As a beginner with anal play, the O-Phoria A-vibe looked like a good fit for me--it's not too girthy or long, and has a unique and attractive shape.

The O-Phoria comes in elegant packaging that is a contrast from many anal toys you might come across. There are no graphic photos--it's in a satiny white box with a pretty design. The toy comes set in a foam tray with areas cut out for the toy itself and its vibrating bullet insert. It also comes with a small instruction manual. I recommend you read the instruction manual. This comes into play a little later.

You could store the toy in its packaging quite well, but pulling it out of the box and the tray and returning it in the same way seems a little high-maintenance and precious to me. I'll stick with keeping it in one of my toy bags. Make sure you don't let it rest against your other silicone toys in the drawer, as that can deteriorate the material!

This toy is 5 3/4" long, with 5" insertable length, and is 1 1/8" diameter at its widest point. From reading other reviews, it's clear this is intended as a prostate massager, and is bent at an angle to encourage that use. However, I am a girl, and I like using this on myself just fine, too. It has a ring at the base which is meant to grip and control the toy. However, it does not have a significantly flared base which makes me concerned about the danger of it going farther up and getting stuck. Definitely a drawback for a toy meant for anal use!

The toy is a smooth silicone, less velvety than some of my toys but does have a matte/velvety finish rather than glossy. There isn't too much drag and you do not need to use an excessive amount of lube with it. Make sure to use a water-based non-silicone lube, as silicone lube will damage the toy. Unlike most toys, I don't think putting a condom on this one to protect it from silicone lube would work in practice. If you put one all the way on and tied it, as I do for some of my toys, you'd lose the ring pull and not be able to easily control the vibe button. It's not long or girthy enough to safely hold onto a condom without it being tied at the end.

The bullet vibe: This is where it became very important to read the instructions (or very stupid that I didn't read them, anyway!). This toy comes with a very small bullet vibe that you insert into the center of the toy to provide the vibrations. In the manual, it says to put a small drop of lube on the bullet before inserting it into the toy, to support easy removal. I did not read this. The bullet vibe is now in there so tight that I don't know how I'm going to get it out. One problem is that the pull-ring is over the place that you put the vibe--you kind of bend it to the side to access it, but this setup is so awkward that I can't get a good grip on the bullet. I realized this immediately after putting the bullet in, with an "Oh, no, I didn't think this through" moment. My last resort is going to be pliers but I haven't tried that yet.

I would say the vibrations are a 2 or 3 out of 5. I think I'm going to give it a 2 since I can't give it a 2.5 vrooms. With this type of toy, though, I feel I need less intense vibes than I do on my clit, so the vibration level was comfortable and enjoyable to me. It is more of a buzzy rather than rumbly vibration, but again, buzzy is OK in my ass but not on my clit!

The toy is a unique shape--bent, with a thicker base, narrowed neck and bulbous head. I think with a boy the intent would be to use the bent angle as a method of prostate stimulation. For me, I actually only used the head/neck part and didn't insert the toy any deeper. It worked well that way for me. I could feel it, but it was not too overwhelming.

To clean this toy, you could use disinfectant toy cleaner, soap & water, and to sterilize it you can remove the bullet and boil it. I do like, especially for an anal toy, that it is sterilizable. I would not share this toy unless you boil it.

Since the body of the toy, without the bullet, is waterproof, you could use it for penetration play in the shower or bath.

I am very new at anal play. The only other anal toy I've tried was an intensely textured, larger plug-vibe that I had to safeword out of when my Mister tried it on me. Ow, ow, ow. I definitely need to work up to that one.
That being said, it's hard for me to tell whether my enjoyment of this toy is the toy itself, or just the new sensation of vibrations up my ass. I used a water-based lube, turned on the vibration, and put it in just up to the neck. That's only a couple of inches of penetration but it was enough for me. The vibrations just pierce through me so deeply, it's like nothing I've ever experienced before, and amazingly pleasurable. With a glass toy in my gynie and a vibe on my clit I came in minutes and much harder than I usually do! I like this toy very much because its size is so comfortable for me as a beginner. Recommended.