I didn't check the trichomes. I bought a loop and tried checking them but wasn't able to see what other people show in pictures. That's the reason I harvested over such a long span of time. It was my first grow and I figured sampling and asking others to sample would help narrow down my harvest window for the next grow.
This is what I did:
I gave samples to 6 people, one of whom was a former grower and one who is a very experience grower. I gave them samples of 2 or 3 different cuts in baggies labeled "A", "B", or "C" and told them it was weed that I had grown and I wanted their feedback. I started giving out samples about a month after the last cut.
Everyone said they liked the weed (it was free afterall). When forced to choose, everyone chose the 10/25 or 11/4 cut as their favorite. One person who got the 10/25 and 11/18 thought they were given an Indica and Sativa rather than buds from the same plant.
One woman I gave samples to has a Jamaican husband. They also got the 10/25 and 11/18 cuts. He shared it with his friends whom she described as "weed aficionados". The 10/25 was their favorite, they found it very strong, and she claimed that one of his friends called it the best weed he had had in the US. Since everyone likes being buttered up, I gave her more of the 10/25. Her husband shared it again and while it was good it wasn't as good as they remembered it. Ah, such is life.
At the end of this process I now know my harvest window is Oct 22 to Nov 5 (the plants I'm growing this year are clones of last year's plant). I have gotten better at the loop and used it on an indoor grow and some autoflowers. Hopefully I'll be on the mark this year . . . mother nature permitting.