Fleck 5600SXT review

What living with it looks like

The SXT meter counts gallons and regenerates when the resin needs it, rather than on a fixed day. Four regeneration modes give you some control, and the valve keeps its programming up to 48 hours in a power cut, so a storm does not mean reprogramming.

The 1.0 cubic foot resin bed is rated at 35,000 grains when new and 10 GPM peak flow. The brine tank is 15" x 17" x 36", which fits beside the resin tank in most utility closets.

Programming is where owners go wrong. The SXT works out the capacity left before each regeneration from the hardness you enter, so the number has to be right: enter 10 gpg when your water is 18 and hardness will come back days before the next regeneration. On a well with clear-water iron, add about 5 gpg for each ppm of iron, the same rule our size calculator uses.

The catch

Warranty and paperwork. The valve gets 5 years and the tank 10, short next to the lifetime coverage at SoftPro. No certification is named on the page. Fleck (Pentair) sells through dealers; the price we compare is from US Water Systems, and we ignore its crossed-out $1,576.67 to score the $876 actually charged.

How it scores

The Fleck 5600SXT gets 8.8/10 (very good) with our softener score weights. Each criterion below is scored out of 10 from Fleck's published figures and the price we checked; a criterion without a figure is left out and the other weights are rescaled. The scales are on the methodology page.

Full specifications

As published by Fleck on its US pages, read on November 9, 2026. Values the brand does not publish are left out rather than guessed.

Buying advice

Buy from a retailer that sells it as a complete system with resin, tank and brine tank, as US Water Systems does. Then set the hardness and household size in the valve; the default settings are rarely right for your water.

Over ten years the math still favors it. If the valve needed a repair after its 5-year warranty, Angi puts average softener repairs at $150 to $900, and the $591 you save against the Matrixx covers most of that range.

• Fleck 5600 valve with SXT electronic meter and four regeneration modes
• 1.0 cubic foot of resin: 35,000 grains when new and 10 GPM peak flow
• Keeps its programming up to 48 hours in a power cut

Alternatives to consider

Matrixx softener9.1Excellent · out of 10

If you want to use less salt and get a 10-year valve warranty.

SoftPro Elite8.9Very good · out of 10

If you want lifetime coverage on the valve.

SoftPro Fortress8.6Very good · out of 10

If you only want scale protection without salt.

Questions about the Fleck 5600SXT

Sources

Official pages read on November 9, 2026: uswatersystems.com/products/fleck-5600-sxt-metered-water-softener-5600sxt. Product image: Fleck.