The middle of the road is generally a good starting point. So what is that mid point? That involves choices in terms of delivery method, the testosterone reparation/product, dosage schedules, dose itself (the amount), and in the case of injections whether to go IntraMuscular IM, or Sub Cutaneous SubQ.
Delivery method, preparation and product are closely interrelated. you have choices of pellets, topical cream or gel absorbed by the skin, an oral form,nasal form, and probably the middle of the road is a moderate dose by injection that puts you in upper physiological range. Each method has pluses and minuses.
Pellets as you have found are troublesome in place, sometimes popping out, creating wound infection problems, and large long term swings in blood level which creates excessive highs and lows through the cycle. It also has the disadvantage that dosage adjustments are near impossible in any timely manner.
Topical has the benefit of no invasive injection or pellet insertion, but is not effective for many men. And it increases DHT which can come with its own side effects especially applied to the scrotum. Topicals can also transfer to those in physical contact, especially undesirable for children. Typically transdermal is taken daily or even twice a day.
The oral form jatenzo is very short acting and is taken twice a day. It is the only thing that has worked well for one of our members here.
And nasal form natesto, which commonly has nasal side effects. It is used 3 times/day a pump into each nostril.
Injections: The middle of the road probably lies somewhere with injections, since you have a wide range of control with how much, how often, what type of ester (speed of release) and injection method: Intramuscular or Sub cutaneous. Every aspect can be custom tailored. I'll focus the rest of the info on this. (note again, injections do not work out for a few.)
Total amount: i.e. weekly dose, what is your goal? Some of us get by very well on what is considered very little. This is true physiological dosing that puts lab values in "normal range" I personally am on the low end at 56mg/week total dose. Some guys would remain seriously hypogonadal on this kind of dose. The middle to upper physiological range is roughly 75mg-150mg/ week. 100mg keeps an awful lot of guys in upper normal range to pushing the upper edge. It can take more for some men who do better on 150mg/week, but at that level, most men will be supraphysiological with total T above 1200 and free T above 30. for some that is a good range, but for many also come with undesrable side effects like
high hematocrit, flat feeling, loss of libido etc.
So, another aspect of managing levels is to focus on Free T, not Total T. The free T is the useable stuff. Total T is not irrelevant, but free T inconjunction with how you are felling says a lot. There is a problem with testing though. There is still a Federal project going to try to harmonize testing methodologies. There are multiple methods which do not agree with each other as well as we would like. Most common is Free T direct, generally considered the worst form of testing, Free T equilibrium dialysis or ultrafiltration, is the current golden standard. Then there are calculators, Vermuelen and TruT, which can be found online. Jury is still out here.
Sorry to digress.
Next, injectable esters, which relate to dosing frequency.: The most commonly used are testosterone cypionate and enanthate. Functionally they are about the same. They are medium long acting. There are outliers who might do OK on every other week on these esters as the prescribing info recommends, but for the most part that's pretty much bunk, There are more men who do OK on one shot a week, but it seems probably the middle of the bell curve is 2-3 doses per week. Then for others every other day or daily shots work best. There is no magic one fits all dosage or frequency that works for everyone. This why you are getting confusing even conflicting replies. finding your personal balance takes trying things til a protocol make you feel good consistently.
Other esters flank those two: Testosterone undeconoate is very long acting, like months, and much like pellets there is a very long swing. Sustanon is a blend of ester including undeconoate and also intended for infrequent dosing The shorter esters bring you up faster than undeconoate and the undeconoate keeps you there until the long drop off.
The other side is testosterone proprionate which is short acting, It can be used to mimic a daily cycle on naturally produced (endogenous) T in the body, but it's rise and fall even more abrupt. Some of us blend proprionate with cypionate or enanthate which closely mimics a normal endogenous daily cycle.
Pure unbound testosterone is not terribly useful for long term TRT, It is used immediately and used up fast.
Injection gear/method:
There is an autoinjector "xyosted" availalable in 50mg. 75mg and 100mg doses, but very expensive compared to using generic syringes and T in bulk vials.
Intramuscular vs SubCutaneous:
Some do well on either, some do well on only one or the other. Common complaints about IM: big needles, and "needle fatigue, scarring from long term injections, more pain. EDIT/ADDENDUM: Injections sites for IM: glutes, glute medialis, deltoids, quadriceps. Many have more pain with Quad injections.
Common complaints about SubQ: lumps/bumps in fatty tissue, less effective in terms of blood levels (It is absolutely as effective in many of us). I personally wonder if some of this has to do with body fat. It seems the majority of reports are about these happening in fat. Technically, SubQ is into fat. Personally I have found that I get lumps sometimes injecting in thicker denser fat. I don't have much fat, but have learned to avoid the body of the fat pads and inject around the edges of them where it is pretty much just skin, not a thick fat layer... anyway I have very few problems with lumps or bumps and absorption is excellent. All that said, it is my personal bias. SubQ does not work out for some men. EDIT/Addendum: Common Injection sites: belly around but not right next to the umbilical, love handles, skin over glutes. Varying technique can be used from straight in to deeper fat layers or pinching or pulling up thinner skin and injecting at an angle, which is shallower. Also if someone is giving you a subQ injection, the back of the upper arm is commonly used.
The gear for injections: the old school standard was to draw with a very large bore needle then change needle to a fairly large deep IM needle like 1-1.25" and go deep. Because this kind of injection is bigger, also a larger dose was typically given. Big dose into big muscle to theoretically last longer so there are fewer injections over time. It was thought testosterone could only be used IM as well. That's not true, so evolution has given us the ability to use smaller needles with less pain and scarring and use smaller more frequent doses.
Again there are a few men who don't do well with small needles, and need or want deeper IM, but most do just fine with either shallow IM using 1/2" needles or subQ down to 5/16" needles.
Needle gauge: This relates to the carrier oil. Typically T cyp and enanthate come in cottonseed oil or grapeseed oil. Cottonseed is more viscous, The oil is thicker, harder to draw and inject. A larger gauge needle is faster to fill and inject. I do fine with 30g and grapeseed oil. Some are more impatient and would want 29 or 27g. With cottonseed oil, the larger gauge is faster and easier. And, warming the vial makes the oil flow easier. 30-27g, 5/16-1/2" can be had as insulin syringes. Like my previous post stated, a single piece of gear instead of multiple parts. And there is less waste with these. Changeable tip syringes retain more after injection, so there is more loss.
OK so this is utterly my personal opinion, but I think many would agree. A middle of the road starting point is around 100mg/week divided into 2-3 doses with a 1/2" insulin syringe matched in size to your dose and the type of carrier oil. In retospect some of us have had to lower dose repeatedly to arrive at a good physiological level without side effects like
high Hematocrit. In retrospect we would have done better starting lower in the first place. more like the 75 mg level.
Whatever you choose as starting point, give it time to work. It takes 6-8 weeks to reach steady blood levels and longer for the body to fully adapt. If you feel symptoms and make repeated adjustments in short order you will be chasing your tail never knowing what your actual balance is.
OK, I have had my say, I hope the info is useful. I recommend you research further. Don't just take my word or anyone else's, but realize the subject area is huge and it takes time to ingest the info. Search on these products and for discussions on this forum pertaining to each subject. I think you might find common ground.