ADV Tennis Dampener with Custom Feel - 3 Pack - Racket Shock Absorber to Reduce Vibration, Relieve Symptoms of Injury and Stay on The Racket - Engineered Poly-Silicone Tennis Racket Dampener

Small but effective — these dampeners noticeably reduce the pingy vibration in my racket and give a muted, more comfortable feel at contact. They’re made of dense poly-silicone and sit snugly between the strings without sliding around during play. I’ve used them across different racquets and they don’t change string feel too drastically while still cutting down harsh vibrations on off-center hits. The pack of three is handy for keeping spares in your bag. If you love the loud pop sound from your strings you might not like the softer tone, but for comfort and reducing sting after long sessions they’re a win. Pros: reduces vibration, stays in place, good value for 3 pack Cons: slightly alters string sound (in a good way for most players) One-line summary: Simple, inexpensive way to protect your arm and soften string impact — recommended.

Upgrading my rating of this product from 4-stars to 5-stars due to ADV's amazing customer service. After writing this review, I contacted the company to inquire whether there was a warranty that would replace the torn 3-wide dampener mentioned in this review. They quickly sent me not just a replacement for the damaged dampener, but an entire pack of 3. I've also had great warranty service with my ADV Pro V2 bag (definitely the best bag I've ever owned). ADV is one of the best companies I've ever dealt with, tennis or otherwise. If I could, I'd give these guys a 6-star review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ======= original 4-star review starts here ======= I've tried a lot of different dampeners over the years, and while I'm not very picky about the feel, I find it very annoying when a dampener won't stay on the racquet (the Wilson W-shaped dampeners, for example). I have two sets of the ADV assorted dampeners, and all 3 shapes seem to always stay on, the one exception being one of my 3-wide versions that eventually developed a tear (hence the downgrade on the durability rating) which causes it to occasionally dislodge at one end. The 1-wide version seems a bit too wide, so is hard to install, but once installed, even that one seems to stay on. The main reason for my downgrade on "easy to install," though, is that you have to learn how to install the 2- and 3-wide versions. First of all, there's a definite top and bottom to these dampeners -- you need to ensure that the slotted side points up towards the first cross (the bottom has no slot). Once you figure that out, there's a trick to installing both: 1) with the 2-wide, you need to horizontally center the dampener, insert a main into one slot, then bend the other end of the dampener to slip the adjacent main into the 2nd slot, then push the whole dampener up onto the 1st cross; 2) with the 3-wide, you need to vertically position the dampener between the two center mains, twist it to horizontal such that the top slot points towards the 1st cross, then bend the two ends over the tops of the mains, then slide the whole dampener up to push the top slot onto the cross. I don't perceive any difference in feel between the 3 width versions. I think that in the future, I will exclusively buy the 2-wide version -- I've never had any type of problem with those. Yeah, they're a little more expensive than the simple round dampeners, but the cost will even out after you lose two or three of the cheaper competitors.

I can confidently report that these do not work as a guitar string dampener, at least on narrow neck guitars like the strat.

No more searching for my dampeners in the ground after they get hit by a ball: these dampeners are super stable and always stay in my racket. The dampening also adds great comfort. I use a Babolat Pure Drive which is a not so arm-friendly racket, and this dampener really helps muting the vibrations. The color is not as vivid as in the pictures (I ordered the green one), but still looks decent on my strings.

I really like this dampener, I previously used worm dampeners but if they break it's just a mess. Of the three, one broke after the second session on the racket but support was very quick to respond and sent a replacement!

Works and stays on during play

Not exactly the "game-changer" they claim to be in the promos. I wasn't sure which one to get so I went for the midsize. I find the feel to be about the same as my trusty old Tourna Sampras go-to option but this one tends to move around quite a bit. I am constantly re-centering it on my pretty standard 16 gauge strings and it was also a bit more of a pain to install but having said all of that, it hasn't fallen off yet, which does sometimes happen with the standard donut shaped ones. Still, when you total all of this meh up and then add a price tag that is close to three times what more standard issue dampeners cost, it leaves a lot to be desired in the end. I may try the wider, full-size version at some point if I catch it on sale, just to see if there's a drastic difference but this mid-tier one is just okay, making it not worth the premium price, imho.

At a certain point in your growth as a tennis player, the feel of the racquet becomes important - especially if you are prone to soreness in your arm from overuse, like I used to be. Eventually, I bought some standard dampeners with the assumption that they are all pretty much the same. When a friend introduced me to these dampeners by ADV Tennis, however, I was extremely impressed with the variability in feel that these provide. I rotate between two types of racquets that vary widely in the absorption that they provide, which can throw me off when switching between them. The ADV dampeners have helped to reduce this variability and allow me to play consistently in the event that I need to change racquets in the middle of a match/lesson. Here are the racquets that I currently use and the dampeners that work best for them: WILSON BURN 100 (circa 2015/2016): This is my favorite racquet to play with. I can get some solid hits on the ball with a lot of top spin, but this iteration of the Burn series has low-to-medium shock absorption. I have been using the 1 Sorb (the "medium" dampener) with this racquet, and it has been working out really well. If I were to upgrade to the newer line of Wilson Burns, however, I would probably go with a dampener of a lower absorption as the new racquets do pretty well in this regard. HEAD GRAPHENE XT RADICAL PRO (newest model): I typically use this as a back-up, although it is, by all accounts, a very good racquet. The good thing about the Graphene racquet is that it absorbs shock pretty well. I find that when I am in good form and hitting my shots hard with a lot of top spin, however, I need some extra absorption with this racquet to make sure that I do not end up with an overuse injury. For the Graphene Radical Pro, I use the 1 Touch (the "lowest" dampener) to provide the small adjustment in shock absorption that I need. Overall, I am very happy with these dampeners. My only issue with them so far is that they are difficult to insert into the Graphene Pro's 16x19 string pattern, but I would rather put a little extra effort into inserting the dampener into a tight space than having a dampener that could fall off at any moment. (So far, none of the ADV dampeners have come close to falling off - unlike my old "standard" dampeners.)