Or go the Ringo way with some fabric on top of the drums. Cheap and accessible and you can toss them in the corner when more volume is needed.

I don't have experience with anything you mentioned, but I did do the "Ringo trick" drumFX mentioned for a time using thin dish rags and it worked pretty darn well at muffling. Rebound of course changed a bit, but any silencer will do that.

Tama makes rubbers that go over the tip of the stick and they work pretty well, although they add weight to the tip. I don't think there is a perfect muffling system, they all have there drawbacks.

Have you checked out the different silencers on youtube to see what you may like?

My opinion is that you will want something to stand-up to the punishment that you will be applying to them...If you practice everyday, then you will want a thicker pad to withstand the use...If you practice only a couple times a week, you may not need something as robust...

Cheers

Ringo method works good as mentioned above. plus it keeps the dust off when you are not playing

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Yup, checked out youtube and reviews but never came away with a clear winner. Tea towels are not a long term option, just looks like I haven't folded the laundry to me. Think I'll go middle of the road price wise and order the Ahead silencer pack and a couple individual pieces of Evans Soundoff.

Well, until you hit them after a couple of day off.................Eye Ball

I don't think of them as mufflers, but I have been very happy using Sabian quiet tone mutes for teaching and quieter practice. They don't do anything for bass drums or cymbals. I have two 14" pads that I used for teaching and I put them on the snare drum and floor tom to do warm up exercises and then separate hand sticking isolation exercises. They rebound very well but are louder than other muting options. I think they only come in two sizes, 14" and 10". They are not cheap at around $50 but well worth it for warm ups. Our pipe band used to make our own practice pads from gum rubber pieces from an industrial rubber supply company. You could try some thin (1/8) rubber disks that could fit your snare and toms and probably make a disk with a center cut out or pie shape for cymbals. I don't know about making a bass drum muffler from gum rubber but there probably is some rubber pad solution if a pillow or pad does not work.

I have been using the Evans pads for years for practicing the set quietly. They cost under $10 per drum and are pretty durable, about 1/4" thick.