I only use synth in this truck because I'm keeping it forever like all my trucks.

Here’s a win-win: keep your truck forever and save some money too.

From Blackstone Labs' FAQs:

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What’s the best oil to use?
Ah, the million dollar question. We are an independent lab, so we don’t make recommendations. It has been our experience that oil is oil, and either petroleum or synthetic-based oil will work well for just about any engine.

Come on, you’re holding out on me. I should use synthetic, right?
Buddy, you should use whatever you want. Synthetic oil won’t guarantee a longer engine life any more than my eating organic food will guarantee I’ll live until I’m 90. We here at Blackstone generally use regular petroleum-based oil because honestly, it works just as well for us.
==

Your truck, your money, your call, but people who make their living analyzing motor oil say your engine doesn’t care what you use.

With that said, they ARE nerds analyzing USED oil samples, so they're not the type to go past their recommended OCI by more than a few hundred miles at most.
They also aren't accounting for the thousands of soccer moms that probably don't bring it in for an oil change until they suddenly remember months overdue...

Fair enough, my post assumes using an oil that meets the manufacturer's specifications and is changed at reasonable intervals. If both those conditions are met, you can use Supertech dino or Royal Purple full syn and your engine will never know the difference. Again, I'm not saying performance and wear will be identical, just that the variances are insignificant b/c your oil analysis numbers will all be within specs and that's all it takes to keep your truck running fine indefinitely.

I also get the human nature part of it - look, I have to resist the urge to buy Mobil 1 b/c we all feel better using a premium product. If there was evidence to support a significant advantage, I'd gladly pay for full synthetic oil or 93 octane fuel for that matter. But rationally, I know it doesn't make a real difference.

I loose about .5 to 1 quart every time in change the oil. some is in the filter as mentioned, But im not really concerned. It hasnt changes in the 60k that ive owned it. Now at 170k

I discovered a couple days ago that my 4runner was somehow low by 4.5 quarts. No oil light,, no CEL, nothing. It has never used any oil. I think I may have fixed it with a new PCV

This bearing wear test in this video isn't directly applicable to our engine, but it does show that the oil you choose can dictate how much wear a high-wear component can encounter.
YouTube

Again, I never said there's no difference in performance or wear, I said whatever differences there are will be insignificant over the life of the vehicle. This isn't like tires where there may be a huge variance in quality where some will last 40K miles and some will last 70K under the same conditions. And look, it's not like the $10 extra per oil change is likely to bankrupt anyone, and if people want to put synthetic oil in their trucks, more power to them. I prefer to keep the $ in my possession as opposed to donating it to an oil company for no appreciable return.

I too get around 4 to 4.5 qts back with a filter change when I use synthetic. Kinda freaked me out so I add 0.5 qts in about 4 months after the oil change. The engine does sound better after I add in the 0.5 qts. Could be in my head. I usually go around 8 months or 7500 miles between oil changes.
Like you, I have no oil leaks and no white smoke etc. It's a mystery where the oil goes. I use a Fumoto valve and it let it drain for 30 mins.

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Well did the dipstick read a qt low? There wouldn’t be any lights coming on for low oil