The vibrator has ten settings, including several intensity levels and a number of patterns, some of which I haven't seen before. Note that the intensity cannot be adjusted separately from the patterns, and most of the patterns are pretty strong.
The controls are not difficult to operate, with an on/off button and a button that switches between the different settings. When you turn it off, it remembers what setting it was on so the next time you turn it on it will be exactly how you left it. This is a nice touch if you've found one setting that you love, and you don't want to have to cycle through all the other settings to get to it.
The first three settings are high/medium/low. This surprised me.. I'm used to vibrators that start on a low setting. This one starts on high. The second and third settings are progressively weaker, but they're still quite strong. My girlfriend and I were disappointed that there wasn't a bigger range of intensity levels.
The fourth setting alternates between the three intensity levels, whereas the fifth setting jumps back and forth between high and low. The sixth setting is interesting. It's mostly at the high intensity, but with periodic brief dips down to a lower intensity. It's hard to describe. This setting intrigued my girlfriend, but she was disappointed that she couldn't alter the intensity or speed of the pattern.
The seventh setting is like the high setting, but it pulses on and off. The eighth setting is on low intensity with periodic ramping up to high, and the 9th setting is the opposite. The tenth setting is like the seventh, but on a lower intensity.
Each of the settings makes a different sound; some of them are a bit wacky-sounding. We giggled a bit at the beeping and such that it made. It's much less noticeable when it's inserted, but if you're using it externally it's a bit noisy. Not super loud, but it's definitely not silent.
The vibrations are pretty strong for a 2 AA toy, and they're very high pitched. Buzzy, not thrumming. This was a disappointment, as my girlfriend and I prefer vibrators that use motors which are lower speed and higher torque. None of the settings were satisfying for us, due to the high frequency of the vibrations.
It's unclear from the packaging whether the toy is meant to be completely waterproof, or whether it's just water resistant (for use in the shower and such). I have not tested it fully submerged, and would probably only use it in the shower, not the bathtub.
Good review!