Water Softener, need help choosing.

I have to buy a water softener. Price is a huge limiting factor, but I dont want to get something I need to replace next year, that doesnt do the job or that is too small. I have tied googling and reading up and doing comparisons. I cant really make heads or tails of it all. They guy at sears doesnt know anything either. There is a huge price variation.

Does anyone know anything about these units?
Here are the three Im looking at, which should I get?

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Sorry, I can't help but laugh, it reminds me of the trouble I've had trying to understand chicknry. Could take years before you learn enough to make a wise purchase and in the meantime..spend more, try different types, replace regularly, and hope one does what it's supposed to...(chuckles)

Arctic the best thing to do is call a water place, like Culligan, generally they will give you good advise on what to look for, weather you buy from them or not.
The best place to start is a sampling of your water, get the information on what you need to get out and how hard your water is, then work from there.
We are working on a softener system right now as well, since ours has kicked the bucket. Our new water has iron and is hard, so we are getting a system that first takes out the iron, then goes into the softener and softens the water. We were advised that this was the best route, although a softener will also take out mild iron it has to work harder and therefore uses more salt, so the 2 seperate systems is going to save us in the long run.
Then you have to look at your softener, you want one large enough to meet your hardness demands. Ths is where I dont completely understand what they mean, hubby's department.