I love Fun Factory toys. Always fun, often whimsical, they are a delight to use. The Booster Vibrator (also called Patchy Paul III) is no exception.

This vibrator, which I’ll call Patchy from here on out, is made in Germany. He comes in the standard red and grey Fun Factory box with product information on the sides and a back flap attached closed by a magnet. Under the flap is a diagram of the vibrator with features pointed out and information about SmartVibes in several languages. Patchy is visible through the front window of the box, held in place inside a plastic form. The box also contains a product pamphlet, instruction pamphlet, and a sample of Toy Fluid, a water-based lubricant.

Patchy is definitely whimsical and too cute for words. He makes you want to cuddle and stroke him. In lime green (he also comes in pink), he resembles a caterpillar. His nose angles out for g-spot stimulation and the curve makes it look like he’s smiling. His eyes are open and give him an eager, innocent look. The seven gentle ripples down his body give him a segmented appearance. With his matte finish, you can feel a bit of drag as you run your fingers up and down his head and body. He doesn’t have any noticeable seam.

Patchy is 8 1/2" long overall, with an insertable length of 6”. Below his g-spot angled nose, 7 ripples increase in diameter from about 1 3/8” to 1 5/8” down his body and provide some internal stimulation. Patchy is not stiff – he’s very flexible and squishy. He’s not too flexible, though, to cause problems with insertion or stimulation. He should not be used anally, however, since he doesn’t have a flared base.

Patchy takes 4 AAA batteries, which are inserted into his base. The base is black with green accents, and is a definite improvement over previous Fun Factory designs. The cap is easy to remove by simply twisting it to the left and lifting it off. While the battery direction is not well labeled, the batteries go in alternating between positive and negative side up. When the cap is replaced correctly the designs on the cap and base align. Rechargeable batteries can be used, but will result in a slight lessening of power.

This vibrator is made of silicone, so it’s body-safe, non-porous, hypoallergenic, latex free and phthalates free. It has no smell or taste. Patchy should be cleaned with warm water and mild soap and dried with a soft towel. While the instructions say Patchy is waterproof and safe to use in the shower or bath, they also say to open and air out the battery after cleaning or any contact with water to make sure no water has made its way in. For this reason, I wouldn’t use Patchy in water and would take care with cleaning. He should be stored in a cool, dark place away from other toys.

Only water-based lubricants are safe to use.

Patchy is controlled by plus and minus buttons located on the front of his base, and a turbo button on the bottom. The plus button is slightly larger than the minus. Pressing the plus button turns him on, and an LED light glows green behind the buttons. The plus button can be pressed 8 times to increase the vibration settings to their maximum level. If that’s not enough, you can press in the boost button on the bottom for an added burst of power. Unfortunately, once you let go of the button, the power returns to normal.

Once on the high setting, 3 pulse patterns are also available. Pressing the plus button again yields slow, medium, and fast pulses for added variety. When the minus button is pressed the vibrations will switch back to the highest steady level.

To turn Patchy off, press and hold the minus button until the vibrations are at their lowest level and then press again.

The vibrations are strongest in Patchy’s body and not at his tip, although they do travel well up and down his length.

Patchy is remarkably quiet. He was not as loud as my vibrating cell phone, and my husband couldn’t hear him from across the room.

One thing that surprised me is Patchy’s turn-off feature. If he’s on and you don’t press any buttons for 15 minutes, he’ll turn himself off to conserve battery life. So if you like to keep your vibrator on a certain setting and use it for a while, make sure to hit his boost button or change the intensity periodically or you may find the vibrations cease when you’re not ready for them to do so!

I found Patchy to work well. He’s thick enough with his bulges to give some extra internal stimulation, and I liked his vibration. The boost isn’t a staggering amount of extra power, but it’s just enough extra to notice. It’s hard to hold the button, however, when you’re trying to thrust, and it works better when you use it frequently for short bursts. I would have liked a bit more vibration in his nose, but I did find it firm enough to hit my g-spot right.

My husband had a bit of trouble holding Patchy’s base, particularly when he got it covered with lube. He was able to use the pulse button more effectively than I was, however.

We ran into the shutoff problem when he was using this on me the first time. I hadn’t noticed it myself since I was busy cycling through the settings. He had it on one of the pulse patterns and hadn’t changed it in a while when Patchy just turned off. At first I thought the batteries were dead, but when we pressed the + again, it turned on. Later I went back and read the manual and realized what had happened.

This is such a cute and fun vibrator! While it's not my favorite from Fun Factory, it's definitely in my top 5. I love the vibrations and texture, and the nose hits and stimulates my g-spot like I need.

I don't cycle patterns a whole lot, so I do have to remember to hit the buttons at least once during a long session so he doesn't turn off on me. While it's a great power saving feature if you forget and happen to leave him on, I'm usually not so forgetful about shutting my toys off when they're not in use, and this has frustrated me a time or two. Definitely not enough to stop using Patchy, however.