We Have Yucky, Hard Water

I'm not gonna lie to you, the water at the house tasted pretty yucky. It was ok for showering, but not high up on my list of beverages. It's also pretty hard water, would be a shame if our nice new appliances, that are hooked up to water, and faucets would get all gunked up.

There seems to have been a filter there at some point because you can see the pipes hanging in the air, missing something.

But it wasn't there when we bought the house.

So the plumber brought this to our attention

It doesn't really soften the water as much as it prevents the hard stuff from sticking to everything....and makes the water taste better. The thought of not needing to lug a ton of salt for the other kind of filter is pretty appealing.

Anyone have this? Good? Bad? Pros? Cons?

Mahalo and Aloha a Hui Hou!