The Snail Vibe: Sex Toy Review

The Product: The Snail Vibe

The Verdict: 4 Kinkly Hearts (out of 5)

Everyone, I’d like you to meet my new bestie, Snailie, the Snail Vibe. No, she’s not perfect, but just like with my human bffs, her good points are really great and ultimately outweigh the drawbacks. (Although to be clear, if my best friend is reading this, I give you 5 stars!)

The Snail Vibe is a dual vibrator and the shape really does look like a snail. The “shell” is a ball-shaped clitoral vibrator, the “tail” is an insertable shaft that also vibrates and the “head” is a smaller ball where the controls are situated.

The shaft and clit stimulator each have a seperate motor, meaning you can set different patterns and intensities for each, or use them one at a time.

How Did You Use It?

So I’ve had a lot in the spank bank this last little while and the Snail Vibe has been called into service often. Snailie is on her third charge of the week, and that’s not (only) because of a short battery life. I ended up unintentionally ruining my own orgasm when it ran out of charge and died on me at a VERY inopportune time. Luckily I had back up.

I used it mainly in its dual capacity, thrusting and vibing. I found it enjoyable to use without the shaft motor sometimes. The shaft vibrator is not as powerful as the clit vibrator and I got more pleasure from the thrusting than the vibing anyway.

I also turned the Snail Vibe around and used it like a wand vibrator. That snail shell packs a punch! The strong vibrations are pretty quickly orgasmic which is good (aside from the obvious reason) because the handle vibrates a bit even if you don’t have the shaft motor on and I find getting my hand vibrated to be annoying, so I’m glad it doesn’t take long!

If you are a person that prefers soft fluttering touches on your cooch, you might find even the lower settings a bit much and want to keep your underwear on or use it through a sheet.

How Else Could You Use It?

Ostensibly, you are supposed to be able to use the Snail Vibe as a g-spot vibrator, but the shaft is straight so you need to angle it just so, and frankly, my arms are not long enough to get it to the right spot and hold it in place. If you have a partner to work the handle end for you, I can see it working a whole lot better.

Because of the power in the motor, the Snail Vibe could be used in a vibrator torture/forced orgasm scene, but for me, the goofy look of it might break the mood a bit.

The wide ends of the Snail Vibe mean the shaft vibrator could go up the bum without fear of losing it, but I would be a bit hesitant because a) it is so rigid it might not be too comfortable, and b) cleaning it is a bitch.

Product Details

As I mentioned before, both motors work independently of the other. Each motor has five vibration patterns and five intensity levels, which according to the manufacturer means about 600 options to get YOUR motor revving.

It's shockingly quiet for how strong the vibrations are. I cranked it up and stood beside the bed with a blanket over Snailie and couldn't hear anything. If you can manage to be quiet while using it, your roommates/kids/neighbours won't hear a thing.

Total Length: 9.4"
Insertable Length: 1.3" to 5.5"
Insertable Diameter: 1.4"

How It Works

On the “head” of the Snail Vibe are two double-ended buttons (one for each motor.) The + button on each controls the power and the intensity. The button with a squiggle shape on it controls the pattern. The motors work independently of each other, so you can vary it to your liking. Pressing and holding the + button turns the motor on/off, and a quick press changes the intensity. A light in the center of each button indicates if it is on.

The design is unusual, but pretty cool. Unlike some rabbit vibes that lift off the clit if you move the internal part in and out, you can thrust the shaft of the Snail Vibe without losing clitoral contact. The ball of the shell rests on the mons and the shaft unfurls to lengthen when you push it inside. The clitoral vibrator portion kind of braces itself against you to hold in place while you use your hand to guide the shaft in and out. It’s like a sexy slide whistle.

They have a demonstration of how it works on the Snail Vibe website (use your mouse to drag and hold) but I'll warn you, they have added porno sounding moans to the demo for some unknown reason (they don't even show a human, just a disembodied voice.) It feels alienating and objectifying to me, so I hope they change it, but it does give you an idea of how it moves. Just make sure you turn the volume down!

Materials and Care

The Snail Vibe is made from body-safe silicone. It looks like it should be waterproof and is said to have a rating of IP67, which according to Trusted Reviews means it has been tested to withstand being in water of up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. The instruction manual specifies it is safe to clean in water (unplug the charger first!) and doesn’t say anything about taking it in the bath or shower, so I would recommend you don’t. Probably best to consider it "splashproof."

Speaking of the manual, it states you should get about an hours’ use from a charge and that charging it fully should take about two hours. I charged it for almost three hours the first time and the “charging” light was still flashing (it goes solid when charging is complete.) But a gal has NEEDS and patience isn’t what I would call my strong suit, so I unplugged it and used it anyway. I still got around an hour worth of play. The next two times I put it on the charger I ended up falling asleep so I don’t know how long it took to re-charge, but I woke up to a fully charged vibrator, so that was good.

As the Snail Vibe is silicone, it may get degraded by silicone lubes, so stick with water-based lubricant.

And you know to always wash your toy before and after you use it, I won’t repeat that. But you are going to have to give the Snail Vibe some special attention to remain hygienic...one of the reasons it doesn’t get full marks from me.

Cleaning it is a pain in the butt. I don’t mean the fun kind.

The twists and turns on Snalile's body mean there are crevices that lube and what-have-you can get trapped in, as well as a swirly design etched into the side that collects the stuff you are trying to clean off. I had to scrub with cleanser on a Q-Tip to get into all the tight spaces and that was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do after multiple blended orgasms, ya dig?

The Packaging

The plain brown box arrived in my mailbox a bit crumpled (thanks USPS!) and the outer box of the vibe suffered a similar but less extensive fate. This is of no consequence though, because the Snail Vibe was safely ensconced inside the included hard-sided travel case. Inside the soft interior of the case is a little loop to secure the charging cord. That is a stroke of genius and very handy for anyone who loses chargers on the regular. Not naming any names....

The outer box has a picture of the vibrator and schematics of how it can be used. It isn’t discreet and pretty flimsy - not really adequate for storage, but who cares because the zippered travel case is very plain and very sturdy.

There is a USB charging cord included and a black and white instruction manual that gives you the basics.

The Verdict: 4/5

If we focus on just the toy, Snailie has some great aspects. I love the power that rivals some of the hardcore wand vibrators. It is small but powerful - even the gentler settings are effective and the higher intensities can bring you to climax when you don't feel like messing around and want to get right to the goods.

The dual, independent motors help make the Snail Vibe a versatile toy. I liked the option to use either vibrator - or both to mix things up a bit.

The Snail Vibe has a cool design and I appreciated how easy it was to use. The buttons are straight-forward and not at all complicated which is something I need when things are getting steamy.

On the other hand, I don't like how difficult it is to clean and I wish a charge lasted longer or that you could use it when it's plugged in. And while I'm listing wishes, I wish the insertable portion had a bit of a curve to hit my g-spot (or that I had longer arms.)

So, as a sex product, the Snail Vibe was pretty great. I do feel like aspects of their marketing need to be rethought though. I really don't like it. If I was ranking marketing, they would get 1.5/5.

Snail Vibe decided to go all-in on praising vaginal orgasms and to me it feels old-fashioned. I happen to get off on penetration but I recognize that it's different for different bodies and I would never say something like my orgasms are better because of that. It seems a weird thing to say. The interpretation of some of the studies cited on their site feel very simplistic as well.

Other Options

If you want a powerful wand: If the clitoral vibrator seems like something you like most about the Snail Vibe, you aren't going to go wrong with the OG Vibratex Magic Wand. You can find in in a rechargeable version if you don't want to be tied down by a plug-in cord.

If you want to rock the blended orgasm: The We-Vibe Nova 2 earns high praise around here. The external arm keeps in constant contact with your clit no matter how deep or shallow you are thrusting the internal arm.

If you want to focus on the the g-spot: The Mona Wave by LELO uses a "come hither" motion to stroke you on the inside, to delightful results. The Ina Wave 2 is similar but adds a clitoral finger to stimulate externally.

Buying Tips For Rabbit Vibrators

Are you familiar with blended orgasms? Basically it's an orgasm that happens when more than one erogenous zone is being stimulated. Fans say they feel stronger and more "all-encompassing" than a one-zone orgasm. A great way to experiment with blended orgasms is to use a rabbit vibrator - a vibrator that targets the g-spot and the clit.

Decide between clit vibes or air suction: Air suction vibrators are still fairly new. They work by gently "sucking" on your clitoris, while vibrators, umm, vibrate. Rabbit vibes are available in either variety, attached to a longer arm to stimulate you from the inside.

Look for body-safe sex toys: There are some cheaply made toys out there made from plastics that are not great for inside a body. Since rabbit vibes are designed to be used internally, body-safe materials are very important.

Realize they can cost more: Rabbit vibes generally cost more than their one-trick pony sisters, but if you get creative, you can use it in a variety of ways, so shelling out a bit more might make sense for you.

Other Reviews

Wonder what others think about the Snail Vibe? There are not too many reviews out there yet, but it has thus far received top reviews on Amazon and Those Creamy Peaches ranks it 9.9/10:

"I fell in love! My knees got weaker; the world's been pulled out from under my feet. Who or what managed to turn my world upside down after the first use? A snail. A snail vibrator."

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