Seed - clitoral vibrator discontinued by Zini - review by tim1724

The Seed is a vibrator designed especially for clitoral stimulation. It's held a bit like a pencil, with its finger-like tip resting against your clitoris. The narrow tip allows you to precisely target the vibrations where you want them, which is great if you like to have vibrations focused on your clit without vibrating your entire vulva.

It has a number of vibration patterns and several different intensities, with a unique color-coded system to allow you to find your favorite setting quickly.

It's clearly intended for masturbation and in my experience it doesn't work particularly well during intercourse.

The Seed is made of hard ABS plastic but the side which is positioned against the body is made of a smooth silicone. The silicone has a bit of drag to it, like most silicone, but it's not textured.

ABS is a very safe material, used in many toys for children (such as LEGO bricks) and kitchen products. Silicone is also considered to be a very safe material, so you should have no qualms about the materials used in this product. ABS and silicone are both phthalate-free and non-porous.

The plastic and silicone are different colors. It's available in several different color combinations, but mine is black and purple. (The plastic is black and the silicone is purple.)

The Seed is 110 mm long (a bit less than 4 1/2 inches) and is 34 mm wide (a little more than 1 1/4 inches) around the controls, which makes it fit well in your hand. The vibrating tip is only 19 mm in diameter (about 3/4 inch) which is perfect for targeting your clitoris.

The top side of the toy (the plastic side) has concave area with three large buttons. This concave area is a natural place to rest a finger, although how ergonomic the placement of the buttons is depends on how big your hands are and exactly where you choose to rest your fingers.

The toy is very small overall, so it can be stored very discreetly and is easy to pack when you're traveling.

You control the vibrations with three buttons: - (minus), o (circle), and + (plus). The whole control pad lights up with various colors to show what function is active.

When you first receive your Seed the controls will be locked in "travel" mode. You need to hold down the minus button and then hold down the plus button until the light turns green. If you want to lock it at some point (highly recommended when you're traveling) just repeat this process.

When you're ready to start the vibrations, press the plus sign to turn it on. You can increase or decrease the level of vibrations using the plus and minus buttons. To turn it off, press the minus sign repeatedly or just hold it down for a second or two.

When you’re ready to switch to the pattern mode, press the circle button located between the plus and minus buttons. In pattern mode the plus and minus buttons switch between patterns instead of changing the intensity. Pressing the center button once more returns it to steady vibration mode.

When the vibrator is in pattern mode, the LEDs change colors to show you which pattern is active:

White: Slow ramping up and down
Aqua: Medium ramping up and down
Light Blue: Fast ramping up and down
Orange: Increasing vibrations followed by a pause
Pink: Slower increase followed by a pause
Green: Fast increase and two quick pulses, followed by a pause
Purple: Quick pulses
Dark Blue: Quick on/off pulsing
Dark Pink: Two short and one long pulse
Magenta: Nine short pulses followed by a long pulse

If you hold down the center button for a few seconds it will rapidly cycle through all the different patterns.

The Seed is water-resistant, which is handy for cleaning, but I wouldn't try to use it in water. The manual seems inconstant about how waterproof it is, using the term "waterproof" in one place and "water-resistant" in another, but always within the context of cleaning, not actual use.

Zini takes somewhere between 2 and 4 hours to charge completely, but it will give you several of hours of play on each charge. While it's charging the LED lights will change colors to indicate the status of charging. Red means the battery is mostly drained, whereas blue means it's fully charged. If the light is orange, yellow, or green, then it's somewhere in between. Even when it's not charging you can check the status of the battery by pressing the circle button while it's turned off.

The Zini is water-resistant so it can easily be washed in the sink with warm water and soap. Be sure to close the cover over the charging socket before washing.

You cannot boil this toy or put it in the dishwasher. The electronics inside would likely be destroyed. If you need to sterilize it, you can wipe it with rubbing alcohol. (Just be sure to thoroughly rinse it afterwards!) If you're sharing the toy, you can also just slip it inside a condom.

I'd only recommend using water-based lubricants with this toy. Silicone toys can sometimes react badly to silicone lubes. If you insist on using a silicone-based lubricant then you could try putting a small drop of it on the silicone part of the Seed to test compatibility (leave it there for a few hours to see whether it alters the surface in any way). Mine will only ever be used with water-based lubes, just in case.

The Seed comes packaged in a very attractive black box. The box is very discreet, and very well suited for gift-giving. The vibrator is the first thing you'll see upon opening the box; the charger, a storage pouch, and the instructions are tucked underneath.

You could use the box for storage, but it's rather large and bulky. I'd recommend using the included pouch instead.

My girlfriend likes the way it focuses the vibrations on one spot. It's not overly buzzy, although it's not as rumbly as she'd prefer. Overall she enjoys the vibration level, though. She finds many of the patterns quite interesting and she really enjoys some of them. It's not her favorite vibrator, but it certainly gets plenty of use.

Her main complaint is that only the center button (the circle) is raised. The plus and minus buttons are flat, and she has a bit of trouble finding them when using the vibrator. Also, she has some trouble remembering which one is which.

She tried using the Seed on my penis, as several of her other vibrators have worked well for this (especially the Eroscillator and the Fairy Wand) but no such luck. I found the concentrated pinpoint vibrations extremely annoying on my penis. When using a vibrator on my penis, I need something which will stimulate a large area, not just one little spot. This is one vibrator of hers which I won't be borrowing.