The HF unit is the one thing about which I disagree with Stick. If you buy it on sale the price is around $168 dollars. I've had two trouble free for several years. One for each shop area (shop and garage), one with the Wynn drum filter and the other with just the bag (sits outside the garage during use). I think Stick has a point for a heavy use shop, but which unit in our price range has the ability to run for a thousand or more hours per year? I'm certainly not using it that much, and if I had a heavy use shop, I'd be spending far more ($1200-1800) for an industrial unit. BTW, the HF unit comes in a great padded package and takes an hour or so to assemble.
The impeller is sufficient for a home shop as is. Stick is talking about modifying it by replacing the HF impeller with one sold by Rikon, which greatly increases air flow, and is metal, not plastic. By using the Super Dust Deputy, you catch pieces that might damage the HF impeller, but you do not need to change the impeller to get good DC function. That is one of the modifications Stick pointed to. {One of our members did a long series of posts on upgrading the impeller and the tremendous increase it produced in flow.)
After realizing that many name brand tools are made in the same factories as, say, WEN tools, I really don't see any noticable difference between the various brands that use the same design as the HF unit. An American made motor of the same rating is more than the HF unit itself, so I doubt that a $400 brand name unit has that much better motors, the economics really don't work for the marketing company.
I don't have a store handy to check where the Jet, Grizzly and other brands of DC units were manufactured. Yet, I'd bet all the lower priced units come from Chinese factories. In fact. for example, the WEN 12 inch drill press has exactly the same casting marks as the Jet, priced half again as much as the WEN. I've noticed the same for many other tools. On the Grizzly link Stick posted, you'll see a ceiling mounted filter with timer and 3 speeds. It is exactly the same as the WEN unit that I got on sale on WalMart online for $99 delivered to my local store.
As I said, this is the only area in which I disagree somewhat with Stick, and then not when it comes to a commercial or heavy use shop. If I were a rich man, I'd probably have an American made DC unit with 220, 3 hp motor and a steel cyclone separator. But I'm not rich and I'm a hobbyist and I think most of us here fall into that category. I think you'll be very happy with the HF/Super Dust Deputy setup and the 30 gallon drum will be great.
One small modification I suggest is on the drum, add a half inch ply circle to mount the deputy on to make it rigid, and to cut a small opening somewhere on the lid, covered and sealed with glass or Lexan so you can see the dust level inside. Otherwise, your cue to empty the drum will be large amounts of sawdust in the HF unit's bag.
I found some 50 gallon plastic bags that fit the HF unit on Amazon. You won't be using many of them over your lifetime if you empty the drum regularly. 2/3rds is full in my drums.
Attached is a picture of the ceiling mounted dust filter by WEN. It is something to add since you're exhausting filtered air into the shop. Of course you can make do with a 20 inch box fan with a filter taped to the front. It just won't have the timer. You hang your filter from the ceiling on one side of the shop so you get a circular air flow. If you use a box fan, hang it upside down so you can reach the on/off/speed switch. Use aluminum duct tape to secure the filter tightly to the fan. Do not put the fan on the floor, it will just stir up and launch the sawdust.
