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Originally Posted by buzzy
We just had a proposal for 3M Prestige 50 film on our west-facing windows. Does anyone have experience with this product?
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I am familiar with 3M Prestige 70 which I thought looked fine. That is the one that lets in the most natural light while cutting out a lot of the bad effects of the sun. (But this was up north so I am not sure if Prestige 70 is used in the same way in hotter climates.)
3M has a lot of information on their website about the various films.
The sales rep should give you a sample of each one of the Prestige line of film to tape on your window to look at from inside and out to see how you like the appearance.
3M's film has evolved over the years to do a good job while not looking so obvious. But my only experience with it is in the north in a home that had a wall of windows facing west. The homeowners also had shades on those windows but wanted to enjoy the view and also protect the furniture, etc. As I recall, it was a decorator who had suggested the use of the film to protect the room contents from fading, as well as providing all the other advantages of film, including cutting down some on glare. I did not think the 3M Prestige 70 looked dark on the inside but I did not look at it from the outside. In fact, I did not think the Prestige 70 was very noticeable on the inside unless you were looking for it.
If I were you, I would read everything about it on the 3M site. Prestige is a somewhat more expensive film but it seems to offer some things that other films do not.
You might also ask your sales rep where you can see an installation. Sometimes commercial properties have Prestige on their windows.
If you decide to do this, you might want an experienced installer--even though it should not be that hard to do, there is some technique involved. And they should do a really good job of cleaning the windows first because you do not want to enshrine a big streak under that film.
(Geez. I fell asleep way too early tonight, woke up, and now here I am writing a dissertation on 3M window film at 3AM. Oh well, hope this helps. Study up on that 3M site. I think 3M is a good company and might even be the company that invented window film way back when. It's come a long way since.)