D’Addario Varigrip Hand Exerciser–Improve Dexterity and Strength in Fingers, Hands, Forearms- Adjust Tension Per Finger– Simulated Strings Help Develop Calluses- Comfortable Conditioning

I settled for this particular model on the basis of other reviews and its brand. To date, I have not been disappointed, it’s doing what I want it to do and I am already feeling the benefits. It is easy to use and easy to adjust the spring tensions for individual fingers. Initially I found the fourth finger key too strong, but by altering the strength on the other fingers, within days found significant improvement on the fourth finger which already transferred into my woodwind, keyboard and string playing. Taking off the grey moulding to cover the keys is really simple and doing the exercise to maintain string callouses is simple and again, effective. This is a robust, compact and simple device, stores and transports easily. Some may quibble at its cost but I think it easily justifies itself, is easy to use and produces results quickly. A basic but really useful tool for the musician- I’m very pleased I bought this, to borrow another well known phrase: “ it does what it says on the tin” ( although this one comes plastic sealed to a card:D). Some may think five stars rather generous, but it does and is continuing to do all I expected of it so how could I give it less? After all, I’d happily buy it again if I need to.

It looks and feels well made. It performs quite well in a number of configurations, and it all depends on what you expect from it. I was a bit disappointed that the tension was as strong as it is at it's weakest setting - this makes it difficult to use as a practise aid for finger co-ordination - for example for finger picking guitar or trumpet etc. Weaker springs would have made this much easier, and tension could be increased if desired. I bought the varigrip mainly to exercise my fingers at the onset of arthritis, and I'm not sure that it will actually help. This is mainly because it is difficult to use the grip to bend specific finger joints enough, and I now also have my doubts about strength exercises actually easing the symptoms of arthritis anyway. No doubt the grip will improve the strength of fingers, hand and wrist, if that's what you want.

Will definitely help with individual finger strength and overall hand strength. I really like the added callus board although I feel it could be deeper to replicate playing on steel strings. However I guess that would leave your fingers sore and result in the inability to practice on an actual guitar. Overall it’s a good training aid and recommend it, especially for beginners.

Received this hand exerciser today, so far I am pleased with it’s ease of use. It will help me to strengthen my fingers as I have a problem with my right hand, but wish to keep up finger grip strength whilst waiting for treatment. I imagine it may not give enough resistance for some younger, stronger users - (I am a 72 yr old woman. Also, it may not be suitable for all hand deficiencies!).

I have to admit I do like this, in fact I love it. I think it's brilliant. It's well built, and it's clear D'Addario have put some real thought into it's practicality and how it'll benefit your guitar playing. This isn't a corporate fad designed to milk money out of novice guitar players who might think they need every single guitar accessory on the face of this planet. (The experienced ones I know who have been playing for over a decade also found this useful in their own way and considered getting one themselves.) The packaging it comes in (a card with the exerciser affixed to it) has a list on the back of all the different exercises you could essentially incorporate, ranging from building finger calluses to strengthening muscles and training them for bar chords. I started using this every day, playing around with it and giving the muscles a good flexing which I began to reap the benefits of. I could hold chords for longer and the fingers felt more agile when finger-picking. The callus builder (located underneath the grey strip seen in the picture) I was initially skeptical of, since it's "string simulator" is three lines that somewhat represent the thinner strings, but they're more raised groves in the plastic body as opposed to real guitar strings which I feel would have been better, or metal at the least. Nevertheless, they do show promise, and the fingertips feel toughened. The ability to change the tension on each finger press (via turning the small dials for each) allows me to slowly improve the strength in the little fingers while stepping it up for the main three which are much stronger (of course, as they said too, favouring certain fingers isn't ideal.) It fits into the pocket nicely and works great as a warm up before an intense session, or in your spare time when you know there's something you need to work on. It's versatile, strong and definitely serves me well. Highly recommended, espcially for a tenner.

A useful device for exercising the hand and fingers, it feels well made but I deducted one star because one of the finger plungers squeaks whilst the rest are all silent.

As a guitarist I'm a bit cranky about things that might affect my ability to play and, helping an elderly friend with her gardening I used many 2-stroke power tools for a while until my hands began to ache and feel a bit seized up. When those danger signs came along I stopped using the equipment and broke out the elbow grease, but still needed to rehabilitate my hands from the RSI-inducing traumas of power tools. This has proven perfect to do just this. Physiotherapy is all about very subtle movements that bring back the use of hands, and any other limbs for that matter, and the D'Addario hand exerciser has really helped me to bring back the deterity that I need to continue with my guitars. It can be used in either hand, with the grey cushioned part against your palm and your fingers on the pressure pads in either orientation, a bit like ambidextrous trumpet keys. Exercising is something you can do while waiting for something else to happen, such as a kettle boiling or a WAV file to be rendered in your DAW! Just pick it up, spend a minute on each hand every day, and you should keep hand function going for a long time. It takes me all my strength to press some of the keys, but that;s not really what it's about so much as flexure of the joints and a building up of musculature that does so much to protect joints and even reverse the symptoms of arthritis (as happened several years ago with one of my knees - I managed to get back to walking miles from barely being able to walk at all). Used little and often, this is a great aid to hand function and deterity. This is one gadget that really needed an extra 6th star for the rating.

Definitely helps to buildup strength in your fingers, and I like the added feature of being able to build up the calluses on the finger tips. Very well made, and the price was reasonable. Recommended!