What is the best synthetic oil?

Originally Posted by TROOPER

OMG, there's like a million oil threads.. why isn't there a sticky..!!

And to be honest there does not seem to be a single thread that can agree on the choice of ester oil vs synthetic oil.

My car is due it's first oil change, but with SO many debates on the pros and cons, and ester vs synthetic I have no idea what to do.

Personally I've been a big fan of Royal Purple, but I'm not sure if the recommended is Ester.

Now I now it's "recommended", but that doesn't mean it's "required".
And I don't want to just fall into a Nissan sales gimmick, or dealership bullsh*t

And people saying they have had no issues with synthetic after 10 or 15k miles, is not really evidence if you know what I mean.
Tell me you've run your car for 100k+ miles on synthetic, and I'll be a believer

It's confusing to hear I have to use ester to break-in the engine, then switch to synthetic.
Or once I switch to synthetic, I can't go back to ester oil.

So what's the true story here guys, I'm looking for genuine advice, or hard facts OK.