Mia - sex toy by LELO - review by Menarae

Mia is great for both solo play and couple's play. She's small enough that she's easy to handle, but not so small as to get lost in the sheets. You can use her anywhere on the body externally or even insert her vaginally, but she has no safe base, so no anal insertion with this one. Mia's designed to be discreet and small enough for travel. She's not much bigger than the average tube of lipstick (though she is bigger than the other lipstick vibes I've seen) and will fit into any purse or makeup bag. I've tucked her in the back pocket of my jeans and walked around the house. She looks like a large tube of chapstick, which I often have stashed in my back pocket, so no one questioned the bump. Mia does lock, so if you're taking her out and about she won't turn on.

Mia is rechargeable, though unlike the rest of the Lelo vibrators which plug into the wall, Mia plugs into a USB port. She does come with a cable, so you can tuck her in a drawer during charging. I have a USB-A/C converter plug, which I originally purchased to charge an MP3 player, but I now use to charge my Mia discreetly in my room.

Mia is not waterproof, so no taking her into the shower or bath. Otherwise, she's good just about anywhere, inside the house or out.

Mia is a very attractive pleasure object, especially if you're into minimal design. She is made of smooth ABS plastic. One end tapers into a rounded point and the cap is chiseled kind of like lipstick. While the vibrations do carry up through the cap, I've never used the chiseled end, always the tapered one. The cap is secured with a ribbed section of silicone, and the buttons are a single piece of silicone.

Lube, if you use it, will slide off Mia quite easily, but this also means she's easy to wipe down. Which is very nice, especially since she's not waterproof and you have to be careful not to get water in her buttons.

As she's all hard plastic there's no odor, though she might hold onto smells if you don't clean her right away. You can also wipe Mia down with a 10% bleach solution to sterilize her, if need be, though toy wipes or a cloth dampened with toy cleaner works in a pinch.

I like the sleek shape of the Mia. It's not an obvious sex toy shape, at least for someone who isn't terribly familiar with sex toys. The rounded end is nice for pinpointing the clit, but it's not sharp enough to be stabby. You can also tilt the toy and lay the side of the barrel along your clit or labia to get more generalized stimulation. Mia is also suitable for the nipples, perineum, or external anal stimulation. Again, there is no flare on this toy, so no internal anal play. The buttons are pretty straightforward, so there isn't much of a learning curve: just a + and - to play with. Mia's good for just about anyone. Beginners will find her easy to handle, with plenty of variety to play with. Intermediate and advanced users will appreciate the strong, rumbly, quiet vibrations.

I'm not too keen on pink, but the place I bought it from offered this rose colour or the baby pink one. (I'd have purchased the black one in a pinch, but they didn't start carrying that colour until some months after I purchased...go figure.) Anyway, this rose colour is starting to grow on me, and I'm contemplating getting other LELO toys in this colour, if offered. It's more between red and purple, in my opinion.

There is a small two-tone light under the buttons. It flashes white (which shows up as pink through the button) when you press the buttons and also during charging. It goes solid when charging is complete. It flashes red when it needs charging. Personally, I love the light idea that LELO's got going here. It is very convenient, especially if you're like me and never pay attention to what time you plug in your toy.

As mentioned above, the toy travels very easily. You don't have to worry about bringing along batteries, just a suitable USB port. If you hold both buttons down at the same time, the toy will lock, so no random buzzing from your bag while you go through airport security!

My only gripe would be that this is not a hands-free toy by any means. I can't just squeeze my thighs together and hold Mia in place. She always slips away.

Mia is a very discreet playmate. She offers a range of straight vibrations, as well as a decent selection of pulse patterns. Unlike the three- or four-button LELOs, I can't seem to adjust the intensity on the pulse patterns. Hitting the - button takes me back to the steady vibrations.

She has only two buttons. + turns her on, and increases the intensity of the steady vibes. You can either press the button over and over or hold it down in order to scroll up. Once Mia's at her strongest, press and hold the + button to hop over to the pulse patterns. If you want to leave the pulse patterns, press the - button. The - button also decreases the steady vibe intensity and, once Mia's on her lowest, another press will turn her off.

The vibrations can be felt through the entire toy, but the rounded tip and chiseled cap make directing the vibes easy. The vibes are stronger toward the round tip, where the motor is, than near the cap, but not by much.

As always, LELO used a quiet, rumbly motor in the Mia (though apparently the early generation of Mias weren't as strong and LELO replaced the motors for all Mias mad after February 2011, if I remember correctly.) The battery life is pretty good. I can usually get two play sessions on the highest steady vibe setting with one charge. And it takes, I think, less than two hours to charge. Again, I don't really keep track of the time. According to LELO's site, Mia charges in an hour and runs for an hour and a half. Of course, run time will depend on what setting you use. This makes Mia LELO's shortest-running vibe. I still keep a couple battery-operated clit toys handy, in case Mia's charge runs out before I'm done. You can't use the toy and charge it at the same time. Doing so will wreck the motor and I'm pretty sure that's not covered by LELO's warranty.

Mia, like the rest of the Femme line, is not waterproof. The buttons fit fairly snugly in the casing and the cap seems to form a pretty good seal with that ring of ribbed silicone, but I still worry about moisture sneaking in. I don't spray my Mia with toy cleaner like my other toys, but instead I spray a small cloth and wipe her down. She also doesn't hang out with the other toys while they're drying. Water damage is not covered under Mia's warranty.

Mia comes in a very nice box, which is good for storage. All LELO toys also come with a satin drawstring bag for storage. The bag isn't much bigger than the toy itself, so if you don't want to keep the box, you'll have to find another place to store the cable (or charging plug, for any of the other toys.) I still have the box, but Mia sits on my dresser in her bag for easy access.

When it comes to lubes, you can use silicone lubes on plastic, but I'd hesitate to use silicone lubes on Mia because 1) she's not waterproof, so getting that silicone lube off might be tricky and/or frustrating, and 2) the lube could wreck the buttons or grip under the cap. Though if you're using Mia externally, you probably don't use a lube with her.

LELO's packaging is discreet. The outer box is colourful and does have a picture of the toy on the back, but it's not like "SEX TOY INSIDE!!!" obvious. If you know the LELO brand, you'll recognize the box. The inner box is sturdy and black, with "LELO" on the lid in slightly glossier black. Inside, my Mia came in a black formed hard-plastic display tray, with a clear formed plastic piece that fit over top. The cord, satin bag and information booklets were underneath the plastic tray. LELO has since changed their inner packaging, though I'm not sure if it's changed for the Mia. For a while, toys were coming in a plastic clamshell with a black cardstock frame around it and cardstock under the toy to hold it up above the other goodies underneath. This packaging style is very flimsy and not so good for long-term storage, unless you're planning on using your LELO very rarely. Now the toys are coming in very nice velvet-covered foam inserts, with little cardboard flaps on one end to access the charger and other goodies stored below.

Honestly, while I still have the box, I find it's too bulky for storage. I keep my toy boxes under my bed, because there's no where else to store them and there's limited enough space inside. It's just more convenient to keep Mia on my dresser in her bag, where she's easy to grab. I'm keeping the box mostly in case I have an issue and need to return it to LELO for replacement or repair.

Mia comes with information on the warranty, a user guide, and an advertisement brochure which shows off LELO's other products.

My first romp with Mia wasn't totally satisfying. Her battery died too quickly. But ever since then, we've had fun. I like not having to fumble around for batteries, but when Mia's charge runs out, she's done playing, even if I'm not.

Mia's been running great for the last few months, however this last charge she's started acting up. Her motor fluctuates during use, which is really annoying. She'll randomly switch between running at full speed, to dropping off to a middle-speed, and then back up to full speed. And it's not consistent enough to be a pulse pattern. I need to do some more tests (namely charge her up and run her down a time or two to see if it happens again) before I try contacting LELO. I'd really rather avoid having to send her back...