This is such a great, inexpensive little toy for sensation play. Its looks are a bit terrifying at first, but it can provide hours of fun. It has about twenty (give or take a few) pointy "pins" that can cause a range of sensations from tickling to ouch, ouch, ouch! The pinwheels are so close together that it doesn't feel like pins sticking into your skin, but rather more of what I can only imagine is a cutting sensation, particularly when there is a greater amount of pressure put upon it. A favorite game of mine to play with this is to blindfold the person and randomly run it across their skin in different areas, so they don't know where and when it's coming.

The wheel, including the handle, is stainless steel, or stainless steel plated, anyway. The wheel does squeak slightly when it turns, but that kind of adds to the sinister feel of this toy. I've never oiled mine, as I've grown fond of the squeaking, but I would think that some WD40 or other kind of lubricant would fix this problem in no time. I also found that the wheel is not sturdy in the handle; it sort of wiggles from side to side. I guess though for such an inexpensive toy, I shouldn't be complaining.

The stainless steel is extremely easy to clean and sanitize by either hot soap and water, the top rack of the dishwasher, a 10% bleach mixture, toy cleaner, or boiling water. I prefer just rinsing it off with hot soap and water. However, make certain that you dry it off all the way, in order to keep all of the parts moving the way they're supposed to.

The Wartenberg wheel is packaged in a kind of slip case made of pretty flimsy plastic. As long as you take care of it and don't knock it around too much, it should be alright for storage. However, my experience with this type of plastic packaging is that, eventually, it gets hard and cracks. A tightly woven cloth case may be better, if you're crafty.

This toy can really be used from anything to light foreplay to blood-drawing BDSM. It's all in how much pressure you exert. I find that I prefer a nice happy medium. If it's too light, it tickles and I get all jumpy and giggly. However, if it's too much, it just hurts. I don't want anyone drawing blood from me. I love the wheel to run down my back, over my butt, and back up again. I'm not so much a fan of the pinprick feeling where my skin is very delicate, such as on my breasts, but elsewhere is great. I also like to play with it, and I may be unique in this, post-sex. Most people probably wouldn't think to play with it then, but I find that I am much more sensitive to touch right after sex, and it makes the Wartenberg wheel all that much more fun.

Alas, I've found the downfall of this toy. I've had it for almost a year now (long before I wrote my review) and it's still in great shape, shows no sign of rusting or anything.

BUT, my new boyfriend doesn't like being tickled. I can't even get it to the point where I can provide enough pressure that it doesn't tickle anymore because he just recoils. He doesn't want to use it on me because he thinks it looks scary. So unfortunately, the poor thing is being unused now.

So just a heads up, if your partner doesn't like being tickled, this probably won't work out too well. Unless you're going to be using it for a more BDSM purpose.