My suppressed .22 rimfire is quiet for sure, but for dealing with tree-dwelling issues, I prefer a .17 air rifle because the projectiles are less of a concern when I miss.  I miss a fair amount.  This is in a typical suburban situation.

We bought my son an RWS Diana Mod 54 many years ago and I liked that rifle.  It's not available to me at the moment.  And I have no interest in dropping that kind of cash for my purposes.  I can't recall what it cost but I remember thinking it was a lot.

So for solving tree-centric difficulties  on a modest budget, what .17 do you like?  I also have a Benjamin.25 which is accurate, but putting 4 or 5 pumps in that thing makes Eleanor the Bluetick go off, which is a bit of a distraction, and serves as a warning to the aforementioned tree-centric agitations.

Thank you for your advice.

Might check out the Hatsan 95 - buddy got one off Amazon we were playing with at his place. Scope that came with it for $150ish on amazon was junk, but the rifle was solid.

I fell into the dark side of PCPs for which there is really no return (though I do sometimes like the challenge that spring guns afford) .  As far as quietness and shootability, nothing (except for older 10 meter target rifles) come close to the PCPs.  The  newer PCP 10 meter target rifles are quite loud compared to the old spring and single stroke pneumatics.  But, these rifles are a bit underpowered (for squirrels) and louder than things like the Benjamin Marauder.

The newer stuff that has recently come out in the PCP world looks quite promising for those on a budget and with lower precision expectations.  With the advances in technology, many folks are starting to expect sub MOA groups with their airguns.  However, that takes a lot of doing to get there.  For getting a tree rat at 30 yards reliably only requires about 3 MOA, a modest rifle will do that with ease.

In the modest category (in terms of price), break barrel spring guns seem to rule the roost.  But, these seem to be marketed with speed and power in mind which is what you don't want.  You want modest speed/power in these and you want them fairly heavy.   Where again, you wind up in the premium spring gun class---which are now in the same ballpark as the lower priced suppressed PCP airguns.

The chief disadvantage to the PCPs is that you have to have some way of filling them.  This means either investing in SCBA or SCUBA tanks, or a hand compressor---an additional initial cost.

Thanks for the thoughts.  So happens I have SCUBA tanks.  I'll look into that issue a little further

Check out the Walther Terrus break barrel spring gun. There's lots of videos on you tube, it's mid powered which is probably why people shoot so well with it.

A quick search found this deal
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Walther-Terrus-Synthetic-Stock-177-Pellet-Air-Rifle/43835340
The wood one costs more and is lighter.