If comfort is your highest priority I would recommend that variable speed unit. I was one that would buy the least expensive unit which is what The Villages puts in until I bought a house that had the variable speed. With a single speed it blows cold air full blast so you are cold then shuts off so you are warm. The variable speed you usually don’t even know it is blowing you are just comfortable all the time. It also does a good job of dehumidifying without making you cold.

Good advice but you could always purchase based on lowest price and then use Munns for maintenance (????). All things being equal, why pay more for the same unit with installation?

I have a single stage compressor, and I don't have that experience at all. The supply fan always blows air at the same rate and I can barely hear it or feel it. The temperature is maintained to within one degree of the thermostat setting. I really don't understand how a variable speed compressor could improve anything. The supply fan can be adjusted to low, medium, or high. Mine is set to medium, and my house is always very comfortable. The optional humidity setting, which will overcool your house to reduce humidity, is turned off and I have never had a humidity issue.

Personally, I do my own maintenance, but I do use Munn's for warranty work and repairs. I guess you could use another installer and then switch to Munn's for everything else. But, I would prefer to negotiate a fair price initially with Munn's, if another installer offered a significantly lower price than Munn's.

When the unit does dehumidify, it does lower the supply air temperature or increase cooling, but it will bring on the heat in order to maintain room temperature set point if necessary. The variable speed prevents this and usually does not waste energy using reheat.and if you have the compressor by the bedroom it will make less noise overall.
PLUS your motor should last much longer and you won't have that blast of hot air during the summer every time the compressor starts.

Saw a YouTube video by an A/C guy. Said those soft start devices cause more harm than good.

We stayed several days in a villa, and hated the AC single speed system. Which led me to upgrade our home purchase to a 2 speed system, for several thousand more, of course. The third option variable speed unit was again double the price of our upgrade. LMO not worth what TV was asking.
I personally would upgrade to a 2-speed unit in any home, at a minimum. The variable unit if the cost, and the rest of the system can handle it. HVAC systems need to be balanced. The air handler to the outdoor unit.

IF one knows what they are doing, you can also purchase the outdoor unit online, delivered to your house. But that leaves the quest of finding an installer that will hook it up. Factory warranty intact.

Most systems installed by the builder do not have a true dehumidifier setting, so there is no reheat function. They are designed to lower the temperature by about 3 degrees to reduce the humidity, but the compromise is that your house gets colder than the thermostat setting. There is no reheat. That is why I do not use the humidity setting.

The humidity setting can be used by snowbirds to save electricity by setting the thermostat a few degrees higher, and still keep the humidity down when it is needed.

Well, there are a lot of other "a/c" guys that say otherwise on YT.

https://youtu.be/7Gim96oyczw?si=vGdoJw3fdt0IV2C8

Sunshine. Excellent

you are correct a 2.5 unit for 1600 is a little small..

That probably works OK but there are 2 main factors that increase RH. Lower ambient temperature and increase moisture.

I had sunkool do my yearly service the last time the technician was here he told me they No longer clean the compressor because of possible damage to the blades on the fan. Which is BS so proceed with caution if this is who is giving you advice.

Highly recommend Sunkool
 

Our unit died last week and we called SunKool. They came within two hours with a portable unit and installed a brand new air conditioner within two days. The guys are great, clean up after themselves, and were very communicative about how to operator newly installed thermostat.