Even in theory, I have never been a fan of toys that use air pulsation. They’re a nice concept, but they’ve never seen – or felt – like something I personally enjoy receiving. My experiences trying out a couple of the Satisfyer toys were, frankly, very off-putting and only furthered my distaste for this particular style of sex toy.
Not only that, I (and so many other people, especially those who have taken testosterone) find rabbits to be notoriously difficult to get in a size and shape that works for my anatomy, so I tend to fully avoid that style of toy as well.
And yet, I was very curious about Womanizer’s newest product, the DUO. There were a few different features that sounded interesting to me, but the big draw was that they had worked with We-Vibe on this toy, and use one of We-Vibe’s motors for the g-spot vibrator (which is a pretty great motor, imo).
Despite not being certain this would be a toy for me, it was a toy that felt almost momentous, which made me curious and want to try it.
It arrived in an unnecessarily large (but nice) box, coming with the charging cable, a second sized nozzle, instructions, and a carrying bag, and I was immediately struck by the size of it and how, well, awkward it is.
Don’t get me wrong, I had seen photos, but somehow this really wasn’t what I was expecting.
The website talks about how the DUO‘s “ergonomic design fits your body’s shape and curves with ease and comfort”, which I mean, sure. Internally it does. But NOT SO MUCH IN MY HAND.
It is incredibly awkward to hold when you’re using it on yourself.
I feel as though the design was made with the expectation that you’d be using the DUO on someone else? Because when using it to masturbate, my hand covers all of the controls. If I want to change the settings, I need to do an awkward little shift to keep it in place but allow my thumb to adjust the intensities. If I were to use the DUO on another person, my hand would be on the underside of the toy instead, thumb comfortably resting on top of the controls, ready to go.
Except I wouldn’t want to use this toy on someone else.
Other than hand vs control location, it’s a pretty good solo toy. It can – surprisingly – give me fairly dependable orgasms, and the shape of the g spot arm is great! But air pulsation toys are even more anatomy-specific than most, so getting it in place on my clit in a way that feels pleasurable and not unpleasantly over sensitive on the underside of my foreskin is a challenge for me (their website claims “feeling of overstimulation doesn’t arise” but that is far from my experience).
Like several of the Womanizer toys, the DUO uses Smart Silence tech, which is really neat. Even if the power button is pressed, the motors won’t actually activate until the nozzle is pressed up against your skin (or pillow, phone, etc), and the second that contact is removed, the motors pause.
So, you get the nozzle in place. You’ve got the vibrator going against your g spot. And now…what?
Personally, I like to thrust against my g spot. With the DUO, I have to be careful not to thrust too much or else the nozzle comes off my clit and I need to reposition it again – and hope that I don’t move it so far that the Smart Silence tech shuts the whole thing off. So instead of thrusting the way I normally do, I rock my wrist to get the internal arm to knock against my g spot, or I use carefully controlled thrusts.
Given how carefully I need to manipulate the DUO around my own body, I feel like using it on someone else would just make it harder to keep all the pieces in the right places, even if it fits my hand better, thus my lack of interest in using it on another person.
Despite the flaws, I really have been pleasantly surprised by the DUO overall.
First, it’s made with that silky silicone that I love. This may not sound like a big deal, but my sensory disorder makes the tackier silicones freak me out a bit, and finding toys with this specific type of texture (like the Twist or the Luxe Explore) is always exciting to me.
Further, you can operate the internal and external prong independently – if you want to just have the air pulsations on, you can do that (and vice versa)! Both arms have twelve different intensity levels, and the DUO also comes with an “autopilot” feature, which provides various patterns and intensities that you can try out instead of adjusting the settings yourself.
It’s also surprisingly quiet (remember how much I hated the sound of the Satisfyers?) and fully waterproof!
Worth It?
As awkward and finicky as the DUO is, I genuinely enjoyed it way more than I expected to, and am happy that I tried it.
But it currently retails for $219 USD.
Having received it for free, the parts that I dislike about it don’t bother me much. But if I had purchased it (almost $300 CAD), I would be really frustrated.
Frankly – the DUO costs half a month’s rent for me.
At that price, I want to love it, to swear by it, to sing its praises to anyone who will listen. And I just don’t feel that way toward it.
I liked it, I was surprised by the orgasms it gave me, and I will be using it again. But I could simply buy the We-Vibe Rave (same vibrator motor and shape) and the Womanizer Liberty, that way I get the same experience while maintaining my ability to actually thrust. It would fit other people’s bodies easier, and I could let them use the Liberty while I fucked them. Plus I’d save a couple bucks.
Want to get a DUO of your own? Buy it at GoodVibes or SheVibe!
