My Experience with the LayaSpot

A caveat before we begin. This is not a review. This is just a post (maybe a rant) talking about my experiences with a specific toy. Other people might have had a different experience, this is just mine.

This is a post that I've been wanting to write for a very long time, but one that I had actually convinced myself shouldn't be written. Recently however, I listened in to a twitter conversation about the pros and cons of reviewing bad toys, and I decided that this was something I had to write.

A long time ago (back when I was just getting into sex toys), I bought myself the FunFactory LayaSpot. I think it was the second or third toy I had ever bought, and it took me long enough to work up the nerve to actually take the thing up to the register and purchase it.
At the time, I had never even heard of FunFactory, (The only toy company that I was even remotely familiar with was California Exotics who made the set of crappy jelly anal beads I had purchased a few months earlier - a mistake) and didn't know anything about them. All I knew was that the LayaSpot looked like a higher quality of toy than the crap I had been purchasing up until then.
I took it home and was eager to try it out right away. The LayaSpot is a clitoral vibrator that is supposed to fit easily into the palm of your hand  (and therefore be more ergonomic than other clit vibes out on the market), and since at the time I wasn't big on internal vibes, I thought that this would be perfect for me.

The FunFactory LayaSpot, which I inexplicably still have

Unfortunately, I didn't get to find out that night. I took the toy home, put batteries into it (it takes 2 AAs) and turned it on. It felt nice and buzzy, especially in the tip (which was exactly what I had been looking for). I tried it out, and at first, I was pretty pleased. The LayaSpot fit nicely into the palm of my hand, and the tip sat right over my clit, transferring the deep buzzy vibrations nicely. I was really enjoying myself, and just starting to get into things when... it stopped. I assumed that in my pleasure-induced haze, I must have pushed one of the two button controls. I pushed the + button to turn the thing back on, and resumed what I had been doing. But again, as soon as I started getting into things, the toy just turned off.
This time I opened up the battery compartment (still one of the more obnoxious ones I've dealt with) and checked to see if anything was leaking. Since nothing was, this time I made the assumption that the batteries I had supplied it with were perhaps not the freshest.
So I dutifully switched out the batteries and tried again... with the same result. Dead after just a few minutes of use. Frustrated, I shoved the toy back in my toy-drawer and tried to put it out of my mind long enough to finish the task at hand.

Sometime later, I decided to give the LayaSpot another go. And to my surprise, it turned on without any problems! But then, a few minutes later... You guessed it, dead again. At this point I was so annoyed that I boxed it back up and took it back to the store I got it at.
The lady who ran the store was very nice and exchanged it for me, no questions asked. We both assumed that I had just gotten a defective item. It's annoying sure, but it happens from time to time.

I took my new LayaSpot home and ended up having many enjoyable orgasms with it, at least until it too started exhibiting the exact same malfunctions.
After a few days of normal use, it started to randomly die on my during use. It happened over and over and over again. I switched out the batteries almost every time I used it, just so I could try to get a few moments of use out of my only "real" viberator.

But it was no use, the thing was a dud and there was no getting around it. A few months after taking my second LayaSpot home (most of which time it lay forgotten and dead at the bottom of my drawer) the thing died pretty much for good. I had taken it out to give it yet another one last chance, and it wouldn't work at all. I opened up at battery compartment and found that the batteries had leaked everywhere. I cleaned it up the best I could, dumped the batteries and shoved the thing back into my drawer, this time for good.


Like I said at the beginning, this is a post that I've been wanting to write for a long time. At the time, I was just starting to get into the toy-reviewing community and was a member of a web-site with some pretty stringent rules regarding toy reviews. One of which was that "As a matter of policy ***** does not host reviews on defective products." This of course served to deter me from sharing my experience with this toy. In principal, I agree that reviews of defective products don't really help anyone (which is one of the reasons why this isn't a review), but when you have the same bad experience with two separate items, you have to wonder if they were defective, or if something else was going on.

I've since owned several other FunFactory products, including the SmartBalls (which I loved), and don't really understand how I seemed to end up with 2 broken toys in a row. I want to make it clear again that I did not buy straight from the manufacturer, I bought from a 3rd party retail establishment. And I probably could have gone back and exchange my LayaSpot yet again for store credit or something, but at that point I was so annoyed that I didn't want to deal with it.

I'm sorry that this post has been so long, but I wanted to get my thoughts out there and share this experience with you nice folks. Please let me know what you think. And if you have had any similar experiences with the LayaSpot, please, share them!

A Flash in the Pan

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Mini Mail-Call

I just wanted to throw-up a quick, mini, mail-call post to share two things that were delivered to me today.


First up is a new "mini" vibe from FunFactory called the Flash (there will be many super-hero jokes to be had, I can already tell):

It's orange, I die! :o)

Look for a review of this cute little vibe before the end of June. Or, you could subscribe, and be notified when it goes up.


And second, while this isn't really toy-related at all, I just had to share it. Our wedding rings came in the mail today! I haven't opened the package yet, as I'm waiting to see my fiance tonight and we'll open it together. But I'm super psyched!


Alright, that about wraps up this Mail-Call. Look for two exciting new reviews coming in the next few weeks, and maybe even a bonus review if I can find a few extra hours to rub together.

Just Follow the Bouncing Balls...

I'm going to be honest with you folks, this was the very first toy review I ever wrote (way back in November). It got a pretty good reception over at EdenFantasys (where it was originally published), and I'm still proud of it.

SmartBalls by FunFactory

The SmartBalls are Kegel exercisers that are meant to encourage you to get your PC muscles in great shape. They're fun to use, though I actually prefer them for their intended use rather than strictly as a sex toy.

I've included some rather well known items in this picture so that you can get a sense of the actual size of the balls. The dimensions are approximately 1 3/8" diameter and 4 1/2" circumference, but I think the picture gives a pretty good idea of what size they are.

The toy consists of two balls joined together with a fairly seamless band right in the middle. Each ball is hollow and has a small weight inside of it that you can feel rolling around and producing wonderful rumbling sensations. A small pull cord made of the same material as the toy allows for quick and easy removal when you're done playing.

The balls are made out of FunFactory's Elastomed, which can be easily cleaned with an antibacterial toy cleaner and water. The nicest thing about this material, in my opinion, is that you can use water based and silicone based lubes with it. though you might not need any at all. The material claims to be "Hypo-allergenic / Latex free / Non-porous / Phthalates free" and I have no reason to doubt any of those claims. While pure silicone will always be my first love, it just isn't a practical material for all toys, and for these hollow weighted balls, Elastomed was a great choice.

Like I said, I tend to use this toy strictly for its intended use as a Kegel exerciser, and not so much as a sex toy, though I have successfully incorporated it into my foreplay on a few occasions. While the sensations that it produced inside of me are lovely, they aren't nearly strong enough to get me off or do much more than get my engine going.
I have to admit though, that when paired with a clitoral stimulator (your basic run-of-the-mill vibrator will do fine), I can get off with no problems, and I very much enjoy the sensation of the weights in the balls rolling around as I come.


Experience:


First of all, I have to say that initially, I was skeptical about the SmartBalls, I debated over them intensely with my boyfriend before finally making the purchase. Part of this hesitation was me being indecisive, and part of it was that I just wasn't sure if Kegel exercisers were going to be the right toy for me. I had read reviews for other such items (some of them in Cosmo, of all places), and thought that the idea was splendid. A way the strengthen my PC while having some form of sex? Count me in!

So I bought the SmartBalls and immediatly went home to play with them. The first thing I did was hold them in my hand and shake them around for about 20 solid minutes. I felt like I had one of those dumb-ass shake weights you see on the TV commercials, but I just couldn't stop! I was hypnotized by the feel of those magical little balls rolling, bouncing and rumbling around in my hand. If they were so much fun to play with in my hand, I absolutely couldn't wait to see what they would feel like in my vagina.

Getting them in took a little bit of work. The balls are each about 1 3/8" in diameter (that's the measurement across the widest part) and about 4 1/2" in circumference (that's the measurement about the widest part). Once I did get them in however I was very pleased with how well they sat and how unobtrusive they were. I had worried that the little pull cord would be obvious, but I honestly hardly even noticed it.
When I got them in I wiggled around a little bit, hoping to feel the intense rumbling I had felt when playing with them in my hand. At that, I was more than a little disappointed. While I could feel something rumbling around in there, it was hardly the Earth-shattering sensation that I had been hoping for.

They're pretty great as Kegel exercisers though. If I'm wearing them while I do chores (cleaning, grocery shopping, etc) I can definitely feel them, and it reminds me to do my PC exercises. They're fun to squeeze around and I absolutely love the way that I can feel them slide back into place as I relax my muscles. And like I said, I can feel those rumbling sensations that I loved, just not as intensely as I would have liked.

Over all, the SmartBalls are a fun way to keep your PC muscles in good shape, and remind you to do your exercises. While they do feel pretty darn good, the sensation is no where near enough to get me off. But that's okay, I like using the balls more as exercisers than as sex toys.


This review first appeared over at EdenFantasys. Thanks for reading!


*Just a note, I paid for the SmartBalls myself, they were not given to me in exchange for my opinion or review*

You can get a pair of the SmartBalls for yourself at EdenFantasys (since this particular set doesn't seem to be for sale on the FunFactory site anymore).