LELO Sona 2 cruise - sonic clit stimulator by LELO - review by iovys

Out of Eden's discreet shipping cardboard box came this glossy beauty. As pretty of a box as it may be, it's glossy as heck, so keeping my reflection out of this photo was a real chore. Additionally, this box is a living nightmare to open. It's the type in which the two pieces each have 5 sides, and you slide into the 6th side to form a box. My box arrived sealed, so we know the toy hasn't been tampered with.





Within the box, we get: Sona 2 Cruise, a USB charger, sample lube packet, storage pouch, a TL;DR instruction manual, and a warranty card. I own the first (non-cruise) Sona already, and the charging cable is the same. Handling this toy (and its predecessor) feels a little weird - like a satin-smooth, albeit rather a hard organ that doesn't really look like it's come from the earth. The entire body (sans the backplate) is made of body-safe silicone. This means you should stick to the water-based lubricant to ensure the longevity of your toy. The backplate itself is made of shiny gold ABS plastic, which reflects a distorted image.

My Sona 2 Cruise came travel locked. To unlock it, I had to press the + and - buttons at the same time for 3 seconds. The control panel light blinked 3 times. I powered it on; it was charged. I immediately noticed that it's louder than the original Sona model I own. There are some staple differences, and I'll go over those in a later section.

I like making my first sessions (for waterproof toys) in the shower! I grabbed my trusty VixSkin Mustang, my favorite bottle of lube, and hopped in the shower. Let me tell you guys - it's definitely more powerful than the original Sona. But it's also noisier. I dabbed a few drops of water to the mouth-portion, turned it on (to level 1), gently plopped it to my clit and... it stopped. Then it ramped up from level 1 to like level 5. Not gradually, just instantly. In shock, I pulled it away. I wasn't ready for that kinda power/stimulation - especially since I didn't press any buttons. While it was away from my clit, it stayed at that high level on its own. I couldn't bring it lower, even when I repeatedly pressed the - button. I turned it off, turned it back on. Back to level 1. I applied the nozzle-thing to my clit again, and the same thing happened after a few seconds - a brief pause, then the stimulation resumed at a much higher intensity. I was very confused for a hot minute.

I realized what was going on - the so-called "cruise" function was assuming I was pressing the toy real hard against my clit, wanting more, when I was just barely touching it to my skin. It was over-sensitive. Weird. Not the best kind of weird, but weird nonetheless. I figured out that if I could just-barely hover it above my skin, it wouldn't randomly decide to up the power, and I would still feel the 'sonic technology', as LELO calls it. My wrist didn't like holding it like that, though: I kept accidentally lowering it to my skin, and upon skin contact, the toy would pause, then suddenly pop up a few levels, and I wouldn't be able to lower the level 1 intensity to what it was before.

I liked the first intensity on this model when I started pleasuring myself with it. It's definitely much stronger at the first few levels when compared to the original Sona. In fact, it's perfect from start to finish - that is, if it actually stayed at exactly that level. But it doesn't. The fact that at level 1, moments after skin contact, there's a brief pause, and then there's a sudden increase in intensity that can't be lowered unless it's rebooted - irks me. Eventually, I did manage to bring myself to orgasm, but it took a long time (nothing new for me), was very hectic, as I had to repeatedly pull the toy away and reboot to get back to the un-boosted level I liked.

Further experience was better. Kinda. Sorta. Sometimes.

During some masturbation sessions, it randomly decides to be oversensitive and ramp up the intensity on its own. If you're just starting to masturbate and want to be at level 1, you want to stay at level 1 and build it up. Sometimes, the Sona 2 Cruise will decide that you're pressing it too hard to yourself, even if you're just barely touching your skin - you start on level 1, it pauses, then pops up to around level 4-5. And that new, higher level becomes the new level 1... which you can't go below. So, you're stuck with that until you reboot the device. This isn't that much of a problem if you're a few minutes into masturbating, but if you're just getting started, it's not fun.

Other times, it doesn't increase the intensity on its own at all, even when I press it hard against myself. I can't tell what is supposed to trigger its 'random' increases in strength, to be honest. I suppose we can just call those jumps in intensity a 'surprise'.

And yet other times, it works as expected - no random increases until I press it really hard against my clit. And that's wonderful - that's what I wanted. Basically, what I'm saying is, this "feature" is more like a bug - it doesn't always work as expected, but when it does, it's absolutely fantastic. Now, regarding comparisons to the original Sona - that one would occasionally stutter to a complete stop if the suction between silicone and skin got too strong. Sometimes, it would come to a stop if I simply touched my fingertip to the nozzle with little-to-no-pressure. There are minimal differences in the looks between the two of these models, you can see them below:





[[ COMPARISON TO OTHER TOYS OF THIS TYPE ]]
When compared to other toys of this type, the stimulation feels deeper and feels like it travels further into my body. The Womanizer Premium's and Satisfyer Pro 2's stimulation feels more shallow - more "slappy" against my clit. We-Vibe's Melt feels more "thuddy" than that the Womanizer/Satisfyer models, but it travels a bit deeper.

The previous & original Sona feels almost exactly the same, just noticeably weaker (&, as a result, quieter). The nozzle on this model is a bit more flat & squishy. It's also deeper, so if you've got a somewhat lengthier clit, you probably want the Sona 2 (Cruise) model. The original has 8 patterns, this one has 12 - I use... none of them. Both models stimulate DEEP. Way deeper than the Womanizer/Satisfyer/We-Vibe model I mentioned before - and I love that deep stimulation dearly.

I can't take off the nozzle to clean/replace it if need be. My pinky barely manages to reach the end plate, so I've gotta resort to scrubbing away with a q-tip sometimes. Not my favorite pastime, but I make do. I'm happy that I can't turn off this model by accident anymore (by holding down the - button for too long). I really wish we had more colors to choose from here on EF. I keep confusing this toy with my other original Sona, because they're both cerise.

So, this thing doesn't vibrate. It does some kind of black magic to your clit with what feels like sound waves.

[[Controls]]:
To turn it on, you press the + button. To turn it off, you hold down the () button [original model you just hold down the - button to turn it off.] If you want to turn on/off travel lock, hold down the + & - buttons for 3 seconds and wait for the lights to blink. To shuffle through the x12 patterns, short-press that () button.

** If it doesn't vibrate, what does it do? **
Imagine you're standing in front of a gigantic speaker at a concert (with soundproofing headphones, so you don't go deaf). The drummer starts up a beat - and instead of hearing it, you feel those sound waves against your body. You see the mesh at the very front of the speaker moves a little with each sound. That's pretty much what it feels like on my clit. And when it works, I love it. But with the cruise functionality, it doesn't always work. Regarding patterns - I can't say I'm too fond of them. They're nice to have, I suppose, but I prefer the plain old steady. The vibration doesn't go through the body of the toy; my hand doesn't become numb.

Orgasms with this toy are fantastic. I generally struggle to cum due to what used to be secondary anorgasmia and is now situational anorgasmia (are you guys proud of me?) and (when it's not randomly changing speeds) this toy achieves them in a very pleasurable manner. Occasionally, the Sona 2 Cruise can get me to squirt, but only with the help of a good G-Spot dildo like the VixSkin Johnny or my beloved Dual Density Luminosity. I cannot recommend these enough together with the Sona 2 Cruise.