Mark:
I can honestly say that my Rainbow experience has been far different than yours then. Back when I had my Rainbow D4 Performance Edition, I had it as well as my Fakir S220 German-made canister vacuum that has self-sealing paper micro-filtration bags & Encapsulated True HEPA filtration (meaning the HEPA is before the motor). I have a Eureka Express PN, Plastiflex hose & Dirt Sensor lower wand I use with it. I was sharing a house with 3 other people at this time, & the house had light brown, cut medium pile carpeting in the living room, dining room, & all the bedrooms. I used the Rainbow as my main vacuum when I vacuumed every couple of days, as I wanted to save money on bags, & didn't mind the setup & cleaning. This house needed it BADLY once every couple of days, due to the amount of foot traffic & sand. Now, once every couple of weeks, I would take my Fakir S220 out & use it....EVERY TIME I used it, I wound up having the Dirt Sensor go off CONSTANTLY when cleaning the living room & dining room, where the heaviest traffic was, On top of that, the bag would be 1/4 full of sand & fine dust....and these rooms would have JUST BEEN VACUUMED with the Rainbow. This was only to make sure everything was getting picked up. Now, bear in mind I was using the Rainbow properly, filling it to the proper level, changing water every 20 minutes, & cleaning it's Separator after each vacuuming. I never was impressed seeing the dirt on the Separator, & even less so with seeing the dirt in the bag on my Fakir canister. Just to give an idea of performance here....the Fakir canister I have pulls 90" Waterlift, Rainbow D4 60" Waterlift.
As far as your assertion you have never seen dust on your HEPA filter & it remains white & clean smelling, & you never see dust on your Separator or in your motor fans....don't take this the wrong way, but since you are a Vacuum Collector, you would have taken FAR BETTER care of it than the average consumer who probably just follows the instructions & maybe even some who downright abuse their Rainbow vacuums. Therefore, your results you have seen with yours are irrelevant when we're talking about dust emissions & what is actually getting to the HEPA filter. In my town, whenever we do see an E Series Rainbow come in for repairs, they ALWAYS have lots of dust on their HEPA filters, even if the Separator is clean. The fact of the matter is, THERE'S A REASON why Consumer Reports always gave Rainbow the lowest scores for dust emissions when the D3 & D4 were out....in my opinion, Water Filtration does NOT work as well as Rexair would have everyone believe, & it does let out a LOT of dust. Come on now! Can you NOT see that Rexair putting the HEPA filter on the E Series was basically an admission they KNEW their system was flawed?! Why would they go from 1936 to 1998, go all those years with water alone, & then suddenly add a HEPA filter to it? It's obvious that Consumer Reports's testing trapped them in a corner....and they knew it.
Mark, tell ya what....if you REALLY think your Rainbow is doing the job you think it is, try using ONLY your Rainbow for 6 months. Then give your carpets a thorough cleaning with your Electrolux with a fresh bag installed....and be prepared to be disgusted with the results! I respect your decision to use Water Filtration vacuums as your primary vacuum of choice, but until Rainbow DRAMATICALLY improves the Waterlift rating on the E Series, I won't even consider using one in my home, & I'll stick with Electrolux & high-end European canisters with HEPA bags & filters.
Rob
