The Duet By Crave Pairs The Sexiness Of A Vibrator With The Geekiness Of A USB Device

As a worldly lady with a formidable vibrator collection, I'm often faced with a troubling dilemma (one which, I believe, is faced by gadget nerds across the spectrum): what on earth am I supposed to do with all the charging cables that come with my toys?

For every SaSi, Ola, or Form that falls into my lap, I'm burdened with yet another charging cable—and often one that doesn't actually play nicely with any other toy. Some companies have taken steps to alleviate some of the headache (JimmyJane's Forms 2, 3, and 4 all use the same charger)—but there's still the fact that every time I open a new toy box, there's a new cable in search of a storage space. (And as someone who lives in downtown Manhattan, let me assure that my storage space is at a minimum.)

So there's something uniquely appealing about a toy that doesn't arrive with any extra baggage (and, I think it goes without saying, doesn't require batteries). Though the Crave Duet is not the first vibrator to harness the power of USB charging (Lelo's Mia predated it by over three years), it does have a few features that make it more alluring that its predecessors. To wit:

The Duet has a detachable base for charging. Which is to say: you don't plug the entire toy into your computer, as you do with the Mia. Instead, the Duet's silicone-coated prongs are removed to reveal a USB plug; the metallic base (minus the silicone part) is what plugs into your computer to charge. There's a couple things that are nice about this: on its own, the base is vastly more discreet and totally passes for a fancy thumb drive; and since the silicone part is technically the stimulation zone, you don't have to worry that you're going to make your computer smell like lady bits. (Although let's get real here: if you're doing it right, that whole thing is going to come into contact with your junk.)

The Duet is pleasantly strong. Like JimmyJane's Form 2, this baby has two separate motors (one in each of the prongs), creating a surround sound experience of sexual pleasure. It's not going to compete with the Hitachi, but it is pretty decently powerful.

There's minimal packaging. Like, literally, a thin cardboard sheath wrapped around the carrying case. Because you know what else I have too much of? Fancy boxes that come with my fancy vibes.

But I would be lying if I said I found the experience perfect. There were several things that bothered me about the Duet. For instance:

The buttons are awful. It's nice that the toy comes with three buttons (one to increase vibration, one to decrease vibration, and one to turn the toy on/off/toggle vibration patterns), and in theory, it's a totally usable set up. In practice? The buttons are tiny, hard to press, and if you're not looking, it's hard to tell one from the other (particularly since the toy itself is symmetrical—believe me, it was quite the bummer when I got it turned around and found myself decreasing, instead of increasing, the vibration strength).

I'm not sold on the shape. This is partly a personal preference, to be sure, but I'm of the opinion that sex toys for ladies should be shaped like the bodies of ladies: in a word, curvy. It's why I don't like the slimline style vibrators, it's why JimmyJane's Little Something often feels like a little nothing, and it's why the Duet was a little, well, boring. Yes, it got me off, and I did enjoy it, but I also found myself wanting something...more.

[It's not actually a USB drive!!! Maybe this was an intention that just didn't make it past the drawing board, or maybe Gizmodo was misinformed, but man: it was really disappointing when I plugged this into my computer and couldn't load it up with data. Correction: the Duet Lux, due out soon, is the one that's also a USB drive. Duly noted.]

Overall, though? I love the charging mechanism, I think the vibe is decent—but I wish it were a little curvier...and good god, those buttons have to go.

· Buy the Crave Duet (babeland.com)
· Crave (lovecrave.com)