I have the Zephyr Monsoon with the LED lights, not sure on the model number to be honest. I have a BlueStar (BS) range-top, 36in. 6 Burner model. We just finished our kitchen remodel just before this past Christmas. Since then I have been on the road for work during the week for 2 months. But from what I have done with it so far, and what the wife has done, we really like the Monsoon. I love the LED lights on it, I wish they would offer a 3rd light option, but the two are good I just really like a lot of light. Not that there isn't enough with this, but to me more is always better. As for removing smells and smoke it hasn't had any problems yet, but we haven't pushed it to hard to be honest. In terms of noise we normally run it on level-3 of 6 levels. The 6th level is called "burst mode" and it will only run at that level for like 5 minutes and then it automatically turns down to level-5 on its own. With it on level-3 we have not had any issues with normal cooking, we use levels 5 and 6 for some heavy smokey stuff, like bacon or searing steaks/meat. Again, so far we love it and are happy with our choice. Phil

There are a few sources of noise in a hood ventilation system (and potentially also in a powered make-up air system). The dominant noise when a silencer isn't or can't be used is fan blade tip turbulence noise. Second will be either baffle turbulence noise (more like a hiss), or its counterpart if mesh filtering is used, or duct turbulence noise. Baffle noise domination assumes that the duct is damped on the outside and the air velocity in the duct is not too high. Otherwise duct turbulence noise may dominate baffle noise, and the duct may also rattle passing on blower unbalance vibration noises. External blower noise is usually lower with a long duct than with a short duct, but one should not expect a really big reduction in noise just because the blower is outside instead of in the hood (for equal volumetric flow rate). (The exception would be a commercial external blower, configured deliberately so that the fan is oversized and the belt drive sheaf ratio is set for a slower tip speed.) For residential operation, where room for a silencer is available, an external roof blower and inline silencer is the quieter approach, leaving baffle hiss below normal speaking levels at full power. That is my configuration. Part of the duct turbulence noise will also be removed -- that from the duct between the silencer and the external blower. Fantech silencers are larger than the ducts, e.g., 14 inches in diameter for a 10-inch duct. http://www.fantech.net/products/fans--accessories/accessories-ventilation/silencers/ld/ld-10-silencer/ They have the general appearance of a motorcycle muffler scaled to a dragline excavator engine. The silencers are also somewhat longish, so if the duct was going to go up into an attic and straight to the roof at the roof edge, it would be necessary to use an angle duct after entering the attic to extend the duct length in the attic to accommodate the silencer, thence use another angle to bring the duct to the roof. Avoid horizontal ducting if possible. Try to make the ducting accessible if possible.

I installed a Zephyr Typhoon when I re-did the kitchen in the old house. When we built the new house, I again had a Zephyr Typhoon installed. It is quiet and does an excellent job of venting odors out of the house. I cannot say enough about the excellent customer service Zephyr provides. In the first house, the guys installing the countertop beat the h*!! out of the front of my vent hood. Zephyr promptly sent the parts that were needed and helped me find an authorized repairman to install them. In the new house, the installers threw away about half of the parts (grease cups, cages that fit over the fans, and probably a couple more things that I've suppressed). Zephyr promptly sent replacement parts. One of the cages came in warped. They promptly sent another replacement. When you call Zephyr, you talk to a real person (I think in California). There are no language barriers. Can you tell I love Zephyr? You could not give me a GE product. I have a GE Cafe stove that is a nightmare. Customer Service has also been a nightmare. I won't recount it all here. It has been posted in other threads. I know you asked about particular models and I didn't address your question. But good customer service is important to me. Hopefully others will be able to address the models you inquired about.

I discounted a Ventahood because of the recommended distance from the cooktop...way too low for me. After cabs above my peninsula and an over the range microwave for 35 years, I ddetest anything in front of my head in the kitchen.