Urban Yurt - Eagle or Raven?

[ShanOBent]

Hi all,
New to the forum, excited to have found this community! My husband and I live in a small home in Seattle with a large yard (600sq foot house, 6000 sq foot yard.) We are looking to buy and raise a yurt this summer as a guest room, work space, storage space, possible airbnb... but mostly just a little bit of extra room for a hopefully growing family in a small house.

We went on a tour at the Rainier factory and had a wonderful experience! We love the company and that they're local, so are leaning strongly towards purchasing with them, but we're having a very hard time deciding between the Raven and Eagle models and wondering if anyone has experience with either/both?

Info about the setting: Yurt will live in a very shady back yard in a rather wet pacific northwest climate. Will not be a permanent living space, but would love it to be a place my parents would be comfortable in when they come to visit. (So, warm and insulated!)

Eagle Pros
- slightly more durable/higher quality fabrics
- gorgeous picture window possibility
- flexibility of easily re-orienting windows if we want as seasons change and we get more natural light in a different orientation
- aesthetically, it is beautiful!
- slightly easier installation

Raven Pros
- more economical (about 4k cheaper for the features we're looking at)
- still a great yurt with excellent structural integrity!

It's a big investment! So want to make the right decision, and wondering if the Raven will be wonderful or if anyone has experienced buyer's remorse?

Thoughts and comments, very appreciated. Thanks!

[Jafo]

I have no experience with

Rainier yurts

personally, but if you want my opinion, you will never regret spending extra for quality. You are already saving money by buying locally as generally, people are paying $1,500-$3,500 to ship yurts. If it were me, I would use that savings to get the better model.

The real window is big deal. The standard windows that contain the lattice sometimes can give people a caged in feeling. A normal glass window removes that issue.

We would love to see pics of the final installation though!

[Sccomstock]

From what I can gather on their website the Eagle is more elegant of the two. The eagle has solid wood doors and window frames where the Raven only has options for fiberglass doors and vinyl windows. They both have the same wall hight and

insulation

options so the liveability would be equal.