Ecowater ERR3500 vs. Fleck 7000sxt?

Background: Bought house with Culligan water softener and R/O system. Culligan says they were installed October 2006, serviced December 2012.

It is just me and my husband with 2 cats in a home with 4 full baths. MIL comes to visit once or twice a year around 10 days at a time. Occasionally will have both sides of family over, that would be only other time water use would exponentially increase.

Water felt soft first few weeks/months we were here, water from R/O tap didn't taste to our liking. Now looks like salt tank from softener system is leaking. Not spending the $145 EACH to come out to look at softener & R/O system, so it's time to shop.

Saw display for EcoWater system at Costco. Rep came out, tested water, suggested ERR3500. She tested our city water as 17 grains hardness. TDS off R/O was 213, plain tap was 473. Price was around $5k, then $500 cash card. Since then she has been trying to find ways for us to save money, perhaps with an open box unit, around #3700. This is not including any R/O system, which would be $750. Since we are already plumbed for a softener, I thought she might be able to come down in price - nope, "installation is included" and it's not as simple as as just swapping out one for the other.

DH was all set to spring for it. He trusts Costco's choice in EcoWater as a vendor, since he, himself, deals with Costco as a vendor and knows how picky they are. Me? Not so fast, I could use that money for other things. (Of course it's my thought that we need a replacement softener anyway, it's not like he's pushing for it) Plus after doing research, some threads from a couple of years ago said not to pay more than $3k for the Ecowater system. Has the price gone up THAT much, or are we being had?

Been reading message boards and enjoying the banter between H2O man, Gary Slusser, Andy, and I think there was one other who was all pro- EcoWater. Also discovered that if an independent plumber installed a system, the price would very GREATLY depending on if we were set up for it already.

Found someone who used to work for Culligan for 4 years, she is now an independent dealer who can put together units and has bank of installers at her disposal. She could have someone repair our Culligan systems for far less than Culligan, but I wanted to explore new. She suggested the Fleck SXT valve with an Eco-Twin unit. After seeing our city water quality report, she says we have no chlorine in the system, so the carbon filter (an extra $400) is not necessary. So price of softener would be $1500 installed, entier system has 10 yr warranty. If we want R/O system, it was $450.

I like knowing that if we went with the Fleck system, we are not stuck into using EcoWater for any future problems - and it seems that even with a lifetime warranty, there is still a $125 service charge to come out. What a ripoff.

I have found some people touting the EcoWater system, lots touting Fleck, (and Gary Slusser touting the Clack). As far as warranty and such, the longest we have ever been in a house is 8 years, so having a "lifetime" warranty for us probably means nothing. One thread I found, someone was sorry he didn't shop around more when he bought the EcoWater system, but he didn't elaborate.

HELP! I have been researching this to death and need to come up with a decision. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!