Will you shoot first?

Recently some sex toy manufacturers have started to realize that they need to start designing vibrators specifically for the penis. Sure, a man can use a standard vibrator, but it doesn’t work particularly well for the penis. Two convex objects just aren’t going to share much surface area, so a concave vibrator is needed for the best penile stimulation.

The Hand Solo is the latest attempt to design a toy for the penis, and it aims to solve two issues:

• A vibrator for men needs to wrap around the penis, so that it can stimulate all sides.
• Many men like to thrust while using toys, so a vibrator should be able to handle that.

Some of the first attempts at men’s vibrators (aside from anal toys) were pocket pussies with vibrating bullets attached. These generally fail due to the vibrations not transmitting well through the soft, squishy material. The Man Eater was one of the first new designs, basically just a notch in a standard vibrator, allowing it to have better surface contact. But it didn’t wrap around the penis enough. The Cobra Libre wraps around the penis and provides strong vibrations all around, but it doesn’t permit thrusting.

This toy attempts to deal with both issues.

This toy is made from the same high-quality silicone used in other Rocks Off toys, such as their excellent prostate toys. It’s a non-porous, phthalate-free, latex-free material which is well suited to sex toys. This particular type of silicone is quite firm, however, which isn’t particularly well suited to penis play. The penis tends to prefer soft, squishy playthings. This more rigid silicone may have been chosen in order to transmit vibration better, as softer varieties tend to muffle vibration.

The inner surface of this toy is adorned with all manner of bumps, ridges, and nodules, providing an abundance of textures to tease the shaft of your penis. The outer surfaces are flat and smooth, with only small ridges to help keep your fingers in place. The texture does add stimulation, but I’m not sure it’s the best texture for the job. Rocks Off may want to study Fleshlight or Tenga products for future product inspiration. The most popular penis stimulators tend to be those with larger, softer surface features, rather than the small hard nubs found on the Hand Solo.

The Hand Solo has an open design, which should be usable on any size penis. It’s about four inches long, which is perfect for stroking up and down an erect penis. The open C-shaped cross section allows a penis of any girth to fit comfortably, but it is a bit lacking when it comes to sensation. The penis is normally encircled completely by any of the orifices it penetrates, but the Hand Solo doesn’t engulf the entire shaft. Yes, you can squeeze the projecting wings of the toy around your penis, but they won’t really encircle it and certainly won’t provide the even pressure on all sides that one receives during sex.

A molded strap fits around your hand, preventing the toy from slipping out of your grasp even with lots of lube and vigorous thrusting. Very large hands may not fit well, but most should fit. Those with small hands (such as women using it on their partners) may find the toy difficult to handle due to the bulk. You have to wrap your hand around the bullet as well as the penis, which may be a bit much for smaller hands.

The relatively small size of the toy does have one advantage; it’s easy to pack for a trip or to conceal in your underwear drawer or wherever you prefer to hide your sex toys. It’s not big and clunky like a Fleshlight and you don’t have to plug it in to charge like the Cobra Libre.

The appearance isn’t particularly discreet; anyone who has used a bullet vibe will likely recognize the bullet sticking out of the top of the toy. On the other hand, the silicone portion is different enough from any other sex toy on the market that it’s not immediately apparent what it’s supposed to be.

The bullet included with the Cobra Libre works well and is easy to use with its single button. The reasonably strong vibrations of the bullet are mostly muffled, however, when it’s inserted into the silicone toy. Only a weak buzzing actually reaches the penis. Your hand will feel more of it, due to the way the bullet is positioned. Also, while the bullet is easy to use with its single on/off button, some patterns would have been nice. The single speed of steady buzzing gets stale after a while.

The upside of the muffled vibration is that it makes the toy quieter than it might otherwise be.

The bullet uses one size N battery.

The toy is easy to clean. The bullet is waterproof, so you can clean it in the sink with soap and water. Just be sure it’s completely closed. If you need to sterilize the silicone sleeve at any point, you can do so in boiling water or the top rack of your dishwasher. (Either way, be sure to remove the bullet first!) Or you can wipe it down with a diluted bleach solution. Removing the bullet from the sleeve is slightly difficult at first, but it protrudes enough that you should be able to get a good grip on it.

Lube is a must with this toy. You will want to stick with water-based lubricants, as silicone lubes can react badly with silicone toys.

The packaging in which the Hand Solo arrives is fairly minimal, but it’s attractive and would be appropriate for gift-giving. Don’t expect to use it for storage—it’s flimsy once opened and won’t last. The included instructions are quite brief and don’t cover much beyond battery installation, but the toy is simple enough not to need instructions.

I’m not thrilled by the Hand Solo. I much prefer to use a Fleshlight when I want to stroke my penis or my Cobra Libre if I want vibrations. Yes, it would be great to have a toy which could handle both simultaneously, but I don’t find the Hand Solo up to the task. It just doesn’t provide adequate stimulation.

I think it might work better if it were made with a softer materials (more like a Fleshlight, to provide better sensations) attached to hard plastic to transmit the vibrations. The Cobra Libre is mostly hard plastic (coated in silicone on the inside), which allows it to conduct vibrations much better than the Hand Solo. Also, it would be better if it had an O-shaped cross section. (With a softer material on the inside it would still be able to accommodate a variety of penis sizes.)