Hi Brian. There are a number of youtube videos (
http://goo.gl/Qr0rgM) by a local DR provider showing head swaps up close, airflow noise included. Mine is quieter, I think, but it uses a smaller motor and has less total air flow, so that's to be expected. You can feel the breeze in the face with mine but I wear glasses and don't find it objectionable. I sometimes work with the cover lowered, which eliminates the breeze in the face and provides higher air flow over the work area. Some prefer a vertical flow unit for that reason (no breeze in the face).
The commercial bench he uses offers a *lot* more working area than my DIY chamber/bench and I suspect the airflow is higher, but adjustable. I haven't laid my hands on a commercial bench myself, so can't fairly compare them. I find mine perfectly comfortable to use, thanks to it resting on a cart that places the working area at just the right height. It wheels around very easily and I just keep it to one side in a parking area when I'm not using it. Otherwise, I wheel it up to beside my desk where I do most of my work. As far as cleanliness, it works great. Rarely do I find any dust on the platters, and it's usually deposited from the HDD cover if there is any. Notice in one of the cited videos, that he blows dust off the platters with a can of compressed air before closing up the drive, so I think my chamber/bench is perfectly fine.
Thanks for the kind comment. If I build another one, it will probably use a ULPA filter and look like HDDSurgery's prototype (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... jqkyIcqyuo).