Anyone else noticed different payouts between mining pools?

Not trying to start anything — just genuinely curious.

I’ve been looking a bit closer at my setup lately, and it got me thinking…

Everyone talks about:

• hash rate
• power cost

…but I don’t see as many people comparing actual pool payouts over time.

For example:

Two pools might say:

• 1% fee vs 2% fee

But does that really translate to better returns?

Things like:

• luck
• stale shares
• payout method (FPPS vs PPLNS)

seem like they could make a bigger difference than the fee itself.

I haven’t done a super deep analysis yet, but I feel like I’ve seen small differences depending on the pool.

Could just be variance though.

Curious what others here have experienced:

• Have you ever tested multiple pools side-by-side?
• Did you notice any real difference in payouts?
• Do you stick with one pool or rotate?

Not saying anything is “wrong” with any pool — just trying to understand if I’m overthinking this or if there’s actually something here.