I’ll never forget my first vibrator.

It was back when I was in my mid 20's, and my husband talked me into going into a porn shop with him one night. I was extremely self-conscious and embarrassed and all I wanted to do was grab a vibe and get the hell out of there. So I very quickly picked out a plain plastic vibrator and was ready to leave. But he kept trying to get me to buy all these different fancier ones. I didn't want anything to do with them. I was perfectly happy with what I had in my hand. Well we got home, put the 2 C batteries in and gave it a test run and OMG! I loved that vibrator! And it served me faithfully for many years before it finally died. Fast forward to now. I own many vibrators in all shapes and sizes, that can do all kinds of interesting things. They all work great and I do love them. But I still missed my old plain, hard-plastic, dial-based, C-battery vibrator. So when I got the opportunity to review this one I jumped at it. And to say I love this vibrator is an understatement.

The Inked Vibes Royal by California Exotics is a new twist on an old fashioned vibrator. Made of hard plastic this vibe is non-porous, phthalates free and hypo-allergenic. It is 7 3/4 inches long, with 6 1/2 inches of that being insertable. It's girth is 1 1/4 inches diameter which is nice and slender for those who don't care for a lot of girth, but because it's made of hard plastic it will still please those that do. This vibe looks like a long slender bullet. It can be used internally or externally. When used vaginally it will not hit your G-spot but you won't mind a bit, because the vibrations in this are so strong that you'll enjoy the ride anyway. But I actually prefer using this for clitoral stimulation. The plastic is perfect because it glides nicely across the skin and is smooth enough for those who like a light touch and hard enough for those who love pressure. And it's tip is great for pinpoint accuracy. It's also slender enough to use during intercourse.

As I said this vibrator takes 2 C batteries. I know…I know, many people don't want a vibe that takes C's, and to that I say “Why not?” Vibrators that take C batteries are powerful! And the Inked Vibe Royal is no exception. On it's highest setting it rivals all but the Hitachi. This vibe has some seriously strong deep vibrations. And you gotta love the dial base on this. Most vibrators that have multiple speeds have just three levels; low, medium and high. With a dial base you get those and every subtle level of vibration in between. Another common complaint about this type of vibrator is that they're noisy. Actually they can be, if they don't have a liner inside. Without a liner what you hear is the battery banging up against the hard plastic while the vibrator is running. If it has a liner, which mine has a heavy paper one, that helps to hold the batteries firmly in place and keeps them away from the plastic, which muffles the sound. No, it's not the quietest vibrator I own but it's not the loudest either. I gave it 3 bees but 2 1/2 would be more accurate.

The Inked Vibe Royal comes in white pink or black. Each one has it's own tattoo design wrapped around it. The design is on top and if I rub my hand over it I can slightly feel it. Which worried me a little at first, until I scratched at it in several places and not even the slightest bit came off. As a matter of fact you can't even tell I was scratching it at all. The tattoo designs are really cool looking. Kind of a new twist on an old standby. I have the white one and it has a skull and snake design with dark pink roses.

The Inked Vibe Royal is also waterproof. So you can take it with you to play into the shower or tub. Just be sure that the cap is screwed on tightly first. Also any type of lubrication can be used with hard plastic.

Clean up is very easy with this. Just wash it with soap and water or use your favorite toy cleaner. But it is not sterilizable. So if you're going to share please use a condom.

I remember that my first hard plastic vibrator used to get me from 0 to orgasm in about 10 minutes. I think it kind of spoiled me, because nowadays it usually takes me about half an hour. I figured that was mostly because of age and just being used to vibes I had lost some sensitivity. But maybe I was wrong, because the first time I used this Inked Vibe on my clit, ten minutes was all it took for me to have an orgasm and it was incredible! It was like my first time all over. Who says you can't come home again?

This vibe has a permanent place at the front of my toy box. And I just may get a back up so that I don't have to wait about 20 years again to feel what it's like to use a good old fashioned C battery vibrator.

I have logged in over 4 hours use with this vibe and I'm still in love. I'm still using the first set of batteries I put in it and the vibrations haven't faded in the least yet. I think that's very impressive. I will update this follow up once the batteries finally die.