Lovehoney Gyr8tor review: A former competition winner that leaves a lot to be desired in 2020
Amy Norton
Lovehoney has been running its ‘Design A Sex Toy’ competition since 2014. Past winning designs have included the Sqweel oral sex simulator, the Uprize realistic erecting dildo, and the BlowYo male stroker. The new ‘Gyr8tor‘ gyrating vibrator is inspired by a winning design from Kevin Clark for the first competition in 2014, which was never put into production.
Kevin explained his inspiration: “After looking at the range of sex toys on the market, I was really drawn to the idea of improving the dildo. Dildos haven’t really changed that much over time and there has only ever been two notable improvements: the addition of vibrations and the addition of a clitoral stimulator on the shaft. Inspiration finally came when a friend asked me to try his new exercise machine [a Gyro Wrist Exercise Ball]. To me the exercise seemed pointless but the mechanism gave me a full-on eureka moment.”
The idea for a gyrating vibrator was born, and six years later, with an updated design, the Gyr8tor is finally on sale for $129.99 / £99.99
Lovehoney Gyr8tor: Rating
The Lovehoney Gyr8tor shows some promise on paper, but unless you like ‘buzzy’ vibrations and don’t mind some slightly fiddly control buttons, the $130 price tag probably isn’t worth your cash.
- Quiet, though it creates quite a specific noise
- Body-safe
- Interesting and innovative tech
- Could barely feel gyroscopic motion
- Lacklustre vibrations
- Relatively heavy for its size
Lovehoney Gyr8tor
The Gyr8tor is a 5.5-inch insertable, phallic-shaped toy, with a slight curve to the shaft, a tapered tip, and a wide ball-shaped base. It has a 4.5-inch circumference, has an bright purple color, and is coated entirely in smooth matte silicone. This makes the Gyr8tor completely body-safe, phthalate-free and non-porous. Water-based lube is always recommended with silicone toys, and is particularly important for insertable products like this one.
The Gyr8tor is heavy, weighing in at a hefty 305g, undoubtedly due to the complexity of the mechanism powering both the gyroscopic rotations and the vibrations. This may make the toy a poor choice for those who struggle to hold heavy things or suffer from pain in their hands. It also means that you can’t really let go of the base once the shaft is inserted, or it’ll just fall out. That said, the ball shape base is ergonomic and comfortable to hold, if a little too wide for my tiny hands.
The Gyr8tor is USB rechargeable, and fully waterproof.
Lovehoney Gyr8tor
The Gyr8tor gets its name from the unique gyroscopic motions it produces. There are two gyroscopic patterns to choose from, each of which can be used on any one of five speed settings.
The best way to describe this motion is that when you hold the base of the toy firmly, the shaft whirls around in a circular motion. (And you do need to hold it quite firmly – if you hold it loosely or let go of it, the gyroscopic motion ends up concentrated in the base instead of the shaft.)
The Gyr8tor also has a vibrating motor in the shaft, which has two constant speeds and three patterns to choose between. The vibrations do not turn on automatically, and can be operated completely separately from the gyration, meaning you can use one without the other or both together, which is pretty handy.
The vibrations themselves are just okay. They’re too weak and buzzy to do anything for me, but people who prefer gentler vibrations might be happy enough with them. I don’t enjoy internal vibrations anyway, but I tried using them for clitoral stimulation to test the strength and found them equally lackluster.
When you switch your Gyr8tor on, it will start up with a whirring noise but then it takes about five seconds before the gyrations actually start. This is normal, not a fault with your product.
And on that subject, let’s talk about the noise…. The Gyr8tor is not an excessively loud toy, but the sound it makes is very distinctive. It’s more of a high-pitched whir than a low rumble. This will bother some people more than others; I’m very sensitive to sound and it was like nails on a chalkboard to me.
The placement of the buttons is intuitive – in a central position at the base of the shaft. Unfortunately the buttons are also really small. This makes them difficult to press and the toy fiddly to use, especially if you’re trying to change settings while the the Gyr8tor is inserted.
The controls themselves are easy to work with the central button turning the gyrations on-and-off, and changing the speed. The bottom button switches between the two gyration patterns, and the top button controls the vibrations.
Lovehoney Gyr8tor
I really wanted to love the Gyr8tor; it’s such a fun, innovative idea. I’d really hoped that the gyroscopic motion would feel like the ‘come hither’ that I enjoy during hand sex and which, so far, I have only been able to find one toy that successfully mimics (the Rabbit Company “Come Hither” Rabbit.) Unfortunately, that wasn’t the experience with the Gyr8tor.
The overall experience with the Gyr8tor was one of being underwhelmed. Perhaps I have excessively strong vaginal walls (I doubt it!), but the gyrations were so heavily restricted once the toy was inside me that I just didn’t really feel very much at all. It was far less effective than my partner’s fingers (or my own), or even thrusting with a curved dildo such as the Godemiche Ambit.
There was some hope that this toy might offer good G-spot stimulation for those who find thrusting with a dildo difficult or uncomfortable, or even those who might enjoy lying back and letting a toy do the work. Sadly that was not the case. The Gyr8tor’s curve is not sufficiently pronounced to effectively reach my G-spot, and the circular motion of the gyrations is all wrong to provide consistent G-spot stimulation.
If you enjoy stimulation of your internal vaginal walls rather than direct G-spot stimulation, you might love the Gyr8tor. But for G-spot lovers like me, it’s distinctly disappointing.
Lovehoney Gyr8tor
I love the idea of this toy, but unfortunately, things that sound really cool don’t always work in practice.
Much as we applaud Lovehoney for trying something new and bringing out interesting new tech, overall it’s hard to recommend this product, and don’t feel it is worth the $130 price tag.
Perhaps this is one particular 2014 design that could have stay on the drawing board after all.
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