Prologue

Last week, I tested all the big boosters on Steemit and I would like to introduce the boosters, describe their special features and report on the results. All the information given here is up to date! However, they could be old news next week because the boosters change their conditions from time to time. That is why I recommend that you always check the current state before use.
Note: Many are interested in exchanging SBD in Steem. The spread is often high and for SBD you only get unequally much steem. Boosters are a good tool to make a better cut. A vote bought with SBD raises more Steem. Well then:

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Randowhale - the classic

Costs: 1 SBD or 1 Steem
Votes immediately: yes / Votes comments: yes
Limits: none

@randowhale (RW) is the classic under the boosters. He is one of those who immediately cast their votes, as soon as the amount has been credited to him. Thus it can be exactly timed. This also means that he does not wait until his votingpower has reached a certain value. That is why I advise you to inform yourself about the status of his VP. Over 40% is a good value. A vote always costs 1 SBD or 1 Steem, so he has a fixed price. For this you get a randomly generated vote, which is between 2-5% of his VP. Thus RW has a gamble element. If you buy it, you can keep your fingers crossed for a high percentage. The higher, the more profit. But don’t worry, his vote is not under the cost, unless his VP is too low. This has not always been the case, but recently, RW has piled up and added voices. Now he pays off in general. How high, that determines the coincidence. So if you’re up for some excitement, you’re right here. And additionally: His vote can be very high in relation to the cost.

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MinnowBooster (Beta) - the multitalent

Costs: min. 0.5 SBD, max. 1 SBD
Votes immediately: yes / Votes comments: no
Limits: up to 1 SBD per day & 7 SBD per week

@minnowbooster (MB) also belongs to the type of immediately voting boosters. Money goes to MB, vote goes out to you. So it is possible to time MB (just as RW), for example if you want to influence the expected curation-reward. But be careful, he sometimes pauses to regenerate his VP. MB is still in beta status, but so far is already fully operational. It is by far the most comprehensive booster, because beside the possibility to buy a vote, it also offers the possibility to invest in it. It is therefore interesting for long-term investors. You can delegate your own SP or boost it directly with Steem. How this works and what you get out of it, you can learn about in this post. But you can also borrow SP from him! What you have to do, you can read here. MB lives up to his name, because for Minnows it can be difficult at the beginning and they usually start with small amounts. MB accordingly has a low minimum use of 0.5 SBD, which is already affordable for many Steemians. The height of his vote is not randomly generated, but is dependent on his current VP. Example: If MB has 100% VP, and you invest $ 1, his vote is $ 3. If he has less VP, you get less. More information here.

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Booster - for advanced

Costs: min. 0.05 SBD, no max.
Votes immediately: no (in rounds à 2h 40m)
Votes comments: yes
Limits: none

@booster works differently than the two previously mentioned. He does not vote directly after you paid him and for his vote you have to bet. Booster leaves the height of his vote not to chance or the VP, but to the highest bidder. Example: If there are only two bidders in the bidding group and one of them offers 2 SBDs and the other 4 SBDs, the first receives 33% of his VP and the other 66%. You can also bid very small amounts and with a bit of luck you get into the bidding circle anyway. Better, however, are higher amounts to secure your own participation. There is actually no limit to the top, but a test with 20 SBD finally showed that the resulting vote was under the bet. I therefore do not recommend anyone to use more than 10 SBDs and to inform themselves beforehand how high the already made bids are. Booster votes in rounds, because he always regenerates to 100% VP. A round starts every 2 hours and 40 minutes. It is advisable to check beforehand how long ago the last round was. Thus, it is possible to predict when he will vote again. For the reasons stated, booster is unique and a recommendation for any advanced Steemian, who doesn’t like the limits of the other boosters and can and likes to use higher amounts.

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Discordia - the gift

Costs: recommended min. 0.1 SBD, max. 2 SBD
Votes immediately: no (in rounds à 2h 40m)
Votes comments: no
Limits: none

For me @discordia is the insider tip among the boosters. He also votes in rounds and you bid - just like with Booster - for his vote. The limit for the minimum bid is very low at 0.004 SBD. However, the chance to be included in the bidding circle is very small, which is why Discordia recommends at least 0.1 SBD. But be careful: If you are not accepted with your bid, the money is not refunded! Of course, as with all boosters, you can vote yourself, but the idea behind Discordia is actually different and at the same time the absolute highlight. If it is given to someone else, the input may be astronomically multiplied and the result outshines all other boosters! Because: Witness @ausbitbank occasionally looks into the voted posts, but only the give away-votes and takes according to certain criteria a manual curation - and that is a real ripsnorter, as for example here (Cost: 0.928 SBD, Result: ~ $ 16), here (Cost: 0.233 SBD, Result: ~ $ 6) and here (Cost: 0.221 SBD, Result: ~ $ 6). I do not know his criteria, but as the examples show, it must be valuable content, no matter what nature. And the post must be written in English. So you can better your chances, but not everyone is curated manually! Discordia works like giving a lot to someone. The difference is only that there are no blanks. However, the amount of the main gain is enormous and if one chooses high-quality content, the chances to trigger the vote rises. For me, this curator-booster is the ideal gift! You only have to be able to not begrudge the others the result :-)

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The test result

Last week I tested all four big boosters, which has served to answer some questions. Now that the curation-rewards are known to me, the test was able to be completed and evaluated. But please note that the boosters sometimes change their terms. As it happened from last week to this one. So always look at the pages for announcements of changes.

Payout: After all four boosters had voted, the value of the test post was $ 10.25. After seven days the value had climbed to $ 15.18, which is due mainly to the rise of the prices for Steem and SBD. And was I paid out what is stated? 75% go to the author and 25% to the curators - in this case mainly the boosters. There were some single users who had problems with not voting, but most of the viewers understood my request and reserved their vote (hopefully for this post). This way I could figure out all the manual curators. The payout was given by Steemit as follows: Author $ 13.61, Curators $ 1.57. I received 6.804 SBD and 4.376 SP. This does not give the value specified by Steemit, but it has to be noted that the post is displayed in US dollars and therefore Steem and SBD must be converted first. As it turned out, this calculation was based on 24-hour rates. So you have a delay in the calculation, which is one day. This is an often asked question. Note: All prices were written down daily in the test post. All rewards are also listed, so everyone can check them.

The questions asked in the test

Question 1: Can later votes of individual users expect a higher curation-reward, if randowhale votes within the first one / two minutes after publication of the post (because then he gets a lower curation-reward)?
Answer: Yes. I had RW vote in the first minute after publishing my post, so as early as possible. His vote brought $ 3.38, his total reward (his vote divided into four) only 0.019 SP. MB, however, who voted 27 minutes later to the value of $ 3.81, received a relatively much higher reward of 0.665 SP.

Time	Booster	Value	Portion	Curation	Reward share
1 min	RW	$ 3.38	33.01%	0.019 SP	1.88%
27 min	MB	$ 3.81	37.24%	0.665 SP	65.71%
51 min	DISC	$ 0.79	7.72%	0.113 SP	11.17%
160 min	BOOS	$ 2.18	21.31%	0.209 SP	20.65%

Note: The rest is distributed to the individual Uservotes.

Question 2: Is the assumption correct, that the booster generally brings the highest yield only shortly before the end of the payout, because otherwise the reward pool will decrease the earnings during the week or is the fluctuation of the expected yield only a result from the current Steem and SBD price ?
Answer: No, the yield does not just result from the current Steem and SBD price. Concrete example at the test post: The value of the posts amounted on 24./25. July to $ 15.36. As already stated, the price of 24 hours ago is the basis, here specifically $ 1.60. On 25./26. the value was $ 15.18, but the price was $ 1.56. If you put this in relation, the value would have actually amounted to $ 14.98.
Even if you include the SBD price for the calculation, you do not get a conclusive result, so there must be another influencing factor. This results in the assumption that the reward pool has grown and therefore a higher value of the post has resulted (unlike only calculated according to the price). Since it is not foreseeable how the reward pool will develop over the course of a week, the time of the use of a booster can’t be used for optimal results.
It is not a good idea to hire the boosters from the class of the immediate boosters as late as possible. This contradicts the opinion prevalent on Steemit. I recommend using these boosters as early as possible, at best in the first 1-3 minutes as the curation reward for all subsequent manual voters is larger, as the table shows.

Question 3: Under which conditions does @discordia trigger the additional votes? (Content of the post, time of the purchase of the vote and amount of the stake in proportion to the amount of the received vote)
Answer: A prerequisite for discordia's extravotes is not to ask this booster to vote for yourself, but to give it to someone else. The additional votes are a manual curation which @ausbitbank does at his own discretion. His criteria are not known to me. The relationship between cost and received vote is low without manual curation, but explodes with his additional votes. I have given you some examples of this in the description above.

Conclusion

Under the current conditions and prices all boosters bring profit. If you want to think of the curators and their rewards, you should commission RW and MB immediately after publication for a vote, but booster and discordia only shortly before the deadline. Check beforehand, when the next voting round starts, so you do not miss the point in time! And pay careful attention to the spelling of the boosters. A wrong addressee will result in the loss of your bet.

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Epilogue

Boosters are not machines, even if they act automatically. There are people behind them who are very committed to Steemit and this community. These people invest a lot of time and know-how into their boosters and are constantly striving to adapt their algorythms and strength to the constantly changing situation. This is not a matter of a few mouse clicks, so each operator must be allowed to react to the platform and factors such as the price of Steem, Steemdollar, the reward pool and much more. Basically: behind all boosters the intention is to help and support Steemit! At this point, my heartfelt thanks to all the people behind @randowhale, @minnowbooster, @booster and @discordia, who also supported me with their comments in the test-post!

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Disclaimer: I do not own a booster myself and have no connection to the operators of the boosters. I report neutrally. An opinion on the right of existence of the boosters is not represented here. Image Source 1, Image Source 2, Image Source 3