I have AC's and a Whisper 60, TetraTec 300 & 500. They all do the same job of mechanical filtering, housing bacteria, and moving large amounts of water.
I prefer the cartridge filter Whisper and TetraTec for the easy of cleaning. They all have sponge filters for bio; in fact the TetraTec 500 has a larger sponge than the AC110. The TetraTec's also have a wet/dry bio chamber, so they may produce more BB than the ACs. But the big difference is that they have cartridge filters "before" the sponge (and not under it), so the sponges rarely have to be cleaned. In fact I have not cleaned the bio-sponges in over a year. For filter maintenance, all I do is swap out the cartridge filters; quick, easy, and virtually no mess.
For the ACs I have to siphon water in a bucket, pull the media tray out, rinse the sponges, empty the bucket; and if I am not doing a water change at the same time, I have to mix a bit of tap water and Prime to refill the tank. The amount of water mess between the two types is like night & day.
For me the Whispers and TetraTec win hands down!