Dinky bead - vibrating probe discontinued by Mantric - review by sarahbear

My husband and I have always been curious about anal play. We've played around a little bit in the past, but never actually purchased anything specifically designed for it. The Dinky Bead is cute, purple (my second favorite color!) and less intimidating to me than a lot of the other anal toys on the site. I showed it to my husband, and he agreed we should try it. I placed my order and waited for it to arrive.

My Dinky Bead arrived wrapped in bubble wrap along with the other items I ordered. The red and white packaging boasted about it being waterproof and designed for men or women. I assumed I'd need scissors to open the box, but after I flipped it over I saw a small flap on the back. I opened the box and began inspecting my pretty purple toy.

I bent the beads around and squeezed them a bit, taking note of how durable they were. The entire toy is about 7 3/4 inches long, with the 3 insertable beads measuring 5 1/4 inches. Each bead is about an inch long. The top bead is tapered perfectly to slide inside without causing pain or discomfort, provided that you're relaxed and using enough lube. The beads get slightly larger as you move towards the base. The material, size and design of the toy make this an excellent choice for beginners to anal play, like myself and my husband. It's firm enough to slide in without much effort, yet soft enough it doesn't hurt when pushing it inside of you.

Once I had the opportunity to check out the beads, I decided to get the bullet out. I took the cap off of the bullet and removed the security tag, as suggested by the instructions on the back of the packaging. I put the cap back on and pressed the button.

Nothing.

I pressed it again. Still nothing. I took the cap back off and looked at the batteries, inspected the cap, and read the directions again. I did everything it said so I couldn't figure out what was going on. I thought perhaps the batteries were in backwards, so I spent the next 10 minutes working the 3 watch sized batteries out of the bullet. This was very difficult because of the waterproof seal. When I finally got them worked out I flipped them over, replaced the cap and pressed the button again.

Nothing.

There was a black, plastic wrapper around the batteries. I thought maybe I should take that off and see if it worked. So I ripped the plastic wrapper off and replaced batteries and cap. Ah ha! Finally, it was vibrating. I pressed the button. It wouldn't stop vibrating. I didn't want to waste the batteries before I got to try the toy out, so I put the wrapper back on the batteries and put them back inside the bullet. Now the button was working like it was suppose to. I guess the placement of the wrapper was a little off or something.

Since everything was finally working like it was suppose to, I slid the bullet inside the base of the beads. I turned it on and was pleasantly surprised at the strength of the vibrations. I could feel a good bit of vibrating all the way at the very tip of the toy. It was so quiet too. It was a shame my husband was at work so I didn't get to try it right away.

The packaging suggests using a toy cleaner and warm water to clean, making sure to let it dry completely before putting it away. Dinky bead is made of TPR so you'll want to use condoms if you plan on sharing it, both with other people or just vaginally and anally. The directions also suggest using a water based lube with this toy. The bullet uses 3 watch batteries, which can be difficult to find. In fact, since you have to have the plastic sleeve on the outside of the batteries, you may only be able to get replacements from the manufacturer. You'll need to make sure the bullet is in place at the base of the toy when using anally to prevent losing it inside your ass. The toy is very durable and should hold up through plenty of use provided you take good care of it.

My husband loved it. I used it during foreplay one night while giving him a handjob. I hadn't completely thought out my plan and realized that it would be difficult to do much else if I was jerking him off. So I had him start working on that while I manipulated the beads and massaged his perineum. The experience was enjoyable for him to feel and for me to watch.

The beads slipped in easily and nestled nicely between his cheeks. The heart handle made it easy to wiggle them around a bit and pull them out when the time came. Clean up was easy. It's not something we'll use all the time, because he's a little nervous about 'fart control', but it's definitely a good investment for anal play.

I also tried the bullet on my clit. The strong vibration was good, but it only has one setting so you kind of need to work yourself up first. We also tried it up against my Ella while I was using it and it did produce a very mild vibration. It was too much trouble to try to hold onto the bullet and the end of the dildo though, so we wound up just dropping it.

Overall, we've enjoyed the toy.