I've never been excited about getting expensive chocolates. Probably because no one sends them to me.
HINT, HINT.
But I did get super freaking excited when I found out that my favorite sex store in the whole wide world was sending me a Nomi Tang Better Than Chocolate. Knowing how practical I am (not at all), I'd probably be more enthusiastic about getting a solar-powered vibe than a sandwich on a desert island, too.
With a name like "Nomi Tang", I had to check out the designer herself. Turns out she's the spokesperson of Hong Kong-based Loewie's own brand. Loewie is the "Head Representative Agent in Asia following well known brands from Europe", which I think is kind of awesome. That could explain all the fabulous, higher-end sex toys I saw in China last year!
Onto the Better Than Chocolate!
The BTC is packaged very discreetly, almost plainly with minimum "waste" packaging. The cardboard sheath, for example, may be thrown away, but you'll want to keep the lovely white box for storing your BTC or a variety of other nice things, as the included user's manual suggests. The white felt insert which displays the BTC when you first open the box may be discarded to fit more things in the container. Personally, I think it'd be a hoot to use it as a candies box. Other than the BTC and the user's manual, the box also houses a white felt drawstring pouch and a little "With Compliments" card.
Well, it definitely wins over plain old chocolate in terms of techie awesomeness. What really impressed me about the BTC, before I even turned it on, was its cool finger-glide controller.
Then, once you've got it buzzing, you can choose between three settings by placing your finger on the NT (Nomi Tang) logo on the touch pad for a few seconds. You can find this even in the dark, because it glows blue when the toy is on!
The first default setting is a steady vibration. This is quite possibly the only setting in the world, on any toy, that gets me off. The second setting is what I call the "rolling pin" feature, which escalates from the lowest to highest vibration in one pulse, and then starts all over again. The third setting is just pulsing without the escalation. Other users of the BTC have reported a fourth function, but no matter how many times I go through the functions, I can only detect three. Part of that is probably due to cool-as-hell touch pad, which doesn't exactly let you know whether your tap has been registered or not.
The touch pad also controls strength of vibrations in the first mode and speed of pulsation in the second and third modes. To adjust it, simply slide your finger on the touch pad towards the tip of the vibe (+) or towards the NT logo (-). Each stroke of the finger will bring you another level higher or lower, to about a total of five levels of vibration/speed, although it's a little difficult to quantify.
The strongest vibration is of decent strength, about four out of five vrooms, while the weakest is very mild. The vibrations are super pinpoint on the touch pad end of the toy if you hold it in your hand and just use the tip to stimulate the clit. If you lay the curve nestled up to your body, however, the vibrations become more diffuse and, personally, diffuse vibrations do very little for me. Regardless of vibration strength or speed, however, the BTC stayed virtually silent. My roommate, who was watching me test the toy (...not like that) swore that she could hardly hear it across our tiny dorm room. Behind a closed door? No one would know.
You'll want to stroke quickly and decisively when changing speeds, because if your finger lingers on the tip end of the touch pad, the BTC registers it as a "lock" command.
To (intentionally) lock the BTC, you place your finger on the tip side of the touch pad and hold it there for a few seconds. The NT logo turns from blue to red to signify that the toy has been locked. To unlock it, hold your finger over the same area until the logo turns blue again.
The User's Manual reassures users that the BTC automatically locks itself when the touch pad is covered with liquid. In order to unlock it, the touch pad must first be dried off. In theory, this is great. In practice, not so awesome. I've taken the BTC into the shower with me a few times, and each time, it locks when it senses the first burst of water on its shiny touch pad surface.
And then more water hits it. So it unlocks. And the locks again. And then unlocks.
And then it cycles through a couple of functions randomly.
Nomi Tang doesn't really explain how the touch pad works, so I can only assume that it is designed to lock when immersed in water because it responds to water the same way it responds to human touch, except human touch is pinpoint while water is more spread-y. Auto-locking would prevent frustrating interaction between water, human, and toy. However, this logic doesn't exactly hold in the shower, where it's more splashy than submerg-y. So although I have not used this in a tub, I'm almost certain that it would work better immersed in water than subjected to shower spray. This is good news for those of you who have a tub and like to bathe, especially since the BTC is waterproof up to 1 meter. This doesn't surprise me at all, considering how tightly the battery compartment closes.
To load up some batteries, you twist the power button end counterclockwise. This isn't as hard as opening a jar, but you will need a strong grip. If there are already batteries in the toy, it may turn on if you accidentally hit the power button, which is inevitable if you have larger hands. Keep twisting until the tip pops off to reveal the battery compartment. The BTC runs on two AAA batteries, and the compartment has images showing how to load the batteries properly. So pop in your fresh batteries and twist the cap back on. It won't close unless you've aligned the cap and the toy properly which requires some trial and error the first time. The User Manual suggests that the batteries be removed when the toy is not used for several weeks in a row. My personal rule is to remove batteries when you're done for the night. Saves you batteries and frustration!
The Better Than Chocolate is made of body-friendly TPE and Polycarbonate. To clean it, simply rinse with soap and warm water before and after use. This is an external vibe, so it's really not ideal for vaginal insertion, and DEFINITELY not for anal insertion. However, it should be fine to tease around the perineum and pucker of the anus as long as the BTC is not inserted.
The BTC can also be incorporated into partner sex. For oral sex purposes, I find that the BTC performs pretty darn well. Holding it between bodies for penetrative sex though? Doesn't work as well. The BTC may have been designed to fit against the female form, but the truth is, we ladies come in all shapes and sizes. Throw a partner into the mix and the probability of the toy fitting perfectly against two bodies during penetrative sex is pretty low. It does work for positions with less body contact, like cowgirl and reverse cowgirl, but missionary? Results in a bruised Miss Cinnamon.
The Better Than Chocolate is considered a luxury vibrator, and it's easy to see why. Its shapely lines and techy-cool touch pad aren't exactly run-of-the-mill. As I've pointed out, there are improvements that could be made, but when I'm looking for an external vibe to use right before bed with shower spray nowhere in sight, the BTC can't be beat.
UPDATE: This review is currently up for EdenFantasys' Weekly Review Rumble. Please cast your votes here! Thanks!
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Rating: | Vroom: | Bee: |
| This product was provided free of charge to the reviewer. | ||
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