Hey guys,

I was just sitting here thinking about stabilizers and I was wondering if anybody has done side by side comparison and tests on stabilizers.

I would like to see someone take a bow, shoot about a dozen times without any stabilizer, and get the average dB rating. After that, attach a stabilizer, and repeat the process. Do this with a bunch of stabilizers and see which stabilizer reduces the dB rating the most. Maybe even a graph that represents the effectivness in noise reduction from different size/weight stabilizers.

If anybody knows of a web-site that has done this, let me know. If not, I may e-mail Hunters Friend and tell them my idea!

Jason,
It's been done.........I did testing that was pretty much just a "Blind taste test" of stabilizer effectiveness, by actually shooting them side by side on many different bows, and arrow weights actually BLINDFOLDED over the course of a few weeks........

Saggitarius did the same thing I did.......had a head to head "Shootout" of many popular and not so popular stabilizers.........

Another member.......I forget who??? Did the same thing by testing side by side a bunch of popular stabilizers, except this time he actually DID use a decible meter to measure which one made his bows the quietest.

All 3 of these had one thing in common. Stealth "Hunter" stabilizers came out as best in recoil, vibration and noise reduction even against the SIMS stuff and COMBINATIONS of the SIMS stuff.
There were some that were close........some that were not, but none quite equalled the performance of the Stealth. And don't get me wrong, I've always liked and do like SIMS products , I have purchased 5 different stabilizers with their technology. I still haven't found one that works better than a Stealth.

Now a stabilizer's function is not just as a noise, vibration reduction gizmo so it is vitally important to get one that fits your own personal idea of proper balance. Put the 2 together and you have your ideal stabilizer.

I would love to see an independently done "LABORATORY" test which would leave no personal bias.......Throw all major and popular brands into the ring to be tested in all categories, recoil reduction, noise and vibration. I bet that would be pretty interesting reading.

Ditto, to the last thing that Matt said. I also would like to see an independent laboratory test all the popular stabilizers and tell us which one reduces vibration, noise, and shock the best. That way there wouldn't be any archery company advertising B.S. involved and we'd actually get the truth. Maybe huntersfriend would undertake this endevor.

Matt.

The only problem I can see with this idea altho it is a great idea is cost.

Not only would they have to test every stabilizer out there but also test them on every bow.
Which would be a long drawn out affair and most probably by the time the tests where done there would be a whole new line of bows as well as new stabilizers.

As we all know there is not one stabilizer that is going to do the job for everyone on every bow.

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I wonder if CONSUMER REPORTS magazine has an outdoor division where they could do exaclty that. what the heck the test a bunch of other stuff why not stab's.

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I may be mistaken but didn't Vic (500 fps) say that he purchased or was going to purchase a decibel meter for use with his bows. I have not seen him post lately so I honestly do not know.

Then there was a former forum member who actually rigged up his computer to act as a decibel meter for him to conduct tests on but that was many years ago and many messageboards from here.....

The stealth that Matt mentioned always gets rave reviews. Eventually I will get around to trying one but continue to use a variety of other ones as part of my setups.

SOUNDA PRETTY INTERESTING I AM LOOKING FOR A NEW STABILIZER ANYHOW WHERE CAN I BUY THE STEALTH?

Cabela's carries them. I think they are around $45.00. I plan on getting one soon!