ORIGINAL: Flipper
I should probably go back and re-read Colin Mills, but maybe you can sum up the flight characteristics of dampeners that are too loose v/s too stiff at the extreme ends? I get the too loose = boom strike part, but what about how the heli behaves?
(I think I have an understanding of their function, but I'd like to be sure..)
Yes, there are some pretty good explanations of this, but the basic principle is that softer dampning allows the spindle to rock around in the head block, and dampens (reduces) the movement transferred to the head block (and the rest of the heli). This makes the heli more docile, and less responsive to inputs as movement is absorbed by the dampers. This can be good for beginner pilots for obvious reasons. The stiffer damping does the opposite: any force produced by the blades are immediately transferred from the spindle to the head block because the dampners do not depress (or only very little), which results in more responsiveness and less chance of a boom strike. Very stiff dampning can cause the heli to wobble in a hover at lower headspeeds.
Personally, I would suggest new pilots just start out with hard dampning and tone down responsiveness by other means (throws, expo, etc.)