What were you told was good about them? The cheap flimsy vinyl, the poor engineering, the high air leakage?

AC is definitely on the lower rung of the window ladder.

American Craftsman are a re branded Silverline and are equally as bad. Very poor quality from the lower grade vinyl with the blue tint, the cheap appearance, and the overall poor design.
I guarantee if you use a cheap window based on price, you will be doing the job twice.

That's a fact. It's not a maybe, cross your fingers. 3-5 years you might wish you had your old windows back.
I am of the opinion that do what you can the right way even if it isn't everything you wanted at once. Next year, do some more the right way. You'll be glad you did.

Very good advice WindowDog. Better to do a few at a time with a quality window than to try and do them all at once and settle for a lower quality product.

Thank you for all of your responses.....so I will mark these off of my list. Will probably bite the bullet and use the Anderson 400 series, or are there any others that are worth looking at?

I am just trying to keep this within my budget...which has to be an economical house...but I want it to be good quality at the same time...is that possible? Thanks again!

In vinyl i would look at sunrise , okna windows ,soft lite, or gorell. These are all exceptional quality and render much better performance numbers than wood windows as well as being less of an investment.