JasonLion said:
The great majority of any difference you noticed was probably because there was salt in the water. You can add salt without having a SWG and get some or all of the same nice water feel.
For residential use, a SWG usually ends up costing more than using bleach (or trichlor). The vast majority of the cost is the up front cost of buying the unit, and then the cost of replacing the cell every 5 years or so. Salt costs depend on the size of your pool, but are minimal, under $50 for most pools the first year, and much less than that each subsequent year. Electrical usage is very low, nothing compared to the pump.
i'll disagree with you here
it only ends up being expensive on pools with very small chlorine consumption and/or if you buy higher end models with bells and whistles
any of the models in the middle price range, and especially in the lower will end up cheaper
we already had this discussion which prompted me to develop the calculator in my signature to prove my point