Sex Toy Reviews

Review: Revel Body SOL

Kate Sloan

You might already know this, but there’s a tight-knit community of sex bloggers like me, and when drama happens in that community, it spreads fast and hard.

That kind of drama exploded around the Revel Body last year, when notoriously snarky sex toy reviewer Epiphora ripped it apart in her review and the company’s CEO threatened a lawsuit and left rude comments on the blog post. (Note to sex toy companies: when you send your stuff to reviewers, it will get reviewed – don’t act surprised when it does.)

All that said… The company seems to be better-behaved these days, and though I never got to try the original Revel Body, I enjoy the updated version. Well, sort of. Let me explain.

The Revel Body SOL, like its predecessor, uses “TrueSonic™” technology to produce its vibrations. This is a technology that’s based on magnets and causes the toy’s removable centre attachment to pulse back and forth as the magnets jostle it around. (Obviously this is an oversimplification. Hey, I’m no scientist.)

The vibrations feel really good to me – very rumbly, and reminiscent of jackhammer vibes like the Wahl and the We-Vibe Tango. My clit gets a good pounding with the Revel Body and that’s a sensation I typically dig.

There are a few problems with the technology, though. First off, you can’t apply pressure because it weakens the vibrations significantly. Secondly, it’s only the first three vibration speeds that actually feel rumbly; the ones above that are all progressively more and more buzzy, so I never use them. On the one hand, it’s good that the lower modes are so good that I never need to venture past them; on the other hand, if you’re going to charge $139 for a vibrator, then every single one of its settings should be excellent, not just some of them.

The Revel Body is also pretty loud. The attachments are called “QuietCore™” so you would think the toy would be, y’know, quiet. It’s not. Not at all. Do not get this toy if you need discretion; it will embarrass you.

While the lowest 2-3 settings of the Revel Body can get me off consistently with their delicious rumbliness, I find that it takes me a long-ass time to reach orgasm with it. (I should note that for me, “a long-ass time” equals “more than five minutes,” but still.) I think it’s because the jumps between the speeds are too big. I always end up getting to a point where one setting feels too weak but the next one feels too strong, so I keep getting overstimulated and have to back off, resulting in orgasms that seem to take eons. They’re worth it when I get there, but the journey itself can be annoying.

The silicone attachment can be swapped out for others. The Revel Body comes with three basic attachments: one is flat and slightly rounded, one is pointy/spindly like a little porcupine, and one looks like a concave target. The porcupine one is mildly irritating to my clit and the target just doesn’t feel direct enough, so I stick with the original, basic attachment 90% of the time. I think I would like the Niko attachment best, since it sticks out and could make better contact with my clit, but I don’t have it, so alas, I’ll never know.

The sphere-shaped vibe feels good to hold in my hand – ergonomic, comfortable – but sometimes the stimulation feels too broad on my clit, which is why I wish I had an attachment that protrudes more.

Overall, the Revel Body SOL is fairly unique and often pleasurable, but I’m not sure it’s worth $139 when you can get the Wahl for $22 or the We-Vibe Tango for $85. Both are just as strong as, or stronger than, the Revel Body, both have shapes and settings that get along with my clit better, and both are substantially quieter.

Thanks, Revel Body!

Review: Tantus Silicone O-Ring Set

Kate Sloan

This is sort of a mini-review, because there’s not a whole lot you can say about something as simple as O-rings. But I thought you’d like to know that Tantus makes O-rings now and they’re great.

They’re significantly stretchier than any others I’ve tried. They come in a huge variety of sizes, ranging from 1.2” to 2.5” in diameter. And they cost only $20 for the whole set of 6 rings. $20 is a pretty reasonable price for never again needing to worry if a particular dildo will fit into your harness.

(If you need a harness that will work with all of these O-rings, I heartily recommend the Aslan Jaguar!)

All in all, these O-rings are a very good buy for anyone who likes strap-on play in any configuration.

Thanks, Tantus!

Review: Bondara Silicone Rechargeable Rabbit

Kate Sloan

My expectations for rabbit vibes are low, because the vast majority of them are laughably terrible. Most don’t get me off, don’t feel particularly good, and certainly don’t wow me.

The Bondara silicone rechargeable rabbit works fine, gets me off, feels pretty good, but doesn’t wow me.

Let’s start with the good stuff: it’s made of nice, body-safe materials. It charges via USB and holds its charge well. The controls are easy enough to understand (one button for on and off, one to flip through the settings).

This rabbit succeeds in an area where some rabbits fail spectacularly, which is shape and comfort. The shaft’s girth is just right at 1.5”. The G-spot curve doesn’t poke my vaginal wall or cause pain on insertion or removal. And the rabbit ears, miraculously, always sit in the right spot and stay put, never injuring my clit or wandering off course. This all sounds pretty basic but you would be surprised how many rabbits are completely unusable due to problems with comfort and shape.

The vibrations on the Bondara rabbit are strong and deep enough to get me off, which, again, should be basic but is seldom found among rabbit vibrators, which I find are usually buzzy and weak, even the higher-end ones. I think having two separate motors is too taxing so a lot of toy designers give their rabbits two mediocre motors instead of the one really good motor they might put into a regular vibrator. The Bondara one isn’t jackhammer-strong and won’t satisfy power queens, but it can make me come so I’m satisfied with the vibe strength.

The problem is that you can’t really control the vibration speed, nor can you control the clitoral and vaginal portions of the toy separately (which, IMO, should be a standard feature on rabbits). The various modes offered by the toy have good interplay between vaginal and clitoral stimulation, but they switch back and forth too slowly so they never build any momentum toward orgasm for me. For that reason, I stick to the steady-vibration mode, but there are only two, low and high. I can get off that way but I prefer more gradation in between speeds, so I can avoid numbness and overstimulation. And I would greatly prefer to be able to control both portions of the vibe separately, because my G-spot’s power preferences are pretty different from my clit’s.

Speaking of the G-spot – this rabbit’s internal curve isn’t anything to write home about. It touches my G-spot but doesn’t really dig into it the way I prefer. The internal stimulation is general and broad, not focused and precise.

So… This rabbit is actually a pretty good buy if you consider the fact that it’s only 24 pounds (about 40 American dollars). But I still maintain that if you want dual stimulation, most rabbits aren’t worth the trouble and you’d be better off buying a good dildo and a decent clit vibe, both of which you can get for about the same amount as this rabbit if you shop wisely.

Thanks for the toy, Bondara!

Review: Tantus Plunge

Kate Sloan

Sometimes when I get together with friends, someone will ask me, “What reviews are you working on right now?” I usually try to talk about whichever toy on my current docket is the most interesting or strange, since there’s not much conversational potential in a response like, “Oh, you know, a standard silicone dildo.”

Well, for months, my go-to toy to discuss when faced with this question was the Tantus Plunge, because – as I’ve learned from these conversations – people are always either weirded out or titillated by the idea of a paddle that’s also a dildo.

Most common responses: “How does that work?” and “Who would want that?” Usually these questions were followed by some reflection and maybe a theory or two: “I guess if you’re spanking someone and suddenly want to fuck them instead…” “Well, it’s two toys in one, so it’s a good value, I guess.”

These theories have their merits, and the toy isn’t bad, but I still think it was a strange idea and one that doesn’t work so well in practice either.

The Plunge (the name of which, by the way, awkwardly makes me think of clogged toilets) is made of Tantus’ beautiful matte black silicone. It’s a material that works perfectly for paddles because it makes the handle appropriately grippy and gives the silicone a sexy leather-meets-rubber feeling – but it’s not ideal for dildos, at least not for me. I prefer a glossier silicone that won’t eat so much lube so quickly. Glossy silicone is also better for situations where you don’t have lube, or don’t want to use it.

My overall feeling about the Plunge is that it makes a great paddle but its functionality as a dildo is limited. I’ll tell you why…

Embedded in the handle of the Plunge is a hole that goes in one side and out the other. This is to enable you to hang the paddle up, but it’s a bad feature to include in a handle that doubles as a dildo. Cleaning vag junk out of that hole is a bitch.

The dildo/handle end of the Plunge is only 1.25” in diameter. That’s a fair girth for people with tight orifices, but anyone on the average-to-size-queen side of the spectrum will be sorely disappointed by this dimension.

It’s really hard to hold onto the toy while fucking yourself, or someone else, with the dildo end. You have to grip the whole wide paddle side in your hand, and it starts to dig into the flesh of your hand after a while. There are various other ways to hold it but all are tiresome. A dildo’s handle should be ergonomic and intuitive so you can put all your energy into the fucking; this one’s isn’t at all.

The dildo itself has a nice curve that strokes my G-spot enjoyably, but because it’s so slim, and because the terrible “handle” (paddle end) makes it difficult to get a comfortable rhythm going, the dildo just doesn’t deliver. If I want a small G-spot dildo, I’ll reach for something that’s easier to thrust with, every time.

As a paddle, though, the Plunge performs spectacularly. Tantus’ paddles are always top-notch. This one is a good mix of stingy and thuddy, and the curved handle makes it easy and comfortable to hold onto during spanking.

But if you want a Tantus paddle, I’m going to have to recommend the Wham Bam or Pelt instead, because the Plunge is just too impractical to be worth the extra money. How are you supposed to spank someone when the paddle’s handle is covered in lube? How are you supposed to fuck someone when you can’t get a comfortable grip on the end of the dildo? How are you supposed to switch between spanking and fucking in a way that isn’t awkward as hell? And (as a few of my friends asked me during the aforementioned conversations about the Plunge) what are you supposed to do if you want to fuck and spank someone at the same time?

My suggestion: get a good dildo and a good paddle and use them individually, of course. The Plunge was a clever idea in theory but the real-life manifestation is just too weird and ineffectual for me to recommend.

Thanks anyway, Tantus! You know I love ya, baby.

Harness Showdown: Aslan Jaguar vs. RodeoH Briefs

Kate Sloan

I have finally acquired the two harnesses of my dreams – two of the best harnesses you could ever hope to find, probably. And while I love them both more than words can say, I am a sex toy reviewer – which means I have to be objective and helpful. So, like a cruel mother, I have to pit my babies against each other and write an exhaustive comparison.

The two harnesses in question: the Aslan Leather Jaguar and the RodeoH brief. (Both are pictured above with the Tantus Acute.) Alright, let’s get this show on the road.

Material

The Jaguar is made of leather, and HOLY FUCKING FUCK, it is the sexiest leather I have ever encountered. I don’t have a leather fetish but this harness just might change my mind on this front. It has that powerful-but-not-overpowering leather smell, and it’s soft and broken-in already when you get it. The pliability of the leather makes it feel like a second skin when you’ve been wearing it for a while.

For vegans and other folks who might have issues with leather, the Jag also comes in a vegan version, often for a slightly higher price.

The RodeoH is made of a cotton-elastane blend, much like your favorite pair of underwear. It’s soft to the touch and feels well-constructed.

Sizing and Fit

The Jag comes in two sizes, small and large. “Small” fits hip sizes from 26 to 44 inches; “large” fits 36 to 56 inches. I went with the small size because my hips are currently around 41 inches and I’m in the process of losing weight, so the small will continue to fit me. The hip and butt straps on the Jag are all super adjustable so you should be able to get a good fit no matter what your dimensions are. I’ve heard of some people needing to punch extra holes in the straps or trim the ends of their straps for sizing reasons, but I don’t think the typical person will need to do that stuff if they buy according to their (accurate) hip measurement.

The RodeoH comes in 9 different sizes: 23-24", 25-26", 27-29", and so on, all the way up to 52-55". While each size seems to allow for only a small range of measurements, the material is actually very stretchy and accommodating; I probably got a size or two smaller than I should have, and my harness still fits nicely, albeit snugly. RodeoH recommends sizing down for more control during thrusting anyway.

If you’re very small and have a hip measurement between 23" and 26", the RodeoH is probably the better choice for you because the Jag won’t get small enough to fit you unless you make some alterations yourself.

Getting In and Out

Obviously it’s hard to beat the RodeoH in this category, since you just step into it and pull it up, like underwear. Same dealio when you take it off.

The Jag looks a bit more intimidating to put on, but actually, if you leave one side undone each time you finish using it, it only takes a few seconds to step into it and get it fastened up. Here’s a video of the founder of Aslan Leather demonstrating this technique (it’s SFW – he puts it on over his pants).

Comfort

I find both of these harnesses very comfortable, though I think the RodeoH wins in this category simply because, well, it’s basically a pair of underwear. Hard to get much comfier than that.

I can imagine that the Jag could get a little hard to deal with if you were wearing it under pants for hours at a time, or if you had to sit on a hard chair for a while, because of the metal D-rings in the ass region.

I also have more slippage with the Jag – the butt straps sometimes give me a wedgie, possibly because of my sizeable booty. I don’t have this issue with the RodeoH because, of course, it doesn’t have straps.

Dildos and O-Rings

Neither my Jag nor my RodeoH came with extra O-rings. That makes sense for the RodeoH, because you can’t switch out the 1.5" O-ring it comes with; it’s sewn right into the harness, and has a little bit of stretch to allow for larger dildos. But you can swap out the O-ring on the Jag, so I was surprised that it didn’t come with any additional rings.

The O-ring that comes with the Jag has a 2" diameter, which is pretty big. I have some smaller rings that came with my Tantus Bend Over Beginner kit, so I put one of those in. Replacing the O-ring is easy: you just have to undo the 3 snaps surrounding the ring area, take out the old one, put in the new one, and do up the snaps again.

The unchangeable O-ring on the RodeoH makes it an unwise choice if you plan on using dildos significantly smaller than 1.5" in diameter. I find that dildos in the 1.25"-or-smaller range flop around a little in the RodeoH, while I can get them to stand at attention better in my Jag if I use an appropriately-sized O-ring. And of course, the fixed size of the RodeoH’s ring also means that it can’t accommodate dildos much larger than its ring’s diameter.

Both harnesses work best with flat-based dildos that don’t have balls, though I imagine you could get a testicled dildo into the Jag with a wide enough O-ring and some gentle jimmying.

Fucking/Thrusting

Full disclosure: I don’t currently have a willing strap-on partner, so all the testing I did in this department was done in mid-air or in a faux vagina I made by cupping my hand. Sorry!

When my Jag is properly adjusted and tightened all the way around, it’s very stable. I do find I get some slippage in the back D-rings after a while, but that’s easily fixed by quickly tightening ‘em up.

The RodeoH is definitely less stable and there is more flopping around and less control, because of the lack of straps and tightenability (that’s not a word, I know, but I just coined it). As I said above, buying a size or two smaller can help a bit with this, but I think if you need a lot of stability, you’re gonna need an old-fashioned two-strap harness.

Pleasure for the Wearer

The Jag was designed specifically so that the dildo would rest on top of the clit during use, creating more pleasure for the wearer. And damn, it works. Mine doesn’t sit directly on my clit but maybe an inch above, which is actually where I prefer to be stimulated – on the upper shaft of my clit. Even just fucking my hand produces a lot of pleasure for me. I don’t know if I could reach orgasm that way, but it feels pretty awesome.

The dildo sits higher in my RodeoH, on my pubic mound, so there is some pleasure but not as much. However, the RodeoH has something the Jag doesn’t: a little pouch behind the dildo, where you can tuck a bullet vibe if you so desire. That makes up for the less-than-ideal dildo placement, if you ask me.

Should you want to use a double-ended dildo like the Feeldoe, the Jag is your man: there’s no fabric or leather between the dildo and your body, so you’re free to self-penetrate as much as you want. The RodeoH has some fabric behind the dildo so you can’t use double-ended dildos with it, and it’s hard (if not impossible) for the wearer to receive any genital stimulation while wearing it.

Sex Appeal

As a femme person, I definitely feel hotter in the Jag. The leather and styling strike me as classically sexy without being particularly gendered. The RodeoH, on the other hand, feels pretty boyish; I can imagine myself loving the look of it if I was doing some kind of boy/butch roleplay, but as my regular girly self, it doesn’t quite gel with my aesthetic and gender identity.

However, RodeoH has a lace panty style which is sexy as hell and very feminine. Options, yay!

Price

You can get the classic RodeoH brief for $45, or the boxer style or panty style for $49. As far as high-quality harnesses go, those are excellent prices.

The Jaguar is anywhere from $95 to $120 depending on where you get it from. The price was a pretty big deterrent to me, honestly, on my student budget. I only ended up buying the Jag because EcoSex was having a Canada Day sale and I was able to get it for $85 including shipping and tax. And even that felt pretty steep to me.

Other Considerations

Aslan Leather products have a lifetime guarantee, so if your harness breaks, they will repair or replace it for free.

My (cis male) boyfriend is able to comfortably wear the RodeoH and fuck me with dildos that way. His average-sized (about 6") penis doesn’t get squished by the harness even when he’s hard. Harnesses specifically for cis dudes do exist, but they’re pretty pricey as far as I’ve ever seen.

Aslan harnesses are handmade here in Canada, while RodeoH harnesses are made in China.

RodeoH harnesses can be worn as makeshift underwear if, say, it’s been too long since you’ve done your laundry. (Naughty!)

Conclusion

…Well, I don’t know if I have a conclusion. I don’t think either of these harnesses necessarily came out on top; it all just depends on what you’re looking for in a harness. I know that both will serve me well in my lifetime, even if I don’t have a strap-on partner at the moment.

Both of these harnesses are gorgeous, well-made, and get the job done. I’m so happy I own them.

What’s the harness of your dreams? Or, what’s your favorite harness you’ve ever tried?