Andersen 100 Series vs. Marvin Essential Series - 2022 Review


Andersen and Marvin are arguably the two biggest manufactures of windows and doors in the US. They both offer a wide variety of products to meet the demands of all homeowners, designers and contractors. Today I will be doing a side by side comparison of Andersen’s 100 Series and Marvin’s Essential Series. We will look at what each frame material is made out of, color and design options, warranties and more.

Andersen 100 Series Window 
 Frame Material & Durability:

Andersen 100 Series frame material is called "Fibrex" which is a composite material comprised of wood and vinyl fibers. It is twice as strong as a plain vinyl window. The whole window frame, interior and exterior, is made up of this fibrex material. The darker framed colors that they offer (explained later) are an extruded fibrex rather than painted which makes it a high quality product.



Marvin Essential Series frame material is a called "Ultrex" which is a pultruded fiberglass product. It is EIGHT times stronger than vinyl and three times stronger than wood/vinyl composites, like the fibrex. The fiberglass "remains stable in extreme temperatures and expands at nearly the same rate as glass." That makes this frame one of the strongest materials available in the window market. 

Better Frame Material = Ultrex by Marvin



Design Options: Colors, Grilles, Locks, Profile and Sizes/Configurations

Colors:

Andersen 100 Series has 5 exterior colors and 4 interior colors options. White, Black, Dark Bronze, Sandtone and Terratone for exterior colors. The interior are the same options minus Terratone. 

Marvin Essential Series has 6 exterior colors and 3 interior color options. White, Ebony (Black), Bronze, Evergreen, Pebble Gray and Cashmere for exterior colors. Interior colors are White, Ebony, and Bronze.

Grilles:

Andersen 100 Series offers three main grille options. 1) Internal sculpted grilles-between-glass (GBG), 2) Simulated divided lite (SDL) which is grilles on either side of the glass which gives it a more pronounced look, but harder to clean. 3) Full divided lite (FDL) which is the same as SDL + an internal spacer bar which gives it a more authentic look. This is my favorite grille option..

SDL

FDL
Marvin Essential Series only offers the GBG grille option. You can choose different designs within this grille option but the SDL or FDL grilles are not available in this line.


Marvin Essential Series

Locks:

Andersen 100 Series offers an auto lock with either a plastic housing or an upgraded "slim line auto lock" which is metal. I choose this option every time.

Marvin Essential Series offers a "cam" style lock which is your more traditional lock where you manually flip it into the lock position or unlock position.

Profile:

Andersen 100 Series has a thicker frame which means less glass however it is still a pretty modern looking window.

Marvin Essential Series is one of the thinnest frame profiles available that is not aluminum framed. This makes it a popular choice for where the view is of utmost importance. 

Sizes/configurations:

Both the product lines offer many window sizes and configurations. You can create just about any "mull" (when two more windows are attached together to create one larger window) combination with either company. Both series can make a single PIC window up to 49 sq ft which for example is a 8ft x 6ft PIC window. The only type of window that Marvin Essential offers that Andersen 100 does not, is a double hung window. 

Better Design Options = Andersen 100 Series


Pricing and Warranties:

The Andersen 100 series is less money than the Marvin Essential Series, especially in the white frame color. Once you pick the dark framed colors though, the prices become a little more comparable. To get actual numbers please contact your local dealer.

For warranties, they offer the exact same in these lines... which is a 20 year warranty on glass and a 10 year on hardware. 



In the end, both are great alternative products to vinyl and are both perfect for replacement windows (or new construction). Both are energy efficient and offer upgraded glass options to increase the windows U-value and SHGC (solar heat gain coefficient). I sell both all the time but ultimately, customers get what fits their needs which are usually budget, aesthetics and configuration/styles.

If I had to choose one over the other, it would be the essential series because of its stronger pultruded fiberglass frame and thin profiles. That combination is perfect. 

OVERALL WINNER = Marvin Essential Series. 


Essential Series Cross Section
  


If you want to read more about each product here are the links:

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