There was an enlightening discussion on this a while back so you should try doing a search. In general the gist of the comments was that a rain shower head experience is usually gentle and those with thick hair have difficulty rinsing shampoo and other hair products. Many, however, like the rain shower for the gentleness. In one shower that will be used by grubby children coming in from playing outside we have installed both a rain shower and a handshower in hopes that they will be enticed into getting cleaned up before they wander through the house. This will also probably be the dog shower. We haven't had a chance to use it yet as we are still waiting for our c.o. HTH.

bebotivo, Which is more important to you, style or function? We demolished and rebuilt our large shower in 2002, and the plumbing fixtures we put in were Hansgrohe (that was before Hansgrohe was bought out and became a Masco company.) We had a rainshower-style shower head. We have low-ish (not REALLY low, but fairly low) water pressure, and after seven years we decided last year that we wanted more vigorous showering. In searching for a replacement showerhead, we conducted very extensive and intensive research into our options, including purchasing, installing, and (up to the last) returning several showerheads from several different makers. The bottom line: you owe it to yourself to include the Moen Velocity 6320 in your plans. Accept no substitutes. You will see a lot of positive user reviews of the Moen Velocity on amazon.com and elsewhere; the positive reviews are true, based on our own experience. Returning to the style or function issue, the Moen Velocity is a rainshower-type head, but it is pretty heavy. Your articulating connecting arm had better be able to keep the head perky. We had to use a chrome-plated arm from Danze that does not match the brushed nickel/stainless steel plumbing fixtures that we have elsewhere in our bath. The performance of the Moen Velocity is very much worth the loss of style points from the mismatched finish in the arm. And (a bonus) Moen customer service really is customer SERVICE in these days that "service" seems to be more of a word than a concept. Encourage them.

I also have a 10" Hansgrohe -- actually one from their Axor line: the 10" Uno Downpour. I was planning to get the Hansgrohe version, the 240 Air, which is also 10" and has the same 180 nozzles, until I found this Axor version. The Axor has a flat, polished face, while the Raindance air has the ridged plastic used in all the Raindance Air showerheads. I just love the look of the polished nickel (or chrome) face on the Axor version, and surprisingly to me, it isn't more expensive. We have the Raindance Air version as a 6" handheld (Raindance S 150 Air). You can see the grey plastic face of the Raidance Air series better in this picture than the one above of the larger head: Here's a picture of our showerheads: Back to your original question, I'd go with the 10" over the 8" because it gives you a wider cylinder of water. If you're getting a rain shower head, why not maximize the rain shower experience? You've got a nice size shower, so I don't think there's any reason to go smaller. (Of course, you can go larger than 10"; there are 12" and 14" rain heads as well, but you need a wider water supply line for the larger of these, and the prices get pretty astronomical for the larger heads.) -- Eric

I can only find one review of the Brizo Siderna Rain Shower Head. Does anyone have one and what do you think? Do you have other brands of rain shower heads that you love? My plumber only likes Delta/Brizo but I'm willing to consider others if anyone has recommendations.