Review: iGino One

I was sent this toy by the lovely iGino team in exchange for my honest review. It was nice to be asked by a new manufacturer for my opinion, so I gladly took on the assignment.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 2/5

“I had heard a lot about the iGino One via Twitter before I was contacted by them, due to other bloggers promoting and sharing their Indiegogo campaign. At the time, I was relatively new and uninterested in looking at toys that weren’t around yet. Since then, I’ve become a lot more knowledgeable about sex toys and, as you would expect, my desire to see newer toys has increased. My initial thought towards the iGino was that it looked silly — has that changed since receiving it? Is it, as they claim, what women want? You’ll have to read on to find out.

PRESENTATION

The iGino One comes in a small rectangular box. This box is very nice to look at and matches the look of the toy itself in its white and pink colour scheme. The box opens by pulling off the lid and inside you’ll immediately find your iGino One on a removable plastic tray. Underneath this tray there are the standard things; a cable to charge your toy with, some plugs to use with the cable (EU and US only, though), some small pink attachments and a velvety bag to store your iGino in. It also comes with a somewhat brief instruction manual, which I will discuss in more detail in a moment.

As for the toy itself, it is a thin rectangular shape and made of hard plastic. It has a removable lid to keep the toy clean and is white and pink like the box. When you remove the lid, you’ll find a pink nub on the outside of the toy, which is the part designed to stimulate the clitoris. On this nub, you can add the small attachment or the replacement protectors which are baby pink in colour. The attachment itself looks like a flower. On the side of the toy is the control switch, which only turns the toy off and on. At the bottom of the toy is a USB, which slides out to go into either your computer or the cable provided.

The design of this toy is one that I find difficult to pass judgement on. While I can tell they have put a lot of thought into it, it just doesn’t work for me. I mean, sure, it’s very pretty and I like the fact that it has a lid to keep it clean but the long rectangular shape is hell for my hands. I cannot figure out a way to hold it that doesn’t end up hurting me in the long run, which is obviously not great.

The manual for this toy really pissed me off. It seems like it has not been proofread properly before it was printed, which I consider to be a bad sign. It just seemed really lazy. Not only was I referred to a section that did not exist but the text was edited in a strange way. Lines would abruptly stop and appear on the next one even if they didn’t need to, which I did not like.

This massager is not intended for use by persons with reduced physical, sensory or mental capabilities, or lack of experience or knowledge, unless they have been given supervision or instruction concerning the use of the massager by a person responsible for their safety.

I also found this somewhat offensive. Not to be a dick or anything, but this toy is not difficult to use. I don’t see why a person with these issues couldn’t figure it out pretty quickly or get some use out of it. I certainly don’t see why anyone would need supervising with this thing, nor do I see why anyone would feel particularly comfortable with that. This manual also comes with French and Italian instructions. I wish I could read either language so I would know if they are formatted as poorly.

Not everything about the manual was awful and perhaps I’m overreacting but I still don’t like it. In fact, even the website has these problems with proofreading, as you’ll see on their iGino World tab. Apparently it is “especially design to ensure the protection of your privacy” and women can’t “archive orgasm from penetration alone”. Fail. ⏎

MATERIALS

The majority of this sex toy is made of ABS plastic. This means that it is body safe and can be sterilized (to an extent). The rest of this toy (mainly the SkinTouch head and small band) is made from EVA, which is also supposed to be body safe, according to Dangerous Lilly. ⏎

USE

I’m going to put this in my opening statement here: this toy is loud. So much so that I struggle to get off with it because it sounds like an angry hornet’s nest to me. As I’m sure you agree, that sound is not sexy. The last toy to have an angry bee sound is one that I’ve never used again. If your sex toy makes it more difficult for me to orgasm due to distractions and worries about being heard, I’m not going to use it.

Unfortunately, that is not the only problem that the iGino One has.

With only one speed to get by, there is no way to adjust this toy to your liking. If you don’t like how fast the VibraMoove technology is, tough shit. It’s all you’ve got to work with. I personally did not like this speed as I actually found it somewhat painful, even through my underwear. On some levels, this may just mean that the VibraMoove tech is not for me but since there is nothing else like it I am unsure if it is the motion or the speed itself.

Before you can use it, the iGino One requires you to charge it up first. If you live in the EU or the US, you can do so via the mains as the iGino team supply two different plug heads. If you’re anywhere else (like in the UK, for example) your only option is to charge it via your own computer unless you have a UK plug that a USB can fit into. According to the iGino One manual, a ‘full charge’ takes 12 hours but an 8 hour charge would work also. This extremely long charging time gets you a maximum of 40 minutes of on time. Just 40 minutes. This seems utterly ridiculous to me.

I have no idea what motor they used for this toy, but it needing that long to charge is awful. The We-Vibe Touch (as well as the Salsa and Tango, in fact) only needs 90 minutes to charge and can last for 2 hours of consistent use. So why does the iGino One require so much longer for a lot less play time? I honestly have no idea and in my opinion, it is something that needs to change if this toy wants to be something I’ll actually use or recommend.

EDIT (15/06/2013): I have been informed via email that the 8-12 hour charging time is a ‘manual standard […] typical of high tech devices’ and that ‘after the first long charge, we are suggesting to charge it from 1 to 3 hours for its full functionality’.

As for whether this toy brought me to orgasm or not… The answer is that it has. To go into more detail, I managed to have one orgasm with this toy though I used it many times and the orgasm itself was very weak and not worth having. Every time apart from this I’ve gotten frustrated and switched to a different toy that I know works for me instead. ⏎

CLEANING

According to the manual, you should not wash this toy under a running tap or anything like that as the liquid can get into the mechanical part of the toy itself. This is because of the parts made of EVA that allow the nub to move left and right and it cannot be fixed without stopping the VibraMoove technology from working. If you wanted to spray it with a sex toy cleaner, you would likely have to hold it upside down to make sure none gets inside the box itself. My advice, as usual, is to use a baby wipe or something similar that will remove dirt without excess moisture. ⏎

OVERALL

It’s loud, it has one speed, it’s awkward to use and the charging/play times are ridiculous. While it is pretty and the idea for the new tech is an interesting one, I just don’t think that it is worth the price they’re asking for. In short, it may be what some women want but it certainly is not for me. If they manage to solve the problems I’ve mentioned I’d definitely give it another go but for now my iGino One will have to stay in its box.”

This vibrator charges via the mains or your computer. No batteries needed!

You can learn more bout the iGino One at iGino.com by clicking the image.