I launched this ugly subject a couple of days ago with the Fein question. Mea culpa. I actually had purchased the Fein a couple of days before but was thinking of exchanging it for the Porter-Cable which they also had at the shop I bought it from. I decided (I think, finally) just to keep the Fein.

In the few minutes I used the vac the fabric outer filter caught everything (sanding a mix of wood and epoxy with 80 grit paper on a PC VS333 ROS which I also just purchased after reading a few messages posted a few weeks ago). The inner 1 micron filter was clean. The vacuum also picked up all visible signs of sanding dust leaving none in the air. Definitely a civilized way to sand. Anyway, I was hoping I could just use the vacuum as is and dump out the vacuum after I was done.

The bags are about $8 ea. I balked at buying them (why, you might wonder, would he hesitate to buy an $8 bag after buying a $300 vacuum). After reading the prior messages in this thread I think I'll splurge on the 5 pack of paper filters, unless anyone has a different suggestion.

By the way, the only reason I clicked on this subject was prurient interest re "ugly subject". Little did I know ...