[Glen]

The conflict comes from either Omnipoles number one fan or Glyn himself (obviously).
Chap called Kev has been very successful with the real deal making good money and is an obvious publicity model for Omnipole so anyone building their own tends to get crucified. Just have a good look and decide for yourself. If you are going all out for the big commercial jobs and think your going to be a big player then just buy the ready made version. The differences are pretty small at the end of the day, Omnipole have a straight inlet to "increase the vortex effect in the chamber" - more likely to stop twigs and pine needles from jamming i would suspect.  

Actually I do almost exclusively residential. I would like to offer additional services though - gutter cleaning, high level pressure washing etc but would be unsure, to say the least, on how to put it all together in a van.

[Glyn H]

To reiterate
Our system uses 51mm hose- the new inlet to the vac is 60mm so to prevent blockages
Majority of DIY versions use a standard 38mm hose ( only slightly larger than a Henry which uses 32mm)

Our latest vac is  4000+ watts
DIY ones are 3600 watts

We use lightweight ultraflex hose
the DIY I have seen use standard black plastic hose

We have a range of accesories to meet any task readily available


We can supply a complete package including high pressure PowerPole to clean blockages in down pipes up to 13 metres high

We have supplied many hundred gutter cleaning systems and
our clients include the largest cleaning contractors in Europe  the largest waste management companies in Europe and the largest Facility Management Companies in Europe.

[ftp]

Like i said  You can buy larger hose, you can buy more powerful vacs and you can buy bigger inlets they are  all out there. If you aren't sure then by the ready made package it's that simple.
You don't need all that power for residential work though. (Omnipole were selling a smaller version - less than 3600W only a couple of weeks back just for residential).