Vibro wings - butterfly strap-on vibrator discontinued by Cal Exotics - review by Backseat Boohoo

Are you looking for an attractive, reliable toy with strong vibrations and a low fuss factor? So am I! Unfortunately, this isn't it.

California Exotics' Vibro Wings arrives in really stereotypical and blatant packaging: a brown cardboard box with a naked blond modeling the toy whilst she pretends to moan in pleasure. A black plastic tray inside of the box holds the toy in place.

The toy itself is neon green jelly and highly textured. The butterfly is about 3 inches long and just as wide. Two antennae crown the butterfly's head, but they basically just stick to the butterfly's head and don't provide any extra stimulation. The jelly is advertised as being "soft," but it's actually pretty stiff as far as jelly goes...and my GOD, does it smell! I'm had some nasty-smelling things in my toy-owning career, but this toy reeks like rotten garbage and putrid plastic.

The straps, thankfully, don't smell. The black fabric straps loop through the butterfly's wings and wrap around your upper thigh and your waist, just above your hip bone. The straps are relatively thin, but they themselves are sturdy; however, if you yanked them hard enough, they'd rip right out of the butterfly's wings. The straps stay put pretty well and haven't irritated me yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if the nylon material scratched you after prolonged use. In terms of size, the straps are adjustable and fit my thighs easily, and I can adjust them pretty well, but very heavy toy users will probably have trouble fitting them to their bodies.

My biggest complaint about this toy is its remote, which is connected to the butterfly by a thin black wire. The wire can reach from my hip to my shoulder, so I'd guess that it's about 1.5 to 2 feet long. Made out of cheap, thin plastic, the paint on the battery pack was flaking off of my Vibro Wings the second I took them out of the box. A turn dial on the side of the battery pack controls the strength of the vibrations. The battery pack is on the back of the remote, and wow, is it a piece of junk. The toy takes 2 AAs, but good luck getting them in there! You really have to wedge them in to the pack, and a lot of times, they just pop right back out. Even if you manage to get the batteries in there, there's a good chanced the metal plates that hold the springs will pop out. Mine did on the first use! And the toy won't start unless those metal plates are in there.

Power-wise, this toy is kind of "meh." It provides strong enough vibrations to get me off, but the problem is that there's no real variation between the vibration levels and it just goes straight in to "semi-powerful." There may as well be an on/off button rather than a dial. Hence, the vibrations are too powerful for me to start masturbating with, so I have to finagle this toy on to my hips and thighs mid-session, and it rarely feels like it's worth the effort.

On the plus side, this is a relatively quiet vibrator. It's not dead silent, but it only emits a low hum, and I could easily muffle it with a blanket.

This toy is not waterproof, and with a battery pack as crappy as this, I wouldn't try to stick in the water even if California Exotics said it was safe to. Also, because of the odd shape of this toy, you really can't cover it with a condom, which makes cleaning the highly-textured and porous material problematic.

Because of all of its issues, I simply cannot recommend this toy. Yes, it is a cheap strap-on vibe, but the battery pack breaks the first time you use it, and thanks to the fact that you can't protect it with a condom, it'll break down more quickly than most toys do. Take a pass on Vibro Wings Strap-on Vibrator and invest in something sturdier and more body-safe.

I returned home from uni on Friday, and this package arrived in the mail on Saturday. I was pretty excited, to say the least; most of my toy collection had to stay up at school, and I was already suffering from orgasm withdrawal.

Alas, my sister got bronchitis and my parents got a new TV, so everybody was staying home and fluttering around me like... well, like butterflies. When it got to the point where I hadn't masturbated for 3 days straight, I said, "Fuck it," grabbed some batteries, and hid away in the basement. Perched atop the washer with my feet resting on the dryer, I prepared myself for a much-needed orgasm.

Double alas, this toy is a cheap piece of garbage. Getting the toy itself on my body was easy; I'm relatively tiny but have full hips, so I had no problems with the straps moving around. But as previously mentioned, I had to fight with the battery pack, and the little metal plates holding the springs popped right out! I tried operating the toy without it, but it wouldn't even turn on, so I spent 5 minutes pushing the metal plates back in to the battery pack and scolding the actual batteries.

Finally, it was time to turn the toy on. Since I was barely even aroused at this point, I only turned the dial up a smidgen, only to be knocked off of the washer by the inexplicably powerful vibrations. A quick power test proved my hunch that the vibrations didn't vary at all, no matter how high or how low you turned the dial, so I turned the toy back off and went at it with my hand to get myself ready.

This was pretty much the routine I had to use with this toy: get self aroused enough to handle moderate vibrations, fuss with toy and straps, fight with battery pack, get self back to state of arousal (which disappeared in the midst of strap-finagling), masturbate, have a decent orgasm, then grumble and hiss at the toy as I tried to clean it. Really, these Vibro Wings just aren't worth the trouble, and I won't by a second set with my current ones break in...oh, a month.

It's official, folks! After using this toy less than a dozen times, it has died on me: nothing I do will get it to vibrate again. Save your money and buy a better hands-free vibrator. PLEASE.