Justa Beginner wrote:

Im looking at getting a dust collector. Have read up on them and their
importance in the shop. Still don't know which I will be getting yet but
come across something that kinda confuses me. For example, Home Depot here
in Canada sells the Delta AP400 1 hp Dust collector with a 30 micron bag for
$300. Now i have seen one at busy bee for $160 which is a 1 hp and has a 1
micron bag. It is my understanding that the lower the micron would be
better as it is allowing smaller thus less particles to escape. Is this
correct? For my use it would be in a small shop where i would keep it
portable as my machines are close together and have been buying them with
mobile bases for ease of movement. Thanks for reading.

For the bag comparison alone, you're correct. What else you need to
look at is static pressure, rated cfm and impeller size among other
items. The no-name also may not have much of a motor even if it is 1 hp
rated...