I have the Super Dust Deputy in front of my four bag, three horse Jet. I plan on also picking up an XL to replace it, then moving the SD to my horse and a half horse unit on the other side of the shop.
I would not be without the SDD or the larger XL version for the big machine, which tends the jointer, lathe and planer. Without it, I'd be emptying bags way too often, and I'd have to be concerned about the impact of debris flying past the impeller (I use the collector as my vacuum system).
Initially, I was running four inch hose between my collector and SDD. When I got the chance, I swapped the input to a six inch hose and the improvement was significant. Obviously, going to the XL would allow me to increase the input size more and I know the improvement would be worth the time and money.
I'm just running one micron bags I upgraded to on my big collector. The horse and half is running a one micron canister with paddles.
At least one company is saying the paddles should be avoided and, instead, the filter should be blown clean.
Just for reference, I noted my collectors seemed to not improve after cleaning. After pulling the canister, I noted all the dust had landed on the plate in the center and did not fall on down. After I made it a habit to shake the collector following cleaning, the improvement was significant.
I think bags would be fine, if you got the right ones. For example, I'm thinking about upgrading to the style that flares out to give more area. For my collector, that would mean going from two twenty inch bags to two bags with twenty inch diameter openings, but with a top diameter of thirty inches, and a bit taller. Of course, canisters would give more area.
If you use bags on the bottom, consider picking up some of the foam used to seal between campers and the bed of trucks. It will stop the leaks common to bag systems at the points where the bags bunch.