The money-back guarantee is nice

A Newcomers Guide to Masturbating with a Vibrator

If noisy buzzing takes you out of the moment, consider this cock ring and its amazingly quiet (but not weak) vibrations. Its shimmies and shakes have a low, rumbly timbre for deep vibrators, satisfying sensations, and its matte silicone is super soft against skin, especially when lubed. This cock ring doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but that’s the point if you’d rather hear moans than vibes.

The fixed tail keeps it in just the right place and at just the right angle for the kind of O’s you really deserve. “Solo play allows for leaning into pleasure without having to think about anything else. It’s a good opportunity to find out for yourself what your pleasure potential is and how you get there. This can be really empowering,” explains Rachel Zar, LMFT , CST, a relationship and sex therapist at Spark Chicago Therapy and Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine & Menopause. All the tone in the world doesn’t mean much if a guitar plays like a log.

The angled tip is good for targeted clitoral action, while the toy’s eight speeds and seven vibration patterns only add to the fun. Because vibrators are such a great way to up the pleasure factor, don’t let self-consciousness about using them get in the way of your fun. They can be an enjoyable component of your sex life — whether you’re by yourself or getting your buzz on with a partner. Plus, Weiss points out that people who ordinarily only have one orgasm at a time can often experience multiple orgasms with a vibrator. This attractive dual-ended rose toy is designed for blended orgasms.

Fast-forward to the 1950s, when one company began marketing the Vibra Finger “Gum Massager” (uh-huh). Featuring a “full-size” finger attached to an electric base, the massager was dentist approved. The money-back guarantee is nice, but we have a feeling no one ever took advantage of it.

Our Good Housekeeping Institute testing panel, made up of over 130 women of all ages and sex toy experience levels, tested a range of vibrators to find the ones worth investing in. Safe-sex practices are important either with a partner or on your own. Ensuring your toys are clean keeps infections at bay and can improve the life-span of your bedroom buddy. Remote control options come with a separate device that offers short-range control or hands-free fun. Meanwhile app-controlled vibrators are ideal for long-distance sessions.

The W500 model offers two different sized heads — because clitorises don’t come in one shape or size! — which is a nice upgrade but you’ve got to be willing to pay the price” (The Pleasure Chest, $220). No matter your tastes, there are many, many uses for remote-controlled sex toys —  from hands-free solo play or partnered activities (up close or long distance). To start, I stripped to my silk skivvies, keeping them on as a buffer just in case the vibrations from the wand were too intense. When they weren’t, I threw my underwear to the floor and reached for some water-based lubricant in my night table.

While companies seem to invent interesting new vibrator shapes every year, there are a few key vibrator categories that are classics for a reason—why reinvent the wheel (or the wand)? We like that the vibrations feel stronger and more rumbly when compared with our other Magic Wand picks’, and that this new version is easier to clean (because it can be run under a faucet). At the end of this experiment, we discovered that the lube had an effect on every single toy.

Just keep in mind that they’re usually not anal-safe, since most models don’t have a flared base. Unlike some toys that use air to massage your clit, the donut-shaped Ora 3 has a nub-like “tongue” that rotates around your hot spot. The device’s silicone body is easy to hold thanks to an ergonomic cut-out for your fingers, while 12 vibration settings offer plenty of variety. Compared to earlier generations, the Ora 3 has a firmer node for a more realistic sensation and LED lights that blink to tell you how charged it is. It’s no surprise that the best vibrators are some of the most popular sex toys around.