In my pool the water feels very soft--I accidentally added about 160 lbs of softener sea salt to it (don't ask...) That "feel" can be gotten with a few bags of sea salt--40lb bags are, what?, $5 each.

If the idea is the "feel", it's STILL a lot less expensive to just add some salt and to stay ahead of your water. There's no compelling reason not to (unless you have a low-sodium swimmer).
Carl,

you mentioned that you add sea salt to your BBB pool. I have an IG 27,000 gal. vinyl pool using the BBB method. Can I add sea salt to it and get the soft "feel"? If so how much should I add?

Thanks