The Arcwave Zing is a $149 (£139) vibrating stroker from Arcwave, the brand WOW Tech Group launched in 2020 to make design-led toys for people with penises and, in its own words, to “help destigmatize male masturbation.”
It’s a laudable mission, to be sure, though good intentions don’t make a stroker any easier to hold. The Zing looks the part and its motors put in a strong shift, but its bulky body and price tag make it a hard sell.
Arcwave supplied the Zing used in this review.
Design & functionality
The Zing arrives in a colorful foam-lined cardboard box, decked out in swirling orange, cyan and navy hues along with a picture of the Zing itself. Inside is a manual, textured stroker that also vibrates, so you can mix and match your own stroking with letting the motors do some of the work.
Like many other strokers, the Zing uses an open-sided design; rather than being a single continuous loop, it splits down one side, giving it additional flexibility. The aim is to make it more adaptable to a wider range of penis sizes (Arcwave puts the minimum at a flaccid length of 60mm, with no upper limit on length). This is a fine idea in theory, and strokers like the Blowmotion Vibrating Hand Job Masturbator have put it to good use previously. In practice, though, the unit is surprisingly bulky at 110 x 59 x 59mm, which makes it hard to get your hand around.
Arcwave also lists a separate tightness band in the box, which wraps around the toy to hold it in place and add pressure. My test unit arrived without one, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness, and everything that follows reflects the Zing on its own.
Otherwise, the stroker looks good. The design transitions from a blocky, almost industrial squareness on one end, which houses the unit’s twin motors, to a more traditional rounded shape. Eschewing the more commonplace curves also helps this unit stand out aesthetically. It’s controlled via three pleasantly tactile buttons, and internally, a pattern of waved ridges provides additional physical stimulation without adding a bunch of tricky-to-clean crevices.
Speaking of cleaning, it’s fully IPX7 waterproofed (which means it’s suitable for use in the bath or shower). In addition, the interior is constructed using Arcwave’s proprietary CleanTech silicone, which the company claims is easy to clean and more hygienic than TPE strokers. Still, most users will likely be hard-pressed to notice a difference, and I found that it picked up lint faster than other traditional silicone devices. Arcwave recommends water-based lube, so leave the silicone lube in the drawer.
The waterproof design means it charges via a magnetic cable rather than an open port, and Arcwave quotes 60 minutes of use on full power. I never ran it flat during testing, so I can’t confirm that figure. It also comes with a discreet neoprene storage pouch if you want to take it on the go.
In use
The Zing is admittedly well put-together from a visual standpoint, but it’s relatively bare-bones in terms of features, so don’t expect any digital connectivity or remote control options. The upside of skipping an app is that there’s no account to set up and nothing logging how you use it. What you do get is 10 vibration patterns across 10 intensity levels, although in practice, many of the patterns feel similar enough that it doesn’t make much of a difference.
As mentioned earlier, its bulky nature makes it a bit awkward to use, and that includes the buttons, which can require a degree of force to activate. Without mastering a firm grip (or theoretically using the tightness band I didn’t have), achieving a satisfying level of tension is difficult. That makes it less effective than other, more ergonomic strokers I’ve tested, including the Blowmotion Vibrating Hand Job Masturbator.
These issues aside, the Zing’s two We-Vibe motors are the best thing about it, producing a deep rumble that’s felt throughout the length of the device rather than the low-level buzzing offered by devices at the cheaper end of the vibrating stroker market. They don’t operate independently, and because they’re both placed at one end of the device (on opposite sides of the split down the middle), it doesn’t feel markedly different from devices that use one motor. But it arguably offers a slightly more powerful maximum sensation than those that rely on only one.
And while the variety of vibration patterns on offer isn’t going to blow anyone away, the 10 intensity levels do provide a degree of flexibility for customization. It’s also reasonably quiet, which can’t be said for all the masturbators I’ve tested, particularly its stablemate, the Arcwave Ion 2, and that’s a real point in its favor if you share walls with anyone. In contrast to that device, it’s also much easier to use thanks to its more flexible open design, and I found the traditional vibrations to be more effectively stimulating than the Ion 2’s Pleasure Air Technology.
The Zing can be enjoyed with minimal hand use, and the strong vibrations will provide enough stimulation if manual operation isn’t possible, which on paper makes it a reasonable pick for anyone with limited hand mobility or who simply prefers a hands-off approach. In practice, the bulky body and stiff buttons work against that, and I’d argue an automatic stroker is a better option for those with challenges around manual dexterity or mobility, as it provides far more flexibility and customization.
In addition to offering a range of speeds and motion patterns, many devices (including the Lovense Solace range) allow users to design custom patterns. Many also incorporate digital connectivity features, enabling users to sync the device’s actions with digital content or allow partners to remotely control the device. These are all features that the Zing does not offer.
Verdict
Sadly, while using the Arcwave Zing isn’t an unpleasant experience, its clunky design and $149 (£139) price tag make it hard to recommend. For context, the Blowmotion Vibrating Hand Job Masturbator costs $79.99 (£59.99), so the Zing asks almost twice as much, and more than double in the UK, for a stroker I found harder to use.
It’s a perfectly functional device that delivers broadly satisfactory performance, and its strong, quiet motors deserve credit. However, there’s nothing here to get particularly excited about, and nothing especially new to set it apart from other devices beyond a mildly eye-catching look. If you’re in the market for a vibrating masturbator, I’d look at one of its cheaper rivals or splash out on a fully functional automatic stroker.
Read Next: Arcwave Perk review: powerful, adjustable prostate massager that nails the fundamentals without the premium price tag // Lovense Solace Pro review: Evolution, not revolution
