Indow is the current market leader in window improvement, and thermika is the new kid on the block, so if you’re considering purchasing window inserts (interior storm windows), it’s time to learn more about both products, how they differ, and how they are similar.
Spoiler alert: Thermika and Indow are both excellent products, and your specific situation will determine which product is the best for your use case. Read on to learn more!
Indow has been around for more than a decade. They more or less created the window insert market, and their offering is a premium product. They use high quality acrylic sheet with a silicone foam edging in a bulb shape that compresses when you push their product into place in your window frame.
Thermika’s product has been in development for the past year, and it’s newly launched. Like Indow, Thermika uses a high quality acrylic sheet with an edging made of silicone, but that’s where the similarities end. Thermika’s edging is solid unlike Indow’s foam edging, and instead Indow’s bulb shape that compresses, thermika’s edging takes the shape of a tapered flange that deflects when you press it into position in your window frame.
So, what is the result of these differences?
1. Appearance: because Indow’s edging is foam, it is opaque and therefore needs to be colored. Indow offers three colors, white, black, and brown–perhaps one of these colors will work for your windows, but even if it does, it’s still visually more noticeable. Thermika’s edging, on the other hand, is solid silicone, so we can make it translucent to blend in more effectively (it will take on the color of your window frame). Also, Indow’s compressed bulb can show some wrinkling (especially around the corners) which isn’t ideal, whereas Thermika’s deflecting flange will never wrinkle. We can all agreee that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but a sleeker, less noticeable option will probably appeal most people.
VERDICT: thermika wins this one!
2. Flexibility: Indow has the capacity to build window inserts for nearly any shape of window. Thermika, on the other hand, is currently able to handle rectangular windows (even if they are out of square)–as we become more established, we hope to offer more complex shapes, but if you have peculiar windows, Indow is probably your best bet. Depending on your situation, you might even order specially-shaped inserts from Indow and rectangular shapes from Thermika.
VERDICT: Indow wins this one!
3. Friction: both products rely on friction to stay in place once they’re installed. Under compression, Indow’s bulb presses out against your window frame to create friction. In Thermika’s case, its deflected flange similarly presses out against your window frame to create friction, but Thermika’s flange also has to deform radically in shape in order to come out–this increases the security of the Thermika pane in your window frame. Because Indow’s window inserts have, in some cases, unexpectedly popped out due to air pressure, they offer for purchase a kit of metal hardware to help keep their inserts in place. This obviously adds to the cost as well as the time to install/uninstall, and it requires you to put screws in your window frame. Thermika, on the other hand, is inherently much less likely to pop out due to atmospheric pressure because the design of its edging makes it much more secure—no hardware kit necessary!
VERDICT: Thermika wins this one!
4. Cost: both Indow and Thermika are premium products, but Thermika has the edge when it comes to cost as it is priced at about 10% less than Indow.
VERDICT: Thermika wins this one!
To summarize, Indow and Thermika are both excellent choices for improving the thermal and acoustic performance of your windows. If you have unusually-shaped windows, Indow is your best bet, but for windows that are rectangular, Thermika offers a more streamlined appearance and a more secure fit at a lower cost.