Lelo’s Soraya Beads: When Simpler Is Better

M. Christian
5 Min Read

New anal massager delivers a uniquely arousing experience

With an overabundance of internet connected, Bluetooth-enabled, remotely-operated, artificially-intelligent I’m delighted to find a well-made—not to mention exciting—one built around the idea that complexity doesn’t necessarily guarantee a more pleasurable experience.

Welcome to my Lelo’s SORAYA Beads review, where I’ll go over this newly released anal massager which manages to not just get everything right while only as smart as it needs to be.

Lack of smarts doesn’t equal lack of pleasure

A return to classic anal massagers, yet with more than a few innovative design and engineering choices, Lelo’s SORAYA Beads are made of two main components.  The first is its uniquely shaped handle, which I immediately found to be a huge improvement over other anal play toys; while the second is its four differently-sized beads.

Lelo’s sex toy expertise is evident in their SORAYA Beads those aforementioned beads which don’t just vibrate but at the touch of button but uses Bow-Motion technology—which according to its product page was “inspired by the masterful movements of violin players”—to activate each of its separately-powered beads in sequence.  

The result is Lelo’s Cascading Pleasure Design which provides an array of uniquely stimulating sensations.  Don’t like how they feel?  Then merely tap its main/power button to cycle through the SORAYA Beads’ eight distinctive vibrational patterns.  

An added plus is the SORAYA Beads have a one-to-one play to charging ratio, as in two hours of use after the same time spent plugged into any USB power source.

An ergonomic wonder

Unlike other anal toys which can often be too slippery to easily handle, Lelo’s SORAYA Beads’ distinctive handle allows for an extremely comfortable as well as effective way to control where and how deep you want to insert it.

I even like the placement of its three control buttons. This is something you’re no doubt shocked to hear, considering how frequently I’ve derided other pleasure devices for how awkward, if not downright unpleasant, they are to operate.

Not with Lelo’s SORAYA Beads, however.  Tip it towards you, so its business end is going where you want it to and, lo and behold, its control buttons are right where they need to be.

Insert good vibrations reference here

Made from body safe silicone and a small amount of ABS plastic, SORAYA Beads are a little over nine inches in length, and between slightly more than two in width.

It also boasts an impressively low weight of about five ounces, making it an ideal traveling companion.  Speaking of, it comes with a handy travel lock to prevent it from unexpectedly switching on—preventing TSA agents from having a good laugh at your expense and sparing you from no small amount of public embarrassment.

The SORAYA Beads’ warranty, along with Lelo’s standard one year coverage—just remember to keep your receipt—and has an additional ten year Quality Guarantee, as well.

What you get—in addition to a good time

Lelo’s SORAYA Beads comes with the anal massager, its USB power cord, a satin pouch for storage, a warranty registration card, and an exceptionally small—as in impossible to read—instruction manual.

Because nothing, even the best designed sex toys, is ever perfect, I have a single small quibble with Lelo’s SORAYA Beads. 

Chiefly is its lack of a readable manual.  While I expect smart toys to provide their users with an online guide—as they obviously tend to be more tech savvy—doing the same with a simpler anal massager feels unnecessarily cheap, if not frustratingly shortsighted as accessing SORAYA Beads’ online manual is hard enough for technofetishists like myself, but near impossible for anyone looking for a low tech, user friendly experience.

A new favorite

Of all the anal massagers I’ve tried, owned, or reviewed, Lelo’s SORAYA Beads won’t end up in my overstuffed closet with the rest of the good-but-not-great ones, instead receiving the high honor of living in my bedside table drawer.  

Image Sources: Lelo

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M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex. Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.” Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian. As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2. M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise. Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex. If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro. M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.