I have been reading a lot of reviews lately, and I keep seeing this over and over again. People rate a toy two or three stars and then say 'I would only recommend this for beginners'.

Why - WHY?! would you recommend a poor quality sex toy to a beginner? Do beginners not deserve good toys? Do you think they should have poor toys foisted off on them because they won't know any better? Someone who is brand new to sex toys should be pointed towards a 5 star winner, so they won't be disappointed! There are high quality, highly reviewed toys in every category and at any price point. There is absolutely no reason to say a beginner should start with a rubbish toy, and any reviewer who says so should be slapped with a wet dildo.

I can't personally comment on every review that does this, so I hope the reviewer and mentor community will help out here. If you've been guilty of this practice, knock it off! Whether you have or not, guiding other reviewers when you catch it happening, or your students if you're a mentor, will help everyone, particularly the sex toy newbies who are reading our reviews and trying to decide what to purchase.

(Okay, rant over. But I really needed to get that off my chest.) less

Usually, items with cheaper price tags (aka lower quality) are suggested for beginners who haven't tried that type of thing before and want to experiment. How do you know if you like ____ stimulation if you haven't tried it? What if you don't like it and ended up buying a super expensive toy?

The rest of us are just way too spoiled. less

I think many things need to be taken into consideration when reading reviews.

For example...

I've tried a lot - holy shit, a LOT - of toys. So many that I'm pretty much a toy snob at this point and only bother with my favorites. So, should I be handed a $12.99 plastic bullet, I'd probably turn up my nose a bit and rate it at around a 2 or 3 stars -- because, in my experience, it's not on par with my 5 star toys.

Does that means it's sub par or bad for everyone? Of course not. Someone who is newer to toys may think it's the bees knees.

It's all subjective is what it comes down to.

The $10 rubber dong that used to please me (oh, did it please me, right down to my fetish for the smell of rubber) no longer does. That doesn't mean it won't please someone as it did me those many moons ago. My tastes have simply changed and grown but I see nothing wrong with recommending such products to those who are new, who aren't comparing to the Eleven or a hand made Nobessence piece.




Now if something doesn't work at all, is defective or glitchy or just plain horrible, it probably shouldn't be recommended for anyone but....

Really? Lots of beginners want the low cost item they can use and abuse and throw away and learn from without investing the kitchen sink. Nothing wrong with recommending those types of toys -- especially since we have so many choices for them. Regardless of recommendations, they make their own choices, right?

I can't count the number of times I tried to recommend a really great quality toy to a blogger who was new only to be refused cuz they really, really, really wanted that jelly rabbit! less

This is exactly what I was going to say. I only started using toys about 5 months ago and I wanted to start with cheaper things just to get a feel for them and see what I liked - and a lot of those first toys were amazing for me as a beginner. Now I'm buying better and more expensive items and those toys that were so fantastic just a few months ago are now collecting dust at the bottom of my storage box. I don't regret buying them and I don't think they were a waste of money because they got me interested in buying better toys. Some of the things people absolutely love would have scarred me for life if they were my first toy and I definitely wouldn't be here right now.

I also didn't start reviewing right away so I am reviewing my first toys now after having experience with a lot more toys. So now when I rate them I give them three stars, but when I was using them I definitely would have given them 5 stars because I thought they were the greatest things in the world. So when I write my review I am going to recommend them to beginners because as a beginner I loved them - not because the toy is absolutely terrible. less

I mentioned this in my recent review... not sure if you had read it and referring to mine but I am a new toy user and I said this product was great for me and would be great for beginners like myself. I also stated that those who are more advanced may not find it as mind blowing, but would be a great addition to their collection.

I personally do not see anything wrong with this and would not change it. As a new toy user, I have no idea what advanced toy users are looking for, but I assume that there are products that would be considered "higher end" to the product I tried. I think new toy users (or at least, for myself anyways) would prefer trying the less expensive items first, and see what types of textures, styles, etc that they like before committing to a $100+ purchase of a vibrator/dildo/rabbit/ etc.

Just my two cents though of course. less

Not all inexpensive toys are poor quality (I have an amazing bullet that was very inexpensive) and not all poorly made toys are inexpensive, but I see what the OP was saying.

There sometimes seems to be a "this toy is crap, it might be good for "Beginners." Even if it's a toy that the reviewer hated, it smelled and fell apart after one use. This bothered me, too. I wrote an article on changing ideas about what a "beginner" is and what "beginner toys" actually are. Carrie Ann helped with the graphics and set up, and I think you'd like it, Silverdrop. less

Sktb, if you mean the Nubby Softee review, I just read it, and it looks good. You had fun with it, only found one issue with its construction, and gave it four stars. If it's a toy that you use yourself, then recommending it to anyone else, beginner or otherwise, is certainly ethically sound.

It's the reviewers who rate a toy 2 or 3 stars, find quality or performance issues with it, and didn't actually find it enjoyable, who need to stop recommending those toys to beginners.

If you're a toy snob who can't give an objective review to a non-luxury toy, then you shouldn't be reviewing them, imho. There's a difference between saying 'This is a nicely made toy that does x and y but it didn't really work for me' and saying 'This toy broke on the first use, but it might be okay for beginners'. I only wish that was an exaggeration, but I read a review that said that only yesterday!

There's a difference between a 'low end' toy (under $30) and a poor quality toy (under 3 stars). You don't need to spend $100 on a luxury vibe to get a quality toy that gives good orgasm, and there are plenty of toys for under $20 which average 4 stars and above.

If the toy is poor quality, you know it, whether or not it gives you an orgasm. Do the batteries fall out of the case when you look at it wrong? Are there sharp seams on the plastic? Does your hand vibrate more than your clit does? Does it take 4 batteries without giving 4 batteries worth of vroom? These are the toys that no one should be recommending to beginners, no matter how cheap they are! less

I have been reading a lot of reviews lately, and I keep seeing this over and over again. People rate a toy two or three stars and then say 'I would only recommend this for beginners'.

Why - WHY?! would you recommend a poor quality sex toy to a beginner? Do beginners not deserve good toys? Do you think they should have poor toys foisted off on them because they won't know any better? Someone who is brand new to sex toys should be pointed towards a 5 star winner, so they won't be disappointed! There are high quality, highly reviewed toys in every category and at any price point. There is absolutely no reason to say a beginner should start with a rubbish toy, and any reviewer who says so should be slapped with a wet dildo.

I can't personally comment on every review that does this, so I hope the reviewer and mentor community will help out here. If you've been guilty of this practice, knock it off! Whether you have or not, guiding other reviewers when you catch it happening, or your students if you're a mentor, will help everyone, particularly the sex toy newbies who are reading our reviews and trying to decide what to purchase.

(Okay, rant over. But I really needed to get that off my chest.) less

I think many things need to be taken into consideration when reading reviews.

For example...

I've tried a lot - holy shit, a LOT - of toys. So many that I'm pretty much a toy snob at this point and only bother with my favorites. So, should I be handed a $12.99 plastic bullet, I'd probably turn up my nose a bit and rate it at around a 2 or 3 stars -- because, in my experience, it's not on par with my 5 star toys.

Does that means it's sub par or bad for everyone? Of course not. Someone who is newer to toys may think it's the bees knees.

It's all subjective is what it comes down to.

The $10 rubber dong that used to please me (oh, did it please me, right down to my fetish for the smell of rubber) no longer does. That doesn't mean it won't please someone as it did me those many moons ago. My tastes have simply changed and grown but I see nothing wrong with recommending such products to those who are new, who aren't comparing to the Eleven or a hand made Nobessence piece.




Now if something doesn't work at all, is defective or glitchy or just plain horrible, it probably shouldn't be recommended for anyone but....

Really? Lots of beginners want the low cost item they can use and abuse and throw away and learn from without investing the kitchen sink. Nothing wrong with recommending those types of toys -- especially since we have so many choices for them. Regardless of recommendations, they make their own choices, right?

I can't count the number of times I tried to recommend a really great quality toy to a blogger who was new only to be refused cuz they really, really, really wanted that jelly rabbit! less

You've made some very good points here. We try to say "good for users who like..." more than "good for beginners", because who's to say what every beginner would like? Alan & I have used the phrase in some reviews when we thought a toy was something that we would suggest to a non-toy savvy friend or that we would have liked when we were new, but we still lean toward the "good for users who..." thing in most cases though.

The one area where we've used the "beginners" phrase most often is cock rings: Alan labels certain rings as beginner-friendly if they're durable, adaptable to many sizes, and not something that could potentially get stuck on an unsuspecting newbie's dick! less

I think many things need to be taken into consideration when reading reviews.

For example...

I've tried a lot - holy shit, a LOT - of toys. So many that I'm pretty much a toy snob at this point and only bother with my favorites. So, should I be handed a $12.99 plastic bullet, I'd probably turn up my nose a bit and rate it at around a 2 or 3 stars -- because, in my experience, it's not on par with my 5 star toys.

Does that means it's sub par or bad for everyone? Of course not. Someone who is newer to toys may think it's the bees knees.

It's all subjective is what it comes down to.

The $10 rubber dong that used to please me (oh, did it please me, right down to my fetish for the smell of rubber) no longer does. That doesn't mean it won't please someone as it did me those many moons ago. My tastes have simply changed and grown but I see nothing wrong with recommending such products to those who are new, who aren't comparing to the Eleven or a hand made Nobessence piece.




Now if something doesn't work at all, is defective or glitchy or just plain horrible, it probably shouldn't be recommended for anyone but....

Really? Lots of beginners want the low cost item they can use and abuse and throw away and learn from without investing the kitchen sink. Nothing wrong with recommending those types of toys -- especially since we have so many choices for them. Regardless of recommendations, they make their own choices, right?

I can't count the number of times I tried to recommend a really great quality toy to a blogger who was new only to be refused cuz they really, really, really wanted that jelly rabbit! less