They have a nice system . . . . it does the job. The issue with them is they are over priced, more then a ton !
Now, the cheapies will do as much as the Kinetico will - Basiclly all softeners work on the same principal.
There are 2 parts to a softener - the meter and the rasen bed. Pretty semple really. If you clean your resen bed, it will last for a very, very long time. if your meter goes bad (the costly part of a softener), change it out. A guy doesn't really need alll those fancy electronic meters, they cost alot and are less relayable then the machanical meters. With that said, I talked with a guy that buys water softeners that don't work - 90% of the time its' simply a clogged up resen bed. He cleans them out and adds new resen and resells them with a garrentee. He can get what every meter head a guy wants.
There are different qualities and types resen to use in beds for specific mineral removal. So, with the resen's you do kind of get what you pay for - BUT . . . they all need to be cleaned, regularily.
As far as RO - well, again, the same. they are pretty streight forward.
The thing with softeners and RO systems is people think they are some kind of magic elves in them that make it all work - so along comes the sales guy and confuse's the customer more - then low and behold - the customer buys a multi- thousand dollar contraption that doesn't do any more or less then the box store models.
Even in your tough water conditions - I wouldn't spend the money on the big name brands . ..  .
Have you tryed one of your local, trusted plumbing guys - they have access to the same componants as Kinetico, Calligan and the other big name brands. (bring him the kinetico componant list and have him bid it?)
That's my opinion, you asked  . . . . .