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Here are the scoops Greg:
Gauge: Thicker gauge give a louder, more distinctive tone for those using flat picking and they are popular in Bluegrass and typical on dreadnoughts.
Lighter strings are easier on the fretting fingers and are better for barre chords, bends, strumming, finger picking, and work just fine on dreads.
Coating: Hype, in my opinion. Many swear by it. They are more expensive and supposedly last longer. You will have to make that call.
Tension: All strings get to whatever tension it takes to tune them. This is another marketing hype. Santa Cruz uses this term instead of gauge. The truth? Lighter strings will be at less tension to get up to tune. That’s all.
Composition: Makes little difference to playing, makes a significant difference to tone. Try different ones and see what you like. There are general guidelines that tell you what is “brighter” or more “mellow”. I like mellow. Think of the difference between the finger strummed sound compared to the flat pick strummed sound.
Brand: Again, most of the companies are distributors, not actual manufacturers. So, I buy Martin strings because they are excellent strings for an excellent price and that way I have narrowed the field enough to try different options and figure out what I like. If all companies and all their models were on the table, I would never have figured out what I like. I’d live in permanent confusion. Again, each to his own.
I hope this helps. All of the above is my opinion. Take it as you want.
MG 😀