SOSA · The Founder Diaries · Car Fragrance
Keep the range, not the average
Both of them are right, which is the answer nobody wants. They are two measurements of two different months, and the interesting work is finding out what changed between them.
The instinct is to average the two and move on, and I would resist it. The average of a quiet month and a busy month is a month you never had. The range tells you what your driving actually does, and the range is what you want in your head when you are deciding whether to keep a refill in the cupboard.
The answer in 30 seconds
My number came out different from last month. Which one is right?
- In one line. Both are right. Check the hours, the speed and the scent, then keep the two readings as a range rather than averaging them away.₹3,999
- The short answer. Both readings are right. They describe two different months of your own driving, and SOSA publishes no rate of use that either one could be checked against. Look at the hours, the speed, the scent and who else drove the car, then keep both figures as a range. Safar is Rs 3,999.
- If you only check one column: check the hours. Days are the same length every month and running time is not, and that single column explains most pairs of readings that disagree.
- Which reading do I keep? Both. They are two measurements of two different months, and neither of them is a mistake unless the card was filled in wrong.
- Should I average them? I would keep them as a range instead. An average of two months hides exactly the thing the second month told you.
- What should I check first? The hours column. Two months with the same number of days and different running hours are not the same measurement at all.
The answer, in full
They are both right, and the disagreement is information rather than an error. Each reading describes one month of your driving on one setting, and the two months were not the same month. So instead of picking a winner, go down the card and find out what moved. The hours column first: two months with the same number of days and different running hours are measuring different amounts of use. Then the speed, because SOSA publishes three settings and no duration for any single one of them, so a figure taken on one setting cannot be converted into another. Then the scent, since nothing published says whether one oil behaves like another. Then the ordinary things: a week away, a visitor who borrowed the car, a month when you drove at night rather than at eight in the morning. SOSA publishes the refill price, ₹1,049 for 100 gm and ₹1,849 for 300 gm, and no rate of use at all, so there is no official figure for either month to be wrong about. Keep the pair, write them as a range, and you are better informed than any single number could have made you. A portion of every SOSA order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.
Why two honest readings disagree
Three places to look, in the order I would look in them. None of them makes either reading wrong, and the third one is the reason I keep a range instead of an average.
The hours: the column that explains most disagreements
A month is a fixed number of days and a variable amount of running, so two readings taken a month apart are only comparable through the hours column. If one month carries half the ticks of the other, the two marks on the glass were never going to match, and nothing has gone wrong with the method. This is the entire reason the hours are on the card and not just the dates.
Days are fixed. Running hours are not.
The setting: a figure belongs to the speed it was taken on
Safar publishes three speed settings and a one, two or three hour auto-off timer, and it publishes no duration for any individual setting. If you moved the speed between the two months, you have two readings about two different setups and no published conversion to put them on the same scale. That is not a flaw in your card. It is the honest consequence of a figure SOSA has never printed, and the fix is to log the setting every time.
Everything else on the card: scent, drivers, and the sort of driving
Nothing published says whether one of the nine scents behaves like another in the bottle, so a switch is a reason for two readings to differ and not a reason to doubt either. The same goes for a month when somebody else drove, or a month of short errands against a month of long runs. If the weather changed between them, the record states a formulation range of 45 degrees C and eighty-five per cent relative humidity and no seasonal performance claim in either direction, so there is nothing published to attribute it to.
A difference you can explain is worth more than an average you cannot.
Could the scent alone explain it?
It could, and nothing published will confirm it for you. SOSA publishes the scent names and a fragrance pyramid for each, no ranking across the nine and no consumption figure for any single scent. So if the oil changed between your two months, that is a candidate rather than a conclusion, and the way to settle it is to go back to the first oil for a month and read the glass again.
Comparing two months is easier when neither of them was interrupted by an empty bottle. The nebuliser refill oil is ₹1,049 for 100 gm and ₹1,849 for 300 gm. See the nebuliser refill →
Where to look when two readings disagree
| What the record says | |
|---|---|
| The hours column | First, always. Two months of equal length with unequal running hours are not two versions of the same measurement. |
| The speed setting | Three speeds are published and no per-speed duration is, so a change of setting makes the two readings two separate facts. |
| The scent in the bottle | A candidate, not a conclusion. No consumption figure is published for any of the nine scents, individually or as a group. |
| An official figure that settles it | There is none. SOSA publishes the refill price and no rate of use, so neither month can be declared the wrong one. |
Two readings that disagree are the normal result of two honest months, and a third month at the same setting as the first is how you find out which of them was the odd one. That is three cards and no arithmetic you did not do yourself.
“Both readings are right. They are measurements of two different months, and the gap between them is the most useful thing the card has told you.”
Settling a disagreement, in four steps
- Compare the hours columns before you compare the two marks.
- Check whether the speed or the timer length moved between them.
- Note whether the scent, the driver or the sort of driving changed.
- Write both readings down as a range and run a third month.
SOSA car fragrance
Keep both readings and run a third month
The range is the answer. A refill in the cupboard is what lets the third month run without an interruption in the middle of it.
10 ml sprays ₹459–₹559 · 12 ml hanging bottles ₹459–₹519 · 15 ml refills ₹399–₹449 · 50 ml spray ₹1,509 · three-spray discovery sets ₹709–₹909 · SOSA Safar ₹3,999, ₹4,499 hotel-inspired
View SOSA SafarSee the nebuliser refillQuestions, answered
Which of my two readings should I trust?
Should I average two readings that disagree?
Can I convert a reading from one speed to another?
Does hot weather explain the difference?
How many months before I stop worrying about it?
If you would rather ask a person
Ask Sonal
Safar is ₹3,999, or ₹4,499 for the hotel-inspired variant, and the nebuliser refill oil is ₹1,049 for 100 gm or ₹1,849 for 300 gm. A portion of every SOSA order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.
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