I've had it for about 1 year. It is a two tank system and the tanks are only about 24" tall. I built a shelf and they sit on it, off the floor. Apparently with the two tank system, you still have softened water while the other one is regenerating. If it regenerates while you're taking a shower, you wont know it and will still be provided soft water because it switches to the other tank. I believe most of the others (single tank design) will leave you with regular hard water while its regenerating. However, you can set the timer on them to regenerate during the middle of the night so it might not be an issue with some.
Our well water is a little acidic so when we added the softener, we started seeing copper staining in the shower's and sinks. I could fix this problem with a pH neutralizer but I don't want to spend the money at this time so I bi-passed the water softener to see what it would do. With it disconnected I have no more copper staining.
Our water isn't very hard. In fact, it only has 5 grains. The main reason I got it was for our on-demand hot water tank. However, when I installed my water softener I installed a sand filter and whole house filter as well. Right now they are the only things I'm using with great success.
With the Kinetico you can go on vacation for as long as you want and as long as there is no water running through it, it wont regenerate. I was also sold on the fact that they only use a very small amount of water and salt during regeneration. I can't remember the exact amount of water it uses during regeneration without looking it up but I think it takes about 11 minutes and uses 7 gallons of water and 1 pound of salt. Most other units use upwards of 50 gallons of water and 10 pounds of salt. That being said, my water isn't very hard so it takes less salt but I did check out other units before I went this route.
Mine is set to regenerate at about every 450 gallons used.
If someone has more accurate numbers, please correct me.
My wife has the camera but if you want, I can post a photo of my set up.
Craig