I have the Penn-Plax 1000 canister filter and the only time it spits out bubbles is after a cleaning. But it usually stops doing so with in 4 hours or so, it just has to purge itself of any air that is trapped in the canister as I suspect yours does too.
Other than that, the cascade 1000 is easy to clean, quick disconnects etc. Great flow and the spraybar allows me to direc the flow where I want it (usually up to the surface to break up surface tension).