I guess it depends on what you are fighting. I have a Lakos centrifugal
as my primary, it gets the big chunks followed by 2 whole house in
series and run the cheap string filters in both. I tried the expensive
filters, but they left the water tasteless, and my well water tastes
pretty good normally. The expensive ones filled up a little too fast
for me, about 6 weeks and I began to lose pressure. The only reason I
run the final filters at all is for the toilet valves and aerators,
which seemed to clog a little too frequently for my liking. Since the
install, nothing has acted up, so my battle is won.