Looking for a RainSoft Water Softener review? What are the most popular RainSoft water softeners? What are people saying about them online? Is rainsoft a scam?
In this article, we’re going to take a close look at the most popular RainSoft water softener, the EC4. We’re also going to pit RainSoft against some popular alternatives, like Culligan and (of course) FilterSmart.
So, without further ado, let’s get started on one of the most important points:
RainSoft Water Softener EC5 Price and Cost: Is it Worth the Money?
Price is a great place to start. After all, if you can’t afford it, you can’t buy it -- so you better know whether or not you can afford the system.
How much does the RainSoft EC5 cost?
If you visit the RainSoft website, looking for the price of the EC5, you won’t find it. Right off the bat, that can be a red flag. Instead, they’ll send a water softener dealer to your home to perform an estimate of the overall cost, and undoubtedly try to upsell you on certain features.
Luckily, we looked through a few internet forums and found that one user on Reddit was quoted $7800 for the system and installation. That means that the system likely costs anywhere from $1750-2250, any extra features cost a couple thousand, and installation costs about $3000.
How Do You Get the Price Down? Two Options...
Another user in that same thread responded with his own take: “I used to sell these door to door. Don't buy from them. They price them at what they think you can pay, not what they're worth. At some point in the sales pitch, he probably asked how much you spend per month on cleaning products or groceries, this is where he got his price.”
So, if you encounter a door-to-door Rainsoft water softener salesman, you have two options to try to get a low price: 1) low-ball him on how much you spend per month on cleaning supplies, or 2) politely tell him you don’t allow solicitors and go look somewhere else for a water softener.
$7800 is quite the price tag. Most water softeners cost anywhere between $500 and $4000, so this model from RainSoft is definitely on the higher end. If you’re still interested, is it worth the money?
RainSoft EC5 Features
The RainSoft EC5 is marketed as a water conditioning system built to supply you with “luxuriously softened water” all throughout your home. As such, it comes with all of the features you would expect from a higher-end water conditioning system:
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Digital display with WiFi connectivity.
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Automatic power outage recovery.
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Injection molded enclosures, which they say, “help protect internal system components against the elements,” presumably meaning a longer appliance life and fewer salt bridges.
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And energy-efficient operation with as little salt used per regeneration cycle as possible.
It’s no surprise that we here at FilterSmart recommend against using an ion-exchange salt-based water softener for most residential purposes, unless you have a hardness level that absolutely demands it.
What Are People Saying About RainSoft? Are They Happy or Unhappy with the filtration Systems, on Average?
We compiled some reviews from Consumer Affairs and Home Depot to give you an idea of what people are saying about RainSoft.
Out of 168 reviews on ConsumerAffairs, RainSoft has an average of 4.0 stars.
And, out of 23 reviews on Home Depot for the EC5 system, the average is a little under 4 stars as well.
Both of these would indicate that RainSoft is a pretty solid company. The reviews for the EC5, however, offer a wide spread. 17 of them are 5-star, while 6 of them are 1-star.
Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your perspective), the 1-star reviews almost universally complain about the same thing: the price of the system -- and the price of the installation, which was forced on them by a pushy salesman. Almost none of them have anything to do with the actual operation of the system.
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“This system is super expensive!!! Definitely not worth the money which..cost me over $7,000!!!” - Darin
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“We where ripped off by vendor which was in Home Depot,paid almost $9000,” - UnaLuna
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“OMG, stand clear from this rip off! Nearly $7000 and see ya two years later $300 to change the filters!” - Respectably
However, on Consumer Affairs, almost every one-star review is marked as “Resolution in Progress,” with an attentive response from RainSoft, indicating that their customer service is on top of things. Only one review on Home Depot complained about the performance of the system, related to a resin issue, and our guess is that they could easily get it resolved if they went through the right channels.
If you want to avoid being unhappy with the system, the lesson seems pretty clear: if you can’t afford it, then don’t buy it -- and, as always, avoid pushy salesmen whenever possible.
RainSoft vs. Culligan: Which is Better?
Culligan, a popular water softening company based in Illinois, has a pretty solid reputation for filtering water of all sorts of contaminants. Their softeners are WQA and NSF certified. However, how do they stack up against RainSoft?
On Consumer Affairs, Culligan has a 3.3 star rating based on 81 reviews. And on Yelp, they have a 3 star rating based on 134 reviews.
Meanwhile, as we saw above, RainSoft has a 4 star average on both Consumer Affairs and Home Depot (at least for the EC5 system), based on 168 and 23 reviews, respectively.
That’s a significantly higher average rating for a similar amount of total reviews. That would indicate, by and large, that people are more satisfied with their RainSoft systems than Culligan.
However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t drawbacks -- and that you don’t need to do any additional research. RainSoft’s EC5 system, while packed with neat features, runs an average of $7000 according to most reviews. If that’s outside of your budget, there isn’t any reason to pursue it any further.
If you’re in the market for a high-end system, though, the EC5 might be a reasonable option.
More>> Read our Culligan water review
Conclusion: RainSoft Water Softener Review
As a company, RainSoft receives some really good reviews with roughly a 4 star average. Whenever they receive a hyper-critical review on Consumer Affairs, they have a corresponding response. That indicates, to us, that they care more about closing the sale; they actually want to keep the customer coming back, and they’re willing to devote the time and effort to do so.
However, their systems -- particularly the EC5 -- can be incredibly pricey, and therefore outside the range of most people. Most water softeners sell for anywhere from $500 to $4000 (at most, including installation). Therefore, with an average price around $7000, you might want to continue your search if you’re looking for something more budget friendly.
Also, if you aren’t really interested in having to refill your brine tank every month or so, or you live in an area where salt-based ion-exchange water softeners are banned (i.e. where there are a lot of droughts and/or environmentally-conscious voters), we recommend you check out FilterSmart’s line of salt-free water conditioners and whole house water softeners.
