I'm not a carpet/pad dealer but I suspect that the product you're looking for has been relabeled by the seller to discourage people using his sales expertise then buying online. I did find hits looking up Spillguard but not on the other terms you listed.

Any advice on 8lb vs 10lb pad?

Work with the HIGHEST rating allowed by the carpet. Not all carpets allow all thicknesses/weights. The pad is what makes things comfortable. It is what gives a bad carpet a "nice" feeling. It can also be the thing that makes a "nice" carpet feel cheap.

Work with the highest rating the carpet allows. So much of your experience will be because of the pad rating. It never works out to go cheaper with pad. Your bank account might like it....but living on it is rarely worth the down-grade.

Cancork - when you say go with the "highest rating" you mean 10lb over 8lb? And that carpet manufacturers identify the max rating that the pad should have?

Can you make sense of the word soup describing the carpet pad that our sub is recommending?

Thanks

You need to talk to carpet professionals. If your contractor can't offer descriptions or explanations then they are NOT the right person to ask. They are probably someone who can "do the work" but don't know the industry.

Take your samples, and your "words" and go to a proper carpet flooring shop. Ask your questions there. And yes, 10lbs is rated higher than 8lbs.