When Lelo’s newest toy, the Sona Cruise, hit Instagram, with Amber Rose proudly endorsing it, I’ll freely admit that it caught my attention. It was one of those times where my curiosity got the better of me. Of course, you know what they say about curiosity and the cat.

Still, I was more than just a little bit intrigued, I kept thinking to myself, “Hmmm…a Lelo version of the air-pulse technology. I wonder, what would that be like?” And so, here we are.

But I hope you won’t mind if we take a slight detour into a quick, sex toy history lesson before getting into the finer details of the review. What say you? Shall we begin?

As you likely already know, Lelo used to be the brand every other brand wanted to be. And everybody and their brother wanted a Mona. This was before a couple of huge marketing snafus left their reputation in shambles.

A Hard Fall

It was during the spring of 2016 that Lelo officially fell from most sex bloggers’ good graces. They made the highly questionable decision to hire, actor, Charlie Sheen, a man with a documented history of domestic violence, as the spokesperson for their newly released condom, the Hex.

This decision felt like a slap in the face to the blogging community at large. The very same people who had supported Lelo from the start.

Making matters worse, Hex turned out to be a complete and total marketing nightmare due to a horrendous flaw in the condom’s design.

You tell me though, what good is a condom if you can’t be sure when, or if it has broken? That’s what I call a bug, folks. Yet Lelo tries to play it off as a feature.

And just so we’re clear, I’m not giving Lelo a free pass, nor am I planning on forgetting their mistakes. I am, however, willing to give this product, the Sona Cruise, the benefit of a fair review. I hope you can understand my decision.

Also, I want to assure you that none of what I’ve mentioned above has any bearing on my feelings towards the Sona Cruise. I’ve tried hard to remain unbiased.

So with all the necessary prefacing out of the way, let’s get on with the review.

The Sona Cruise is quite obviously Lelo’s answer to the air-pulse toy fad that swept across the adult toy world. It feels like more and more brands are trying to find a way to cash in on the trend kicked off by Womanizer, back in 2015.

Lelo made sure to include all the prerequisite features anyone would expect to find in a quality sex toy. All the ones we’ve grown accustomed to luxury brands including in their products. For instance, this particular Lelo toy is coated with a velvety soft silicone, it’s considered waterproof, and is USB rechargeable. And like most toys today, it has patterned variations. Eight of them, to be exact.

Does It Come Equipped With Air Bags, Too?

However, in a clever bid to stand out from the throng of air-pulse toys already overcrowding the marketplace, Lelo came up with a signature feature called Cruise Control™.

This automated feature causes the Sona Cruise to “automagically” gear up an extra 20% when a significant decrease in power has been detected in the motor.

It’s a non-optional feature, designed strictly for those times when you apply pressure with the toy. Particularly, when pressing the Sona Cruise firmly against the body. A point at which, if not for the Cruise Control™ feature, a significant decreace in power might, otherwise, be expected.

I started out with certain expectations of the Cruise. All of my previous encounters with “air-pulse” toys ended with my having some amazingly powerful, but abrupt orgasms. Satisfyer toys almost always bring on orgasms that are best described as sudden and intense.

Ones that teeter on the edge of painful. Unpleasant only in the way, a playful tickling session can quickly become torturous if it goes on for too long. Overstimulation being the culprit of this sudden change in perception.

So, I was sort of expecting my body to have a similar reaction to the Sona Cruise. But, as you can imagine, I was entirely baffled when I pressed the Cruise against my clit and not much of anything happened. Beyond some comical noises.

What I’m saying is, I had no measurable pleasure response. Instead of the heavy-handed suction, I tend to associate with these types of toys, I felt a non-sensual sort of tapping against my clit.

What The Hell Just Happened?

It almost felt like someone had pressed their mouth against my vulva, and started blowing loud and obnoxious raspberries. Silly as that sounds, this is as close as I can come to describing both, the noise, and the way it felt.

While not entirely unpleasant, it wasn’t exactly what I’d call pleasurable, either. It was just odd, and kind of hilarious.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at that very moment! I know must’ve looked like a quizzical dog, with my head cocked comically to one side. Sitting there propped up in bed, legs splayed wide and naked from the waist down, except for my socks. Staring at the Cruise as if it had just bitten me.

All the while thinking to myself, “What the hell was that? What just happened?”

At first, I was sure there had to be something wrong with me, not the toy. Then it dawned on me, maybe the problem lies in the size of the Sona Cruise’s “mouth” or rather the opening. I’d noticed earlier, that it was a bit smaller than any of the Satisfyer toys I’ve tried.

Maybe it was just too small to accommodate my chubby outer labia? Maybe this toy couldn’t properly latch on to my clit?

Either way, you know I wasn’t ready to give up the fight just yet. So I gave the Cruise another go. This time, I used the first two fingers on my left hand to spread my labia even wider than before. Just in case it was my fat outer labia that were causing some sort of interference with the way the toy functions. Then I pressed the toy back against my clit.

Finally, I felt a bit of pleasure, but not of the variety I had expected. It was milder and had a slower build-up. Hmmm…

Eventually, I figured out what I’d first been experiencing was reverberation. Brought about by the toy’s “sonic” nature. (A feature Satisfyer models don’t have, and exactly the reason why it felt so foreign to me.) It produces secondary vibrations and this causes the Sona Cruise to ricochet off my body.  

So, instead of it fastening on to my clit the way other pulse toys do, the Sona Cruise creates a sensation that is more akin to a combination of shallow suction and mild vibrations. As opposed to straight suction. 

Now We’re Getting Somewhere

On a hunch, I decided to scroll through the Cruise’s eight patterns. Something that hadn’t initially crossed my mind, since steady settings are my customary preference. Eventually, I struck pay dirt.

There’s a setting that’s a loop of gradually increasing power, followed by a sudden dip, that I like. This is the only setting, out of all eight that works for me. It evokes the same sort of high-intensity orgasms I’d been expecting from the Sona Cruise all along.

Although, I’m still not entirely sold on the way the Cruise feels. It’s just not as impressive as some of the other air suction toys I’ve tried.

Oh, and if your wondering, no, I couldn’t physically detect a change in the power of the motor during activation of the Cruise Control™ feature. The only sign I had that it was working at all, was when I could hear the motor gearing back down. After I pulled the Sona Cruise away from my body. I think that’s exactly the point, though. It’s a feature that was intended to go unnoticed, by its very nature. Like a program running in the background on your computer.

One last thing to remember, be careful when your scrolling through the toy’s eight settings. If you push the minus button just one too many times, the Sona Cruise will suddenly shut off. Not exactly what you want happening in the heat of the moment, specifically when you’re nearing climax.

But Tell Me, What Do You Really Think?

So what is my final recommendation, you ask? I’ll tell you right upfront, the Lelo Sona Cruise is not my favorite air-pulse toy, not by a long shot. Yet, I can’t say I outright despise it, either. It’s just that, I feel like there are better and more affordable options out there for you to choose from if you’re looking for an “air-pulse” toy.

Since they are so far behind in creating a toy like this, Lelo needed to come up with something truly innovative, to ever hope to catch up to either, Womanizer’s or Satisfyer’s levels of success. Unfortunately, the Cruise Control™ feature isn’t that impressive and just doesn’t cut it for me.

Honestly, it’s not worth the full retail price of $179, or maybe even the current discounted price of $99. However, if you were to grab it at an even steeper discount I wouldn’t see a problem.

Get your own Lelo Sona Cruise at Lelo