Well said.
With either air, or hand adjustable, you try the recommended first, but usually improvement can be found with "Seat Time" fine tuning. Getting sag first and foremost is important, with respect to weight changes to the bike. Make note of it and adjust as needed.
Another consideration for me is road conditions of where I ride. Smooth roads are more plush with softer settings, however you may bottom out or pogo too much on rough roads. This additional tuning only applies when you are familiar with where you plan to ride, your overall settings may lie between. Seat time and becoming familiar leads to improvements.
For air shock users, a trick I did was relocate the valve stem for the shocks. I removed it from the "L" bracket it mounts thru, and zip tied it to the metal bracket that the seat grab strap connects to. Plenty of hose, moves it forward a couple of inches and up about an inch. Voila, no need to mess with the saddlebag for air psi changes, valve cap is about even with the top of the saddlebag, still below the seat, so it does not get bumped around. Air changes quick and easy. My HD Shock Pump is in that side of my tour bag, 6 inches from the valve stem. Quick, easy, and hassle free.

 

Put the HD 13" shocks on my 09 Streetglide that i picked up off Ebay , put about 160 miles on when we had a little summer weather her in Wisco and have to agree you seem to need to set them on the light side of of HD's recommendations . Need more road time to dial them in . . . but first impression is there slightly better than the air ride .

 

On my '15 Ltd the stock air shocks were just awful. Either too soft so the bike wobbled in corners and bottomed out on bumps or too stiff so they rode like concrete (even on a medium setting they were like concrete under compression).

I swapped them out for the Premium Hand Adjustable and the front fork kit as well. The ride is like night and day better. I suspect I got the 12" as the ride height doesn't seem any different (I didn't even know they offered a 13").

Are they perfect? I don't think so but they are plenty comfortable and the handling is very, very good for such a large bike. I probably could have gotten a better suspension setup but I'd have paid a lot more and I'm not sure I'd have appreciated the difference in ride quality to what I have now.

I don't know if these are the same shocks as now offered on the '17 touring bikes but I'm very happy with what I have now and I'd happily buy them again.

 

Wis1 I am in the same boat with you. When I first got my bike I thought that there would be an air line since you only adjust it from one side. Later I was looking at the shocks closely and "No" there isn't a connecting line. So I am now trying to figure out how it actually works.
Right side is constant and left adjusts.

 

Ones on my 2017 are great. I do understand that the changes they made to them for 2017 along with the front end they work together better. No complains from my wife or I with them