Sex Toy Review: LELO SONA Cruise

The Product: LELO SONA Cruise

The Verdict: (out of five)

When it comes to women and masturbation and orgasms, we're often told to take a bath, light candles, wear lingerie, rub ourselves with scented lotion.

Come on, guys. These are all lovely things to do, I'm sure. I even recommend them sometimes. It's important to treat yourself well. But let's be honest; you're probably more likely to find the time to rub one out if you drop all the fanfare and accept that even in sweatpants and an oversized, coffee-stained sweatshirt, you are still deep-down sexy and your magical body is capable of producing some seriously powerful pleasure.

What does that have to do with LELO's brand-new product, the SONA Cruise? Well, if you like to get your masturbating done pronto, this might be the toy for you. That said, if you feel like getting off for hours at a time, SONA Cruise might also be the toy for you. I swear, this toy has super-powers. (Check out other LELO Reviews here.)

A Little Bit About LELO SONA

I was excited to do this SONA Cruise review for a couple of reasons. First, it's one of a class of toys, including the Womanizer and Satisfyer, that are designed to stimulate the clitoris in a whole new way. Although all three toys are a bit different and provide different sensations, they all use air - rather than vibration - to stimulate the clitoris. What this means is a whole lot less of the (temporary) numbness and irritation that can come from too much vibration. As a result, this technology can also mean deeper stimulation, more pleasure and - at least for me - essentially no refractory period between orgasms.

Unlike the Satisfyer and Womanizer, though, LELO's SONA technology uses what the company refers to as "sonic waves" rather than suction. According to LELO, this allows the toy to stimulate the entire clitoris which, in case you weren't aware, extends far below the little button you can see and touch outside of your body. The more of the clitoris that receives stimulation, the bigger, better and deeper the orgasm. Of course, I'm no scientist and I don't know if SONA is producing sonic waves or whether those waves are really ringing the whole bell. What I can attest to is that this toy produces one badass orgasm after another in short order.

The version of SONA I received was the higher end version, the SONA Cruise, which addresses a key issue that occurs with some types of stimulators and perhaps those that use air stimulation in particular: When pressed against the body, they tend to lose power because of the load being placed on the motor. So, SONA Cruise is designed to reserve 20% of full power and apply it in such situations. The net effect is that when the going gets good and I press the SONA into my body (I can't help it!), it feels even better. It's completely automatic; if you listen very closely, you can actually hear the SONA kicking into high gear. So cool.

That said, if the extra kick isn't an issue for you, the LELO SONA features the same amazing sensations at a bit of a lower price point.

What's in the box?

When I received my LELO SONA Cruise to review, it arrived, like all LELO products, packaged like a fine piece of jewelry. This toy, with its sleek, one-piece silicone design and shiny gold accent, is just so freakin' cute. It really is.

SONA also uses LELO's newer, reconfigured button system. It includes a plus button, which turns the toy on and increases the intensity; a minus button, which decreases intensity and turns the toy off; and a button between them that allows you to switch between eight different settings, or modes.

Like other LELO toys, SONA Cruise is also 100% waterproof and USB rechargeable. (I can also attest to the fact that LELO toys hold their charge FOR EVER, even when you haven't used them for a while. Very handy.) My SONA also came with a USB charging cord and a small package of lube.

My Experience With LELO's SONA Cruise

How It Felt

First up, I have to say that there's a distinct advantage to coddling your clit with blasts of air rather than vibration: It never, ever does that thing where it retreats and is like "don't touch me, that's enough." You are more likely to wear yourself out or be forced to, like, get up and go to work long before that happens. Trust me on this. Your friends may have to stage an intervention.

Sound Waves - and Sound

Now, I had heard that SONA's name is derived from the word "sonar." What I know about sonar basically boils down to dolphins. The clicking sounds that dolphins make are what they use to navigate under water. Essentially, dolphins send out sound waves and then interpret the way those sound waves bounce off of objects in their environment, returning important information about what's around them. Nature is so cool. But I digress.

Anyway, I couldn't get this dolphin imagery out of my mind when I got this toy, even though it bears no resemblance to any sort of sea mammal. Plus, when I pulled the toy out of its box and turned it on, it emitted only a very faint, undolphin-like hum. But when I applied SONA to my skin, well, it emitted a noise that actually sounds a whole lot like dolphin clicks. And, to be honest, ya'll, it wasn't that discreet about it either.

Now, for the most part, SONA is designed to be used by hovering it just over the skin without actually applying pressure. But for me, pressure felt amaaazing. And, yes, it's noisier that way. So, I just flat out accepted that using the SONA sometimes meant it would sound like a large, mechanized cat was purring loudly between my legs. I guess some people might find that distracting but, honestly, this thing could have been playing a full brass band ensemble and I couldn't have cared less. Just give me more orgasms, K?

Here's the SONA Cruise doing the thing that it does.

Plus, while silence is considered a great asset in sex toys, I'm kind of over the whole "let's make sure no one knows you ever masturbate" thing. Most high-quality vibrators (including those made by LELO) are quiet by virtue of a well-made motor. That means good, deep vibration, better orgasms and probably a longer-lasting toy. But the idea that every sex toy has to be totally discreet and silent because - god forbid - someone mind find out you used it? It kinda smacks of shame to me. So know this: SONA might produce some sound, depending on how you like to use it. But you should also know that you might be too busy getting off to give a damn. (Also, I love this toy and I will defend it to my grave.)

The Fiddly Bits

OK. So now for a bit of the technical stuff. I liked SONA's simplified controls and how easy they were to use. Considering how you hold the toy, they could have been better positioned - it's a bit hard to change settings when you're using this. But, to be honest, things happened so fast, I hardly needed to change anything.

As mentioned above, LELO SONA also has eight modes, or patterns. I'm not a huge modes person, but some of these were pretty effective for me. Somehow, they are less irritating than they are with a vibrator. Anyway, they are fun options to have. You can also dial up the intensity on any of these modes. Anything beyond the first few levels of intensity felt very intense, though. I don't think I could ever tolerate them. If you have a clit of steel, maybe you will love them. Go for it. More power to you.

If you want to light candles and have a bubble bath and break out the massage lotion, be my guest. But chances are that if you start playing with the SONA, you'll just put all that shit aside and get right to the orgasms. I'm giving it five stars.