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The Arcwave Ion is designed to 'give men a female orgasm'

It targets a bundle of nerves you’ve probably never heard of.

Arcwave

Despite writing about sex toys for years, I’d never received an email asking if I want to try a “female orgasm.” That’s what German company Wow Tech was promising when it began touting its latest product, the Arcwave Ion. Wow Tech is the name behind other famous sex toys, including We-Vibe and Womanizer, which have won plenty of acclaim. Now, the company says that it can cultivate the sort of petite mort that has only ever been felt by people with vaginas.

The Arcwave Ion is a chunky device that uses the same air pulsation technology that is found inside its sister product, the Womanizer. In order to produce an orgasm, the Ion blows air onto the base of the frenulum to stimulate the same bundle of nerves inside the clitoris. That way you can get a very different sensation compared to old-fashioned mechanical stimulation or vibration.

Arcwave says that the product has been in testing for more than two years, with a 100-strong panel of testers involved. The company reports orgasms that are more intense than before, with more variability in heart rate and testers saying it’s a vastly different experience. Having tried the Arcwave, I can agree, it produces a very different type of orgasm, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

The device is long and thin and splits apart in the middle for easy cleaning. On the top, there’s a silicone sleeve designed to hold you close to the hardware. Below, you have a long thin cylinder (with one flat side) and the air channel, a little bit like a Womanizer, in fact. Twist the sleeve off, and you’ll be able to rinse it clean after use, before reassembling and returning to a very smart (and discreet) docking station for recharging.

Arcwave
Arcwave (Arcwave)

There are three buttons on the underside: A “Mute” button and + / - buttons to control the intensity. There are eight intensity levels that you can switch between in use, depending on your need at the time.

Now, let’s talk about that Mute button. The Arcwave Ion is noisier than you may expect -- like a very small pneumatic drill -- and the company has tried to mitigate that in the best way it can. The machine will only start working if the sensors detect skin contact over the air blower. If you disable the button, however, it’ll run without the sensor, which will help rinse its battery but also remove any worries about hitting the target properly.

Speaking of battery life, you’ll get on average an hour of use from the machine, and recharging takes around 85 minutes. Thankfully, the charging case looks less like a sex toy and more like a portable air humidifier or other unremarkable household gadget.

In my experience, you won’t need long with this device if you’re looking to get your rocks off quickly and efficiently. The longest time it took me was about ten-to-fifteen minutes, and that was starting from cold. (It’s hard to get in the mood when you’re trying to think critically about your experience.) I’d add that, in my opinion, you don’t want to be using this for an hour at a time -- it’s too intense.

One interesting design decision is that the silicone sleeve is open-ended, which the company says helps to manage the air pressure. It added that the “open front feels more natural,” which is preferable to a “complicated cleaning process,” associated with most toys. The unfortunate consequence is that because penile orgasms can be messy, the cleaning process can be a little more involved than with other toys. The company advises that you should “use a tissue or towel,” although I can report that it works just as well with a condom, dramatically reducing the cleanup.

Which could be a small price to pay for the sort of orgasm you probably haven’t experienced before.

The Arcwave Ion is available for $199.