Review: Hot Octopuss Queen Bee

The Hot Octopuss Queen Bee is one of those toys that everyone knew about and wanted when it was released. The UK brand is known for their innovative penis-oriented pleasure products, so when they announced they were working on a toy for the clitoris, it was a big deal. Not just for sex toy reviewers like me either, as Hot Octopuss have a fantastic marketing team that had even the general public literally lining up to try this toy. Just the PR for this product was so good that it beat out McDonalds for an award on it, which I can’t imagine is an easy feat. But when the toy was finally released into the hands of reviewers… the thoughts were, well, mixed. I’ve heard fantastic things and I’ve heard not-so-fantastic things about this product. But that only made me want it more, how could a product have so many different opinions? Due to all this I was super excited when Hot Octopuss got in contact with me recently to review it for them.

The Brand

As I mentioned before, Hot Octopuss are a UK based company that until recently only manufactured masturbators and couples toys. Their brand is very luxurious, both in their style (their logo is a crown!) and the fact that they have an extremely limited range, which tells you that every product has been carefully considered. If I had a penis I would have been all over this brand well before now, because their masturbators look like something out of a sci-fi film and I am super into that. I actually showed my partner, who has absolutely no interest in sex toys, the website when I was choosing what to review (it was a hard choice between the Queen Bee and their PULSE III Duo which is intended for couples use) and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so interested in masturbators before! Plus, as a marketing student it’s hard to not adore Hot Octopuss’s PR skills, which are easily some of the best in the business.

Product Description

The Hot Octopuss Queen Bee itself is a big, bulky, hair-brush shaped toy. It’s what it looks like in the pictures, but for some reason I was still surprised at how much it looks like some sort of electronic, rather than a sex toy. While it does have a somewhat sleek design, I think the grey colour scheme combined with its size and rough texture, all work to make this toy have a very masculine and sterile feel. I do like that this means it is gender-neutral, but overall to me this toy just looks like a prototype that is still awaiting its finalised design. Coming in at 278g, this toy is fairly heavy for its size, but otherwise it has all the typical features you’d expect from a good electronic sex toy, such as being waterproof and USB rechargeable. It’s made out of TPE, which is a material I don’t usually recommend, and as such silicone would have been preferred, but as this toy is intended for use externally it isn’t much of an issue. A diamond pattern features on the two sides of the toy’s head, and these create a texture on the side with the toy’s four buttons, while the side with the PulsePlate is smooth. ABS plastic is placed around the seams of the TPE, and the Hot Octopuss logo features on the PulsePlate and the handle.

Now, since I haven’t mentioned it, you’re probably wondering what this toy actually does, and what the heck is a PulsePlate? Essentially the Queen Bee is a large clitoral vibrator, or small wand massager depending on how you look at it, except it uses a new innovative type of technology to stimulate users. This is a technology the company has previously tried out with their PULSE masturbator to great success, and so the idea was to bring it to a clitoral toy. Rather than vibrating, these toys oscillate, which is designed to give a much deeper and more rumbly feeling than a typical vibrator could. This is all achieved through the use of the PulsePlate, so that these oscillations can be applied directly, rather than being run by some motor inside the toy.

Packaging

My order with Hot Octopuss was placed around the 16th of February, and I received it on the 21st of February, which was fantastic considering it was coming from the UK. There was no mention of the sender on the box, however the contents were listed as “Sample Queen Bee”, which was not ideal. Since it said sample though I would like to think that it was listed like this as I am a reviewer, and that a customer would not experience the same issue. Once I opened the box I was presented with the packaging for the toy. I had no prior knowledge of what Hot Octopuss packaging would be like, but I expected something fancy as they’re a luxury toy manufacturer. Instead, I got the sort of packaging I’d expect from a $20 toy. It’s just a simple cardboard box with some photos and information on the product, and inside is a cardboard cut out that the toy rests in. In addition to the product, the box also contained a charging cable, instructions, and a very nice drawstring bag. The product also comes with a 1 year manufacturers warranty.

Charging

As the toy is USB rechargeable, charging it is very simple. Just plug the USB end into a USB port, and then place the magnetic end onto the charging plate of the toy. The magnet for this toy is quite strong, so you shouldn’t have too many issues with it falling off. One thing I love about the charger is that it has Hot Octopuss’s logo on it, making it easy to identify which charger works with this toy if you’re like me and have many. When charging the light on the toy will display red, and this will change to green when it is fully charged. The toy should take 4 hours to charge, which will give you 1 hour of playtime, which is perhaps the worst ratio for this I’ve ever seen.

Controls

Controlling the toy is simple, intuitive and easy to pick up and understand. There are four buttons and they all have symbols to depict what they do. To start, just hold down the button with the power symbol for 2 seconds, this will turn on the toy and put it on its lowest level of vibrations. You can then press the button with the plus symbol to increase the strength of the vibrations, and the button with the minus symbol to lower them again. There are 7 levels of strength in total, so plenty to play around with and enjoy. At any time you can then also activate the pattern modes, which is the final button. There are 6 pattern modes, and these can also have their strength adjusted with the 7 levels using the plus and minus buttons. Finally, to turn the toy off, just hold the power symbol for 2 seconds again. All in all the controls for this toy are perfect, I love every aspect of them and have no complaints, and the variety of steady speeds and patterns offered is far superior to most toys.

First Impressions

There are two sides to the head of the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee, the side with the buttons which is designed for “Gentle Massage”, and the side with the PulsePlate. I don’t really enjoy using the massage side on my clitoris as I just don’t get anything out of it, but it is very nice as a back massager. As for the PulsePlate, this is actually a separate element of the toy, and when it’s turned on it actually moves back and forth to create the oscillations. This does mean though that if you press down hard enough on the plate, the oscillations will turn off as it won’t be able to move, so if you’re the sort of person who likes to use a lot of pressure, this may be something to consider.

I noticed two things immediately when I first turned this toy on. Firstly, WOW does it pack a punch. All I started with was turning it on and placing it on my hand, and already it feels like the strongest vibrator ever made. The oscillations are just so deep and so rumbly, it’s actually quite amazing, and I couldn’t wait to get this thing on my clit. The other thing I noticed though wasn’t so positive, and that was the noise it was making. This is definitely one of the loudest toys I’ve ever owned, especially for its size, and I would relate the noise to a lawn-mower or motor bike. I mean, it’s not actually as loud as those things, but that’s the type of noise it has, and even then it is still really quite loud. I live in a ground floor apartment and using this product makes me nervous my neighbours and people on the street can hear it. Definitely not a product you want to use if privacy is at all an issue for you.

My Experience

When we were organising this review Hot Octopuss advised me that because the toy uses oscillation, which is quite different from the vibrations of standard clitoral toys, that it would likely take some time and experimenting to get use to. I have since found that this really was excellent advice to keep in mind, because due to this the Queen Bee has certainly been a tricky toy to review. The first time I placed, what otherwise appeared to be a super powerful toy, on my clitoris, it was very confusing. I could barely feel anything?! Eventually my clitoris warmed up to it, and I had a good orgasm, but it took a lot more time and effort than I’m use to. It’s then been a similar story every other time I have tried the toy, although I do feel like each time I use it I enjoy it a little more.

The tricky part with this review is that I don’t think it’s entirely the toy’s fault that I’ve been having trouble using it, as I can feel that it is very powerful when trying it out on other parts of my body. Instead, the issue is that my clitoris is so accustomed to being stimulated in one particular way, that it doesn’t know how to respond to this new type. It’s the same if I switch between using vibrators to using just my hand, I use to be able to easily get off without any assistance when I was younger and it felt fantastic, but now I do this far less, and so when I do the process takes longer and doesn’t feel as good anymore. I reckon that’s why there are so many mixed opinions of the toy too, as those who aren’t use to standard vibrators probably get a lot more enjoyment from this toy than those who are. I’ve tested this toy far more than I would usually do to try and figure out my thoughts on it, but even with all this I have to admit that this toy just doesn’t really work for me, or at least not enough to justify its price tag.

Cleaning & Care

Cleaning the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee is very easy since it is waterproof, and also because it is an external toy so it won’t get too messy. After use just give it a wipe down with some soap or soak it in some soapy water, and then rinse with clean water. You can then either let it air dry or dry it yourself, and then return it to its storage bag.

Final Thoughts

The Hot Octopuss Queen Bee was a difficult toy to review, but I knew that going into it, and overall I actually had a better time using this toy than I thought I would. In terms of its design I thought it was perfect besides two main issues, its ridiculous charging time of four hours for only one hour of use, and its headache-inducing noise. It certainly could have also looked a lot more refined and less prototype-y, but I’m not really here to judge aesthetics too much. Then, in regards to its use, it’s a bit harder to give a proper opinion. But I will say that if you like pin-point stimulation and use quite a lot of traditional vibrators, then the Queen Bee probably isn’t for you. However, if you like broad stimulation, or are new to vibrators or looking for something different, then maybe you’d like this. Overall though I really enjoyed trying out this new form of clitoral stimulation, and I’m really excited to see where Hot Octopuss take their PulsePlate technology in the future.

Sadly, the Hot Octopuss Queen Bee has now been discontinued.

However, Hot Octopuss have recently reimagined it as their Pulse Queen!

Last updated: 9/4/24

Price at the time of writing: $159 AUD / $119 USD

I received this product in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Affiliate links have been used in this post.