First up, thanks for taking the time not just to write this awesome post but also for hanging around to answer the questions of us mere mortals. I've been battling the finer points of hard surface normal maps for years and years and, like you say, the amount of miss-information, general cluelessness and sometimes even lack…
Of interest to most who will read this thread, I wrote an extensive tutorial that covers this topic and many other common baking issues. It's geared towards baking in Toolbag, but most of the Basics and Best Results sections apply universally. Check it out on the Marmoset site:…