I like the Marvin Essential or Elevate line. I think the fiberglass exterior is excellent as far as resistance to weather and structurally.

In an area like MN (I'm next door in WI), you are going to want to familiarize yourself with thermal and structural performance ratings given the harsh conditions.

Thermally you will want:

-a low U value (preferably triple pane sub .20),

-Somewhat balance SHGC (unless your home is designed to take advantage of passive solar gain),

-High Condensation resistance (60's-70's),

Structurally you will want:

- a low air infiltration rating (under .05, but lower the better)

- a high DP (structural) rating. Minimum DP50 IMO, but there are products that get 60, 70, 80 even as double hungs.

There are windows that will fit those numbers in various materials (vinyl, fiberglass, etc), although they generally aren't the "household name" brands. Softlite, Okna, Sunrise, Polaris, are a handful of vinyl products that do, then there are a couple Canadian fiberglass lines that do as well, Inline being one that comes to mind.

+1. Not sure the Marvin products hit the mark with regards to actual realized efficiency and performance data. Pretty to look at, but lacking on the data.

Choices are often limited in rural areas and the vinyl windows listed are sold to limited dealers that typically only sell the product installed. Marvin is found almost everywhere.

@toddinmn, I'll defer to what you may have availbale in MN, but three of the four brands that I mentioned have models available to anyone and everyone through supply house/lumber yard in my area. Two of them actually have more vendors offering them locally than Marvin does.

Its not really relevant to the OP's question, but just figured I'd clarify that.

Lastly, I agree with WoW. Marvin products are well-built and an excellent choice for the right set of project goals, but certifed structural tests would say that they aren't exactly leading the industry in "resistance to weather and structurally". They certainly would not be my choice with wind whipping across a lake, and in fact I've replaced newer Marvin windows with one of the products listed above in that exact scenario.

That is not the case here as far as I know for any of the vinyl brands listed and I am in the biggest market in the state. The market gets incredibly smaller the further you go out into cabin country. It’s completely relevent to compare what is available to someone unless they want to drive to Wisconson(which may not be far) and buy there windows and have a third party install them. Marvin may not be cutting edge on thermal numbers but there air numbers are shrined in a bit of mystery as many are. I am familiar with your 1 case of Infinity’s, but it is one case , a different line of Marvin’s and the details are vague.

What supply houses are in your area Todd? I'm surprised to hear that you have none of them available.

Where did the OP say anything about wanting to buy product only? Maybe I missed that?

ABC and Alside are the big one’s and they dont carry any you mentioned but maybe that has changed. Just pointing out that they did not mention who was installing and when you get into cabin country the choices get slimmer.