My passion project for the last few months, a huge round-up of some of the industry’s best grinding sex toys, is now out to the world. But with such a diverse range of products already making up this emerging trend, there was more than a few toys I was interested in including that just didn’t make the cut. One of them had to be the intriguing Vibe Pad from ORION Wholesale, which one of the round-up’s main contributors, Nudie Co, had just recently gotten in stock. However, whilst very much a grinder just like the toys in that post, it was at the same time completely different, and ultimately it was left out, feeling too unique to be adequately compared to the others. Thankfully for everyone though, Nudie Co were still kind enough to send one out, so that I might give it a review of its own!
Review Round-Up: Grinders
Like many people, grinding was my entry point into the world of masturbation. Whether it meant rubbing at my vulva by hand or going on top of my pillows at night, I was doing it long before I even knew what a vibrator was. But now, after seven years of testing hundreds of sex toys, it’s not often I find myself resorting to this kind of “acoustic” play anymore. After all, I have all kinds of gadgets that can achieve the same thing for far less effort, and thus grinding had become but a distant memory. So, you can imagine my surprise when in 2021 a new toy trend seemingly emerged out of nowhere: grinders. From indie makers releasing a wave of textured non-insertables, to retailers relabelling old favourites like the We-Vibe Touch and Tenga Iroha+ Kushi as grindable toys, clearly something was going on, and I wanted in. Which is why I sought out six of the best for today’s very special grinder review round-up!
Review: Snail Vibe
As a sex toy tester, I hear terms like “innovative”, “first of its kind”, and “revolutionary” a lot when looking at products to review, with every company seemingly trying to “reinvent” the vibrator. The thing is, they really don’t need reinventing. Sure, new features like app compatibility and Smart Silence are great, and motors can always be improved upon, but designs like wand massagers and G-Spot vibrators are classics for a reason, and don’t need entire overhauls. The exception to this, and the one product where I do think there is room for change, however, is the rabbit. Despite their popularity, these dual-stimulation toys are well known to be very hit-and-miss depending on how the user’s body matches up to the toy’s typically rigid measurements, and often considered a big risk to purchase. In fact, after seven years of reviewing them, the recent We-Vibe Nova 2 is the only one I feel even remotely safe in recommending to people, but even that doesn’t work for everyone. So when I heard about an entirely new type of dual stimulator that had just won an award for its universal design, I was excited. At least I was, until I saw it…
Review: YY Horse Mini Banana
Every week I spend hours sorting through press releases and trade magazines to find the best and most exciting new sex toys to bring you reviews of. It’s how I end up finding gems like the Hot Octopuss KURVE and Lovehoney X Love Not War Amore despite them being barely off the manufacturing line, alongside warnings for products that didn’t quite work out before you risk spending your hard earned money on them. So that’s why when a retailer like Honeysx comes along and says I can choose anything from their store to review, I can’t help but want to put my feet up a little and review something purely for fun instead. And that is exactly what the YY Horse Mini Banana is all about. Going full form over function, YY Horse (which is the brand name, and no, I don’t know why) have created what looks to be a terrible sex toy. But with one of the most adorable designs ever, the Mini Banana has truly won my heart.
Review: We-Vibe Touch X
There’s understandably been a lot of hype lately surrounding the We-Vibe Tango X, considering it’s the long-awaited upgrade to one of the most popular vibrators ever made. In fact, the expectations have been so high that when I reviewed it a few months ago, I was somewhat unimpressed, as while there wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with it, I just felt it wasn’t able to live up to its predecessor’s legacy. But while all eyes have been on the Tango X, another new We-Vibe product has quietly begun making waves of its own. The We-Vibe Touch has long been the lesser-known sister toy to the Tango, with the two of them being released together originally and for every upgrade since, including the latest X generation. Despite both being clitoral vibrators using the same powerful motor however, the two cater to complete opposite ends of the spectrum, with the thin and rigid ABS plastic of the Tango being ideal for pin-point stimulation, whilst the soft silicone and sculpted body of the Touch boasting broad vibrations. So, with the Tango not really doing it for me anymore, I figured now was the perfect time to finally get to know the Touch X, and JOUJOU agreed.
Review: We-Vibe Tango X
When I first started reading sex blogs and toy reviews many years ago, there were a few products that would consistently be referenced across all of my favourite websites. They were things like the Njoy Pure Wand, Vixen Creations VixSkin Mustang, and Magic Wand Rechargeable, legendary toys that continue to maintain a cult following even today. But the main toy that I kept hearing about over and over again, regardless of what the actual review was about, was the versatile We-Vibe Tango. Widely regarded as the most powerful bullet vibrator on the market, it wasn’t long before I got one of my own and fell madly in love with it just like everyone else. A marvel of simplicity mixed with raw power, We-Vibe’s unrelenting lipstick-shaped ABS plastic was the perfect vessel for rumbly vibrations that were ahead of their time, and the fuss-free design complimented them perfectly. But it had a dark secret, with a battery life that was unable to meet the demand its users placed on it. I’ve spoken to people who have owned over ten Tangos in order to get their fix, but when mine died back in 2019, that was it for me, and eventually I found a replacement in the Dame Kip. Since then though I have been just wishing We-Vibe would fix this issue and re-release it, and so when JOUJOU got in touch recently to let me know that was exactly what was happening to celebrate the toy’s 10th birthday, I couldn’t have been happier.