I'm shopping for a new water softener. Can someone please tell me if I'm comparing these correctly?

The first quote I got was $1550 for a Fleck 2510, metered valve with fine mesh resin media. To add a carbon filter would be an additional $1200. Throw in $300 for the install, and I have $1850 for softener alone and $3000 for softener plus carbon filter.

I had Kinetico come out and give me an estimate as well. The quote was:
Kinetico 4060, $3495 installed, includes carbon filtration. The rep said there was an optional R/O system for $1200 but with the carbon filter, he felt it was overkill.

Alternately, he suggested a Kinetico 2030, $2890 installed (no carbon filtration)

So, as I understand it, Fleck and the Kinetico are about $1100 apart for just a softener, but around $500 apart for softener plus carbon filter.

Am I correctly comparing apples to apples here? I think I understand the basic differences between how the two systems work, that Kinetico makes all their own stuff (vs someone assembling parts from wholesalers and drop-shipping the lot).

Thanks for your input.
Amie

A Fleck 2510 based softener is electrically driven and has only one resin tank.

Kinetico softeners are non-electric and have twin resin tanks.

The cost difference between the two gets you Kinetico technology with a second resin tank and resin.

Watered down, the Fleck will regenerate based on arithmetic @ 2AM in the morning. That technology is not as efficient as the Kinetico which will regenerate exactly when necessary and switch over to the other resin tank to provide uninterrupted soft water 24/7.

The pluses and minuses of electric versus non-electric should also be considered.