Water softeners: any experts here?

[Chevy454]

Our new house is on well water, and all the limestone in this area means hard water, and it's killing our hot water heater, dishwasher, etc...

Reading online, there doesn't seem to be a lot of love for the box store units (GE @ Home Depot, Whirlpool @ Lowe's, Sears, etc)...anyone have a recommendation here? We're in the boonies, in a small town, so the advice of "pick up a phone book and call a couple of local water treatment experts" doesn't apply. We have plumbers, but they all say "buy it and I'll install it"...