Air dusting does a teriffic job of removing the finest particulate, say river silt from a flood. It can be effective at removing heavier sand, but requires more time than does impact dusting to make this happen.
Beating a rug with a Badger does a teriffic job of removing heavier particulate, such as tracked in sand, does it relatively quickly and the dust is contained under the rug. Unless the rug has dry rot or has some other construction issue, 'beating' a rug doesn't do any harm.
Since fine particulate is more easily removed during the cleaning process than heavier particulate, and given the time required and the cost of the compressor needed to make air dusting work, most cleaners lean toward some type of impact dusting system.
Your local guy bought into the Auserehl system, including the myth that other methods must be bad. See if he's still a 'hang rugs soaking wet' believer.
