problem was in 5 years we had 3 out of 13 with glass seal failures. They came out and replaced all 3 at no cost. Fast forward to today now 10 out of the 13 have the same failures and the 3 they did on 2007 are the worst with mold between the glass and our house always has very dry air. Now they want to charge us to replace them.
I am currently looking at OKNA 800 or Starmark. Besides having great specs I am able to support a business in my own state.

Barry,

Sorry to hear of that.

You will certainly be looking at a much better unit now and I am sorry you had to buy these things twice.

WoW,

I was this close to doing a deal with Renewal By Anderson because the last thing I wanted was vinyl after my experience. The quoted me $7700 for 5 double hung (the worst of the 13) and that was my 2 week price which expires this Tuesday.
After doing some more research here at the wonderful GardenWeb, I found what seemed like unbiased info from great folks like mmarse1, HomeSealed and you. I never would have know about OKNA right here in my backyard with out you guys/gals.

After looking at the specs on the 800 and Starmark I cant believe I was going to put down that kind of $$ for an inferior window. Normally i don't make any purchases with out doing research at this stage in life. RBA really puts on a good show then the pressure comes. Good luck trying to find the specs on their line though. If its on the web site its very well hidden. Maybe under the privacy policy ;-)

My hope is I can get one of these higher quality windows near or at a better price.
Thanks again for all the help!

Barry,

That is awesome. Stories like these kind of make the day for the guys that help contribute to this board.

Not so much because you are buying window "X" or window "Y" but because we hopefully helped out and got you into the right product for your application and something that you will be happy with.

Happy Sunday!!

We mostly use the 800DX and have tremendous success.
I get to pick them up right at the factory.
theWindowNerd...