For me the best thing I have found for the money is the cheap yarn puff balls. Very inexpensive and really quiet, plus they weigh next to nothing. However I have never found string silencers to slow my bows down enough that I could notice, even thru a chrono. They are pretty much towards your limbs so they don't have a whole lot of effect on that. The closer the weight is to the center of the string the more it effects your speed.
The down side is the puff balls collect water if it is wet out and they will pick up every freakin sticky in the woods when you walk thru brush
. But they last for darn near ever. I have had a set for over 5 years and they have been thru 3 bows. The more I shoot em the better they get!
Next I would say regular old rubber cat wiskers and after that string leaches from Simms. The simms ones actually work a bit better in my opinion, but cost much more and tend not to last as long. I understand they are MUCH better in that regard now though. But to me both of those, or any rubber silencer makes a rubber whipping sound I can hear when I shoot the bow. Probably nothing of concern, but not as quiet as the puff balls, or better yet Beaver Balls, but they are not that cheap either.
I personally wouldn't waste my money on any other string silencer than the ones I mentioned. Most are just nock offs of the Simms product and in most cases don't work as well the original.
I have shot next to plenty of bows with STS type systems or cable dampners (mathews). None of them were what I would consider quiet. They were better than nothing and probably good enough for hunting. However when indoors the difference between my bow and one of those was pretty noticable.
I used to shoot a Darton, which are not known for being quiet or being low on reciol. After some limb savers, an Enhancer 2000 and some cheap puff balls this bow was more shock free than a mathews and whisper quiet. Everyone that shot next to me commented on quiet my bow was. And my bowtech with the same set up is even more quiet! All I hear is my release click and the arrow hitting the target.
Paul
best silencer
Didn't the beaver object to you slapping his balls ? 
