There’s a lot to love about the Lelo Smart Wand (Large).
It’s rumbly, it’s cordless, and it’s an honest-to-God powerhouse during use. However, the Smart Wand also has some downsides that have left some reviewers feeling a bit so-so about it, mainly to do with the SenseTouch technology. The innovative SenseTouch feature implemented in these wands has been seen by some as unnecessary at best and confusingly buggy at worst.
So has the Lelo Smart Wand (Large) has given itself one too many limitations in the quest for innovation, or do its benefits ultimately outweigh its downsides?
About Belle De Soir
The Lelo Smart Wand was provided to me by Belle De Soir in exchange for an honest review.
Belle De Soir is a UK based company, which went live in July 2013. While this makes them fairly new in terms of sex toy companies, Belle De Soir’s passionate attitude, great offers, and wonderful customer service make them a company well worth using.
Belle De Soir strives to create a safe and open forum for women to embrace their sexuality and purchase and review sex toys freely. While the site is very much centred on this ideal, Belle De Soir sells toys that will appeal to all genders and their clean and stylish website design makes browsing Belle De Soir a breeze.
In addition to this Belle De Soir offer free shipping on orders over £40 and have a price matching service. Belle De Soir also have a fair few sales and offers on at times and also get involved in charity events.
Speaking to the people at Belle De Soir was a delight—and I couldn’t help but feel uplifted by the warm and approachable experience that the customer service team provides. My Smart Wand arrived quickly and was well-packed.
Overall I would wholeheartedly recommend Belle De Soir to anyone looking to buy a sex toy, especially a luxury one.
Now onto the Smart Wand…
The Lelo Smart Wand (Large)
Seriously? How could I not love this toy? It’s a powerhouse.
The vibrations from the Lelo Smart Wand aren’t the strongest I’ve ever felt (I’d hazard to say the Palmpower is stronger in terms of raw power) but it doesn’t matter. Why? Because the rumbling sensation provided by the Smart Wand are so deep and so well-paced that they take the already impressive power that the Smart Wand has and ramp it up to orgasmic heights.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Lelo’s Smart Wand (Large), which I’ll now be calling the Smart Wand, is one of two toys that Lelo made to break into the wand massager market. The other toy, the Lelo Smart Wand (Medium) is similar in terms of function but it smaller and, I would assume, less powerful.
Both toys were made not just as sex toys, but as honest stabs at making general massage products (well, as honest as the attempts of a well-established sex toy company can be).
The exterior box for the Smart Wand is adorned with fetching images of a woman modestly using the Smart Wand on her back, while the box assures people that “the large-sized Smart Wand is perfect for a deeply satisfying all-over body massage, relieving tension and relaxing muscles in the back, legs, arms, shoulders and neck”. They missed a spot.
The wand itself is very visually appealing.
At 12 inches in length, and with a maximum circumference of 7.5 inches around the head, this toy is quite large but, thanks to its sleek design, I don’t think it ever edges over into ‘bulky’ territory. The handle is curved for ease of use and most of the wand is covered in Lelo’s signature silicone. This silicone always has a luxurious feel to it, and the Smart Wand is no exception. I often find myself happily caressing the surface of the Smart Wand with my hands and it feels even better when the wand is caressed against my body.
The Smart Wand has three buttons, +, -, and a pattern changer. The + button turns the Smart Wand on and the +/- buttons allow you to easily switch between the vibration powers. The Smart Wand has 8 different power levels to choose from. The pattern changer allows you to switch through the Smart Wands different settings (of which there are 8, if you include the consistent speed). As with all toys, I didn’t use these patterns much and, as with most toys, you have the drawback of having to cycle through all the patterns or turn the toy off and back on again if you accidentally press this button.
Holding the pattern changing button for 3-5 seconds will also active the Smart Wand’s unique SenseTouch technology. SenseTouch causes the wand to increase speed when it comes into direct contact with skin—ramping up the intensity within a 3-5 second period as soon as contact is made. This is meant to produce sensations similar to a professional massage with minimal effort, but we’ll talk more about the SenseTouch setting in a moment.
The best part of the Smart Wand by far is its vibrations. When I turn the Smart Wand on and ramp up the speed the vibrations ripple down my arm, it’s that powerful. Not only that but, on the lower settings in particular, the vibrations of the Smart Wand have a deep and throbbing rumble to them that resonates intensely into any body part that the wand is applied to. These rolling rumbles are so spaced apart that, at times, the Smart Wand can sound a bit disconcerting, but really it’s just working its magic—with a rumble unlike any other toy I’ve felt.
But here’s where things get a bit complicated.
When the Smart Wand is cranked up it can sometimes lose its penetrating rumbles and, instead, transition into a very rapid buzzing motion. These buzzy vibrations are still very strong, but they’re also quite unlike the more coveted rumbling vibrations—which ripple through the very depths of your body when applied. To make matters even more confusing, if you grip the head on the higher speeds it will return back to a rumblier setting but will instantly become buzzy again when you let go.
Now, at this point, you may be thinking that this is something specific to the SenseTouch mode, but this weird vibration shift happens even when you’re off the supposed SenseTouch mode. Because of this other reviewers have (reasonable) come to consider this a glitch, however I have a slightly different theory…
In a moment of madness, when I received the Smart Wand I decided not to stick it immediately on my crotch but, instead, to use it on my back as the box-art recommended. (I know, strange.)
But when using it like this I found that the mixture of buzzy vibrations and rumbly vibrations were incredibly handy during use as a back massager. The buzzy vibrations allowed for a more surface level massage, whereas the rumbly vibrations went deeper into my back and felt like a strong, professional massage.
What’s more it is incredibly intuitive to change between the rumbly vibrations and the buzzy vibrations during use like this. A slight angle change prompts the transition from buzzy to rumbly, and the directions needed to get these angle changes are what you’d naturally expect in terms of positioning.
Because of this I believe that Lelo intended for the Smart Wands to have this transition from buzzy to rumbly as part of their effort to try and replicate the experience of getting a professional massage. The only strange part about this is that the wand will make this transition regardless of whether you’re on SenseTouch mode or not. However, the function of SenseTouch is not wholly innovative on its own.
The way that SenseTouch is pitched implies that the wand will gradually increase pressure depending on how much pressure you apply. But, in reality, the toy will ramp up to full speed after a few seconds of coming into contact with skin—so the process is almost near-instant and not at all dictated by pressure.
In contrast, the buzz-to-rumble adjustments that can be made with the Smart Wand are very responsive to angle changes and pressure when used on body parts, such as the back. Because of this I do believe that, somewhere along the line, this feature was a deliberate part of the Lelo Smart Wand. Why they didn’t make it SenseTouch exclusive, or bring more attention to it, I don’t know. But the ease of use, the effortless angle changes, and the near-instant response to such changes makes me sure that this feature was meant to be part of the Lelo Smart Wand’s functions and not just a glitch.
However this does still act as a disadvantage for some people.
The problem with this feature is that, while it’s great for using the Smart Wand as a body massager, it provides mixed results for use on intimate parts. Because of this some people who dislike buzzy vibrations may find that their toy accidentally changes pace from rumbly vibrations to buzzy ones during use, and vice versa.
I personally have never had this problem.
I tend to like to hold my vibes, even the more powerful ones, by the head—which usually causes the wand to go into rumble mode anyway. In addition to this when the Smart Wand gets placed between legs it seems more inclined to rumble rather than buzz as is. As a result of this my Smart Wand tends to give me the rumbling vulva-rippling sensations that I expect from it and, on the rare occasion that it doesn’t, it only takes a slight reposition to rectify the issue.
However, if consistency is something you value in your vibrator and you’d rather not faff about learning how to make a toy work for you, then the Smart Wand might not be an ideal first choice.
Some other general benefits about the Smart Wand are that it’s cordless, rechargeable, and waterproof. This saves on batteries, makes cleaning a breeze, and means you don’t have to worry about cords breaking the mood.
Some general downsides of the Smart Wand are that it’s not the quietest of vibes (but not the loudest wand vibe, by far) and it’s size may make it unwieldy for some and also means that you’ll be getting broader vibrations, instead of precise, pin-point ones.
Also the storage bag that came with this wand reeks.
I don’t know if this is a problem isolated to me but, as soon as I opened the box for the Smart Wand I was greeted with a horrible, overpowering chemical smell. This smell lingered on the wand, but washed off quickly, making me realize that it had come from the storage bag for the wand. This storage bag smells so much that I actually cannot have it near me—because the odour causes headaches. I didn’t even consider putting my toy in it.
I really don’t know what caused this smell but it reeked. This was certainly the biggest downside of the Lelo Smart Wand (Large) for me.
Final Thoughts
The above comment really says it all—the biggest problem I had with this vibe wasn’t to do with the vibe itself, but with its bag.
I really do find the Lelo Smart Wand (Large) to be a fantastic bit of kit. It’s cordless, it’s convenient, and it provides rumbling vibrations so strong and so rhythmically thumping that I am guaranteed to have strong orgasms with this toy.
That being said the rumble-to-buzz feature of this toy may be off-putting for some and I can understand why. While I am convinced that this quirk is meant to be a feature of the toy, I do consider it to be a perfect example of a clash of interests.
This feature, in application, is fantastic for what the Lelo Smart Wand is pitched as—an all-over body massager with a focus on larger body parts. However when used for sexual purposes (as most wands are) this feature can cause complications for some users.
But, as I said, I’ve never had a problem with this feature personally and, for me at least, the benefits of this wand outweighed any of the potential cons.
Overall I would recommend the Lelo Smart Wand (Large) for anyone who values strength, rumble, and depth of vibrations from their toy. However, it should be said that an adjustment period might be needed to try and figure out how to get the best outcomes from the Smart Wand for you.
