As some of you may recall, I have been on a quest to improve my water, and today met with a local sales rep from Mermaid, who represents Kinetico in Maryland. I called Kinetico after reading all the positive comments on Garden Web about them.

The Kinetico sales man, while annoying, did leave me wondering if I need a softener in addition to RO for drinking water. I just keep seeing the vials of my sink water, that he had on display throughout his sales pitch, one refusing to bubble up with soap while the other was soft and full of bubbles, and a second set of vials shot thru with dye, one with all the crap from my kitchen faucet floating in it while the other was soft and crystal clear.

Background of my water analysis, sent to a local lab:

PH TESTED AT 7.6
HARDNESS TESTED AT 4 GPG
IRON TESTED AT 0.2 PPM
SULFIDES TESTED AT 0.6
NITRATES TESTED AT 8 PPM
TDS TESTED AT 214 PPM

Also, I met with Atlantic Blue yesterday, and they tested my water on-site with these results:

Hardness - 10 gpg
Iron - 0 ppm
pH - 7
Nitrates - 10 ppm
Chloring - 0
TDS - 160

The Kinetico systems he was selling me were:
Q237-$2699 (Water softener, but No chlorine removal)
4060- $3699 (Water softener with chlorine removal)
K5 RO-$1899 ($500 off if I buy the 4060 at the same time).

I was so grossed out by the sales demo that I went to the store and bought the big Deer Park water jugs to drink until I make a decision ;-) I also took a shower tonight and realized the soap does not really bubble and that my hair feels kind of dry. I don't know if these newly discovered aspects of my house are psychosomatic (?) or if these observations are real.

$5100 (4060 and K5 RO) is a big chunk of money, but I feel like water is something you use every day, so I don't want to skimp.

Ironically, when I met with Atlantic Blue they looked at my water and said, are you happy with it, and I said sure, and they did not even quote me their water softeners, just their $995 RO so I cannot compare prices to see how much more the Kinetico is, and whether it is worth the difference.

I do know about the Kinetico not requiring electricity, no timer necessary, 2 tanks, 10 year warranty and it is very efficient with salt. But, I don't know if that is worth 3x the price of other systems.

Please advise. Thanks.