[Dan crowther]

I'm wondering if one of the units in the pic would do the job as good as an RO. I currently have a 200gpd RO but am now needing a quicker producing one. I have been offered a system identical to the one in the pic though and i'm wondering if it would do the job instead of an RO. I know nothing about them so would appreciate your advice if you have knowledge of water softeners.
 I know that obviously the unit on the right is a DI. The one in the middle i think contains some sort of beads that remove calcium and suchlike and makes the water soft, does it take the tds down enough though? The unit on the right is i think to regenerate the middle units beads with a salt wash. Thats all i know from researching on the web.
So what do you think, any good instead of an RO? I have around 360 tds out of the tap.
Thanks

[Rogue Trader]

THe water softener will reduce the tds to what though, you will have to chech tds after softener and before di.If you want you can just use di though with a tds of 360 you will use a lot of resin and will cost you a lot of cash, all an ro does is reduce the tds before di so you dont spend all your money on resin. There are different ways of reducing tds but ro is the most effective. I have twin hf5 ro with a decent water pressure and after ro my tds is between 4 and 2. 

[scottt24]

If your tap water is that high then you need an RO unless you want to spend a small fortune on resin
Spend the money on a quicker ro unit

[Lee GLS]

Water softeners do not reduce the tds of water.

[Nathanael Jones]

Water softeners do not reduce the tds of water.

+1

They do remove calcium from the water though which will extend the life of your membranes.

[Dave Mills]

Water softeners do not reduce the tds of water.

In fact, they increase it.

Ours is 300 without and 450odd  from our softened taps.

[Spruce]

Water softeners do not reduce the tds of water.

+1

They do remove calcium from the water though which will extend the life of your membranes.

I agree with Nat that it removes calcium and magnesium ions from the water and replaces them with sodium ions. Interesting that Dave Mills says his tds is higher after water softner than before.

I once spoke to a water softner company regarding this very issue and was told that the tds shouldn't change. Is there something contaminating your water in the softner or is this normal?
Perhaps someone else with first hand experience of a softener could confirm Daves experience.