As I understand it, there is a difference between “softening” and “conditioning”, and almost all the saltless systems are “conditioners”,but for most people it doesn’t matter.
I’ve been intrigued by the magnetic ones, just because they sound and look like the snake oil things that are sold to increase gas mileage in cars, but actually seem to work.
To be honest, as long as my appliances don’t have a shorter life, I don’t have to use extra soap everywhere, and I don’t have scale build up or hard water stains, that’s all that really matters.