dildo

Review: Tantus Slow Drive

Kate Sloan

OPTIONS! I love having options. I love not needing to settle for a toy that’s almost-but-not-quite right for my anatomy, my technique, or my aesthetic preferences.

Tantus is very good at providing options. Not only do they carry a whole lot of kickass non-standard color choices (peacock-turquoise Duke, anyone?) but they’ve also been known to offer more than one size choice for certain dildos – for example, the small, medium and large Silk, and the small and large (HUGE) Amsterdam. Now they’re at it again, with a new(-ish) toy that comes in two different lengths: the Slow Drive and Slow Drive Long.

The price difference between the two is only $7, so if you think there’s any chance of you needing more than 5" of insertable length, you might as well spring for the long version and get an extra 2" for your money. Personally, I’m perfectly happy with either one; the regular Slow Drive is long enough to fill my vag to the hilt without much leftover length, while the long version gives me a little more “handle” to hold onto while thrusting. Whatever floats your boat, baby.

Sensation-wise, I’m digging the Slow Drive more than I thought I would. Its pointy shape doesn’t scream “G-spot ecstasy” to me – my spot tends to prefer rounder, wider heads, like the one on the Tantus Sport – but it’s surprisingly pleasurable. The curve is short but extreme, and it nuzzles right into my G-spot without feeling pokey.

Both Slow Drives have a diameter of 1.25". Shout-out to Tantus for consistently offering lots of options for those of us who are decidedly not size queens. An inch and a quarter isn’t tiny, but it’s small enough that I can use it without prior warm-up, and large enough that I find it satisfying 90% of the time.

Even though it has the curve-at-the-very-tip shape that I’ve come to associate with good A-spot toys, I find that the Slow Drive doesn’t really hit my A-spot for some reason. It’s decidedly a G-spot toy for me. But I’m okay with that, because what it does, it does very well. I can have blended orgasms super easily with the Slow Drive by thrusting it fast against my G-spot and leaving a vibe on low or medium on my clit.

I also think the Slow Drives would be excellent for anal play. They’re smooth and have a consistent width all the way down, their curve is gradual, their silicone is comfortably flexible, and their bases are flared.

Speaking of the base: I love it. It’s teardrop-shaped, sort of like a Ouija planchette, with the triangular tip lining up with where the toy curves – so even when the toy is buried inside you, you’ll still know it right away if the toy rotates inside you and needs to be re-adjusted. (Does anyone else have this problem? It’s one of the things that drives me nuts about curved dildos with a featureless, round base!)

While I’m not going to say that the Slow Drive is the Most Amazing Dildo in the World, it’s still a great, reliable standby to keep in your nightstand.

Thanks, Tantus! You sure know how to spoil a lady.

5 Dildos I Couldn’t Live Without

Kate Sloan

As a sex toy reviewer, you often get asked what your favorite toy is, and it’s a bit like being asked, as a fashion fan, what your favorite piece of clothing is: you can’t really give a clear answer because it depends on so many factors. The context, the occasion, the time, the place you’re at mentally or emotionally. You might love your shearling boots in winter and your red floral sundress in summer. It’s the same with sex toys.

That said, there are five dildos that I tend to come back to, time and time again. Five dildos to rule them all, you might say. Here they are. Be warned: once you get your hands on one of them, you might become so addicted that you can’t put it down…

1. Vixen Creations VixSkin Mustang (review)

The Mustang is my first choice when I’m craving something realistic. It’s touchably soft and squishy, just like a flesh-and-blood cock. The texture and shape lend themselves well to fantasizing about good ol’-fashioned PIV sex.

The head and coronal ridge stroke along my G-spot in a way that’s pleasurable without being uncomfortable, like some more intense G-spot toys are. The Mustang is also long enough to hit my A-spot with ease. Overall: an excellent dildo that makes me all starry-eyed and happy-twatted.

2. Vixen Creations Leo (review)

Another Vixen dildo? Yes, they really are that good.

Leo is similar in size and shape to the Mustang, but its thickness is more consistent throughout, and it’s made of a firmer silicone, so it feels meatier. I tend to reach for it when I want a slightly more thorough rogering than I’d get from the Mustang.

It also has some scratchy texture just below its head, which doesn’t sound like it’d feel good but it does. Nothing else I own feels like that, so when I want a little roughness, I gotta have Leo.

3. Ophoria Beyond #3

This dildo has been discontinued and the sex toy blogosphere will never truly get over it, I think. I still get emails semi-regularly from people asking if I’d be willing to part with my Beyond 3 in exchange for money or other sex toys, and I always say no. That should tell you how valuable this toy is to me.

There are other deeply-curved, hyper-effective G-spot toys out there, like the Pure Wand and the Comet Wand, but the Beyond 3 is the one I like best. Its head is round and bulbous, its curve and angle are ideal, and its looped handle is ergonomic and comfortable. It’s the best tool for inducing knee-weakening, mind-bending G-spot sensations. Other toys can come close but, for me, they can’t match the Beyond 3’s perfection.

4. Tantus Acute (review)

I don’t know about you, but for me, vaginal penetration can sometimes be a bit of a chore. It’s worth the prep work, of course, but to do it, I have to spend time lubing up a toy and gently warming myself up with fingers or a smaller dildo, or penetration can be uncomfortable. For those times when I just can’t be bothered putting in the effort, the Acute is there.

It’s small, so it’s not always 100% satisfying, but the size-to-stimulation ratio is pretty impressive. That little curve goes straight for my G-spot and is surprisingly satisfying. This dildo will remain a bedside staple for me because it’s so, so good and so, so easy.

5. Tantus Tsunami (review)

I have a hard time even forming sentences to describe how good this dildo feels.

Ridges. Curve. G-spot. A-spot. Thrust. Smooth. Bumpy. PINK. VERY PINK.

See? Just trust me, even in my incoherence: it’s good.

What are your must-have penetrative toys?

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.

Review: Tantus Echo Handle

Kate Sloan

It’s been two years since I reviewed the Tantus Echo. They’ve changed the design a little since then, but it’s still great and I still recommend it. (What can I say? It is Tantus, after all.)

The Echo Handle is what it sounds like: Echo with an added handle. This addition fulfills two purposes: a) it makes it easier for people to use the toy if a big belly, short arms, or mobility issues cause them to have trouble using traditional dildos, and b) it makes it really, really fun to swing this toy around like a lightsaber.

(Marginally relevant side note: one time I posted a picture of myself to Facebook where I was holding two dildos, and my conservative grandfather left a comment asking what they were for – as if he didn’t know! – and I told him they were for swordfighting. But I digress…)

I found the original Echo’s base a bit flimsy. It worked fine, but sometimes I wanted something a bit more solid so I could thrust with more speed and strength. The added handle totally fixes this problem. I still hold it in roughly the same place as I would hold a regular dildo, because that’s what feels most natural to me, but the thickness and firmness of the handle makes thrusting a breeze no matter where you grip it.

The handle is also made of matte silicone, while the insertable part of the toy is glossy. I find that this helps me keep a better grip, even when the whole scene is smeared with lube.

The handle makes it so that this toy isn’t harness-compatible. If you like the look of the Echo but want to use it in a harness, try the original: the base has been redesigned so it doesn’t have the flimsiness issue anymore. Hooray!

The pricing on the Echos is a little weird. You can get a regular Echo for $72, an Echo Handle for $58, or the Grab Bag versions of each for $33 or $27 respectively. (Grab Bag toys, if you don’t know, are the same as regular ones except you don’t get to choose which color you want, and it may end up being a weird swirly combination of colors.) So if value is what you’re after, the Grab Bag handled version is the best in that department. I don’t know why a toy containing more silicone would be cheaper, but hey, I’m not going to argue about it.

So, how does the toy actually feel? Fantastic. If you like that “popping” sensation when a penis or realistic dildo’s coronal ridge slides in and out, you’ll freak out over the Echo, because it’s basically that, but multiplied by five. The Echo Handle’s ridges are a little less prominent than those on the original Echo (1.5" versus 1.55") and you should keep that in mind when deciding which one to get – but the Handle’s ridges certainly don’t feel wimpy. The handled version also has a little extra useable length – 7" as opposed to 6.5".

The silicone of my Echo Handle definitely feels firmer to me than the original, but it’s comfortable nonetheless. I also notice that it’s a little more uniform in color, compared to my original Echo which has more swirls and variations within its color. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning.

Both Echos provide killer A-spot (anterior fornix) stimulation for me. I can’t figure out how they do this. You would think that a big, swollen head like this one would just bump into my cervix instead of snaking delicately into the tucked-away anterior fornix – but nope, it rubs the fuck out of that spot. That’s exactly the kind of vaginal stimulation that makes me go “HOLY FUCK I LOVE THIS DILDO” so this one is definitely a keeper.

So if you love ridges, A-spot play, and swinging dildos around like swords, get the Echo Handle. It’s yet more evidence that Tantus is one of the best sex toy companies out there.

Thank you, Tantus!

Review: Tantus Adam O2

Kate Sloan

The Adam O2 was my gift to myself for my 20th birthday. I had never owned a realistic dildo before, and having recently recovered from penis terror, I was, for the first time, interested in owning a genuinely dick-like toy. I had also discovered Tantus fairly recently, and basically wanted every dildo in their catalogue.

The Adam was a good choice and is still one of my favorite dildos in my whole collection. Its 1.5" girth was slightly uncomfortable to me back then, but I’d warm myself up eagerly each session because I knew it was worth the effort and preparation. Lots of lube and a smallish in-between dildo is enough to make Adam comfortable for me.

The main factor that made me click the “Add to Cart” button was that delicious curve. There are times when I wish Tantus’ dual-density O2 formula was softer and more flexible, like VixSkin, but the firmness is absolutely appropriate for Adam: without it, this dildo wouldn’t have the intense G-spot impact that makes it one of my favorites. The curve feels natural – less like a G-spot homing device and more like a flesh-and-blood penis that happens to have a curve – and it’s very, very good. If you enjoy feeling like you’re being fucked by the unrealistic and hunky well-hung hero of a romance novel, Adam fits the bill.

I have two other O2 dildos, the Mark and the Cush, and while they both get their fair share of usage, it’s the Adam I reach for when I want to feel fucked.

FYI, all O2 toys are 30% off throughout February with the code “IHEARTYOU”! If Adam isn’t up your alley, take a look at the ridgy Cush, enormous Max, average-sized Mark, or girthy Mikey. Gotta catch ‘em all!