actually, i have tried several other substrates, and none of them have been perfect, however the carefresh works good for me. Usually, it is not that dusty. I had one bag that seemed to have a lot of dust, but i shook it up a little and let it 'air out' and it was fine. When i have used bark substrates, there was more dust in them than in what i use now, so i think nothing is ever going to be perfect...