The Scirocco has a powerful fan. That said, I'd go for which has the highest rise if fan speed is the same. I have a Scirocco - the original model with only 8.5" rise - the 14" rise of the current model ha to be an improvement.

Neither will do much functionally so I don't think it matters. Get the least expensive.

If you cook much or think you will in the future then I'd look at options for a proper hood.

I equate downdrafts as the same as you blowing so go for the cheaper one.

Equally useless.

Hot rising effluent is extremely difficult to overcome. You are trying to get hot moist air to not just stop rising but to travel horizontally and then down. It would take many thousands of CFM's (20,000 maybe?) in the downdraft plus thousands of CFM's of very direct make up air to get a downdraft to begin to overcome and collect hot rising effluent.

It is difficult to get rising effluent to even just bend a tiny bit in to a hood that is too small. This is why commercial hoods are so large.

Indisputably but if a downdraft is the only practical option.

Downdrafts aren't 'useless', they do the poorest job of removing smoke and steam compared to other types of vent systems unfortunately. So beware of this. Consumer Reports says they did the worst job. If you do buy one, make sure it rises very tall.

Thanks for the input, all, and especially zneret. I bought the Scirocco. I'm sure it will be fine, since even our old Jennair downdraft has been fine. As I said, we're not doing much "real" cooking these days, just little-kid-friendly light cooking. We'll either upgrade our kitchen setup or move in a few years. For now, I'm sure the Scirocco will do the trick. :)

In between a scirocco vs best retractable down draft. What do you recommend? I am an active cook. 36 Inch Downdraft Ventilation with 18 Inch Height, Multiple Blower Options, Four-Speed Glass Touch Control, VERTEX Complete Capture Design, Heat Sentry Automatic Adjustment, 2-Level LED Lighting and Delay Off