Salsa - discreet massager discontinued by We-vibe - review by GONE!

I don't know what to say, my Eden friends. I feel as though I have reached the end of one of my several quests for the perfect sex toys. One of my goals has been to find a vibrator that is:
1. Small and discreet, so it can go on exciting adventures with me.
2. Able to fit into toys like Tantus dildos that have a hole in the bottom for a bullet.
3. Powerful but not noisy.
4. Made of a body-safe material.
5. Shaped for the utmost in hardcore clitoral stimulation.
6. In a color that isn't pink. I've got nothing against pink, but it bugs me to not have a choice.

Pretty tall order, yes? Well, it turns out that I can have all of the above, and it's laying right in the palm of my hand today.

The We-Vibe Salsa is something that should be in probably over 90% of all sex toy users' collections if they can get their hands on one. All genders, all body types, and all experience levels can come together with this one.

This toy is designed as a typical clitoral vibrator, with a pointed tip for pinpoint stimulation. While it is amazing for this, that's not all it can be. Because of the Salsa's size and shape, it can hypothetically be inserted into a lot of toys that have a space for a bullet. This opens up a world of possibilities. A lot of people complain about the power of the bullets included with such toys, and being stuck in a hunk of, say, silicone dampens power even more. The salsa is so strong that it could breathe new life into formerly weak butt plugs and dildos, as well as things like those panties with a pocket for a vibrator.

Speaking of panties and the like, the Salsa would be amazing for using during harness play depending on what kind of harness you're using. It's small and could be held in place pretty easily with tight fabric or leather. I intend to be trying it out with my new RodeoH harness later on.

A reminder for safety and boredom's sake: This toy is not meant for insertion on its own. It's really not big enough to get any vaginal stimulation from it so don't bother. It does feel very nice around the area, but not internally. Under no circumstances should the Salsa end up in your anus! Around it is, again, fine but make sure you know what you're doing and don't let it get lost.

The body of the We-Vibe Salsa is made from hard, smooth plastic. The very bottom is made of something else. I'm not going to flame-test my new toy to find out but judging from a line in the instructional booklet about only using water-based lubes with this toy and the slightly squishy texture of it, I'm going to guess it's probably silicone. It does have a very light smell if you put your nose right up to it but I can't place it and I know some people report an odor even with silicone products.

Plastic gets an 8 on Eden's safety scale. It's non-porous and phalate-free. There wasn't an odor that I could detect around the plastic body of the toy. Some plastic toys sold here have a velvety coating, but the Salsa is not one of them. It's completely smooth. Usually I prefer the velvet coating but if the Salsa had that then it would almost be perfect and, well, nothing can be perfect right?

The design of the Salsa is pretty similar to a lot of other bullet vibes. It's small and has a pointed tip. To me, it looks a little longer and thinner than many bullet vibes out there but not very different at all. Even though all sex toys fans would recognize the classic shape, people who aren't might not recognize the purpose immediately and because it's small and comes in colors that don't look like typical sex toys I think it's very discreet.
It's about three, maybe three and a half inches long and 5/8 of an inch in diameter. It's about the size of my biggest finger.

I like the design, but it's nothing special I haven't seen before aesthetically other than the color choices offered. I actually like the tip on the Tango better I think but the bold colors of this one won out for me. I love the sleek, black look of my Salsa but almost went with the fiery red.

The Salsa is controlled by pushing a button on the very bottom. This causes it to cycle through its speeds and patterns. They all felt really strong and rumbly, even on the lowest intensity. We-Vibe's official site describes the patterns as "low speed, medium speed, high speed, ultra speed, tease, wave, pulse, and the cha-cha." The tease setting alternates between quick pulses with a little space in between them and pulses with very little time between each pulse. The wave setting escalates in speeds like a roller coaster ride of vibrations. Pulse is, well, a quick, throbbing pulse as the name implies. The cha-cha is what it sounds like. Bzz! Bzz! Bzz bzz bzz! It's unique and probably my favorite of the three.




I tried to capture the orange-yellow light on the bottom when in use but it was hard to get a photo with this thing moving and throbbing. The more charged it is, the more orange is looks to me.

The noise level is barely two bees. I would consider it a 1.5. I'm not at all concerned about it being heard through my thin walls or outside the door. I would feel completely secure using it in a sleeping bag or under blankets with other people sleeping nearby, that's how confident I am in this thing's quietness.

To charge the Salsa, you line up the two metal dots on the bottom of the Salsa correctly on the ball-like, white charger. You then plug that part into an electrical outlet. The Salsa takes only 90 minutes to charge but won't be harmed if you leave it to charge for longer than that. I had a scare when I accidentally left it overnight but the official We-Vibe site assured me with its FAQ that my toy was going to be fine. It simply shut itself off when it was done charging. Oh, and you can tell when it's charging because a tiny yellow light turns on on the round base.
Something that would make this toy better would be if the Salsa could charge standing up on the base but it's not a big deal.

Another interesting tidbit from the We-Vibe site says that the Salsa can retain charge for up to two months unused. A single charge provides 2 hours of power.

I haven't tested this in water yet but there are no crevices or anything that seem like they could let water in, and all the information says that the Salsa is indeed safe for use in wate.

The Salsa can be cleaned with antibacterial soap and water, or be wiped down with isopropyl alcohol. I've been cleaning mine with an Eden toy and body wipe.
Most plastic toys can be used with any lube, but because the bottom of this one might be silicone and the instructions say to, I would only use water-based lube with this one.

This toy comes in a box good for storage so you can store it in that with its charger's components, and you can store it in the white satin pouch provided if you wish. The Salsa is small and can be stored pretty much anywhere.

The Salsa came in a perfectly tasteful white box with a plastic tray inside for the toy and round part of the charger. There was a solid white, smaller box inside the larger box with the cord part of the charger. The packaging is somewhat discreet. It has a photo of the toy, "We-Vibe," and "personal massager" on it. There is an embossed image of a woman's body on one side. On the back it says "Intimate pleasure for Solo or Couple Play" in multiple languages.

The only problem with this toy is the way the Salsa's vibrations change when pressure is applied. Not a lot has to be applied for it to seemingly lose intensity but increase in rumbliness. To me, this was unwanted as I do like at least a little bit of pressure on my clit for me to get off. Also, the rumbliness that is such a new novelty to me can be a little uncomfortable when touching things like bony fingers, which feel like they are being thumped over and over in close proximity to the Salsa. I can live with the intense rumbliness just fine, but the loss of intensity with pressure bugs me a little, I have to be honest.

I had a little bit of a hard time getting off at first with the Salsa. While I liked the shape enough, I didn't like that the power dropped in intensity when I touched it against myself at all. What good is power if you can't even hold it against you? After a while though I found a good way to hold it that made it less of an issue and I was able to enjoy it a lot. It was a different sensation than I feel with my more "buzzy" vibes and I'm not sure what I like more. I get off a lot faster with Salsa than I do with buzzier vibes, I will say that. I'm more than happy to sacrifice the perfect ratio of buzzy to rumbly for the silence though. I loved not being able to hear it through a very thin blanket! I don't have to crank up my mp3 player and worry whether or not my roommate can hear me with this one, and that contributes a lot to my orgasmic satisfaction.