Nea sure is pretty, but don't be fooled by her looks. She's lacking in a major way in the power department. The ergonomic design doesn't execute as planned. If you have a bullet that you're happy with but looking for a luxury upgrade - look elsewhere. There are many vibrators on the market better than Nea.
Published:
Pros
Pretty design Good customer service Discreet Near noiseless
Cons
Low vibrations Ergonomic design fails in execution Somewhat cumbersome controls
Nea is Lelo's clitoral vibrator, similar to the Lily. Nea has a small tip and could be used on any erogenous zone that you might like vibrations. It could be used for internal vaginal play, but it's quite small so probably not ideal. I would not recommend anal play as there is no flare and due to the small size Nea could easily get lost.
Nea can be used either by yourself or in partner play. During partner play Nea could be used for foreplay or during sex as extra clitoral stimulation. Either way (as you will see from this review), if you decide to play with Nea, I would recommend having some backup help at the ready either from a vibrator or a partner.
Nea is made of a hard plastic material that rates an 8 on the saftey scale. You can use water or silicone based lubes with this material. The plastic doesn't seem that hard when you touch it, but it's something I was acutely aware of during use. The nice side of this is that the material is smooth and caresses over your curves very nicely. There is no texture to it and thus no added stimulation from nubs or ridges.
Nea has no plastic smell even though she is made of plastic. I found this nice as I really hate the smell of plastic. Lelo is always good about using higher quality materials and this shows here. Nea doesn't even really taste of plastic. I don't really taste anything at all on Nea.
Nea's texture can be enjoyed by beginners and advanced users alike who prefer a smooth, hard texture to their stimulators. Nea's material does not disappoint as is up to Lelo's high quality standards.
The only potential downside to the material is for those with clit piercings. I happen to have a metal ring in mine and due to the combination of the wider tip (in comparison to a pointed bullet) and the hard plastic, it set my ring off. Most clitoral vibrators will cause my ring to bounce, but this vibrator seemed to have a particularly bad interaction because of the two hard materials grinding against each other. Just something to keep in mind.
I'm such a sucker for a pretty vibrator. I think I'd end up buying a one star rated product if I liked the design enough. I don't know why I do that to myself. I saw the Nea for the first time at a local sex shop and loved the size and the beautiful cherry blossom (I'm pretty sure that's what they are, but correct me if I'm wrong) designs that go across her. I decided to get something else that day, but the design stuck out in my mind and I just had to have a Nea in my hands.
Nea is ergonomic - meaning she is designed to contour to the shape of your hand. She does this perfectly. However, this feature is slightly diminished when you turn her on and the exact placement of your hand lines up with the vibration center and your fingers go numb. Great concept, failed execution.
Nea is 3 inches long, 1 inch wide at the wider end, and about 1/2 inch wide at the other end. I took a picture along side one of my more average sized bullets so you can see the comparison:
She is basically the same length as a bullet, but wider. I find that this is actually a better size because it fits better in my hand. Rather than squeezing a bullet between my fingers, I can cradle her in my hands (supposedly). What I end up doing is holding Nea rested between my pointed and middle finger with my thumb over it which is still far more comfortable than grasping a bullet.
I love the size of Nea, but even more than that I love the ornate flowers that adorn her. The black Nea I have features pink cherry blossoms with leaves across the front and two small cherry blossoms on the back. Nea is completely discreet. I feel like I could leave this in my living room and no one would ask a thing about it. Nea would be fine for travel due to her size and the fact that if she accidentally fell from your luggage you wouldn't turn beet red in embarrassment. Have a look at how pretty Nea is:
Nea is operated by two unmarked buttons located on the underbelly of the vibrator. The instruction manual makes operation sounds incredibly confusing, but Nea is easy to work once you get the hang of her. Press the left button for three second to turn her on. To turn up press the left button for about one more second. To cycle through the patterns at whatever speed your on, hold the left button down for three seconds. To turn down the vibrations, hold the right button down for one second. To go backwards in the patterns, hold the right button down three seconds. To turn off, the manual says to hold 3-4 seconds but it's really more like 5-6. If you press and hold both buttons, Nea will lock. Do the same to unlock or place Nea on her charger.
I personally tend to like three buttons better than two and Nea is no exception to this rule for me. I think for someone who likes cycling through patterns that these controls would be very cumbersome as you would likely need to take Nea away from your body to change the patterns. I found the few times I was playing with them I had to because otherwise I just seemed to change speeds. I can't walk and talk at the same time though, so take that with a grain of salt. Changing the vibration speed wasn't quite as difficult for me.
I counted four vibration strengths with ranged from "is this thing on" to "does this go up higher?" Seriously. The first strength is barely noticeable even when holding it and in use I might as well be holding Nea up to myself turned off. Two and three are much of the same. Four is a bit stronger coming it at two whole earth shattering vrooms. Yet another one of those vibrators I find myself pressing the "up" button like mad on thinking there must be another speed I'm missing or something. Not on Nea.
There are five patterns to Nea. The first is the constant vibration mode, which is also the default mode. Modes 2-4 are variations on pulses - "extended," "intermediate," and "short." Meaning slow, medium, and fast. The fifth is "before and after" which basically goes up and down through the speeds. It's not at all jerky and flows well from speed to speed. I never use patterns, so I can't speak to how well any of them work.
The vibration center themselves right around where Nea curves and then vibrate up to the tip. This is great for getting the vibrations where you want them in terms of sexual pleasure, but also works against the ergonomic design as your fingers would be curved along that same exact line. While my clit could barely feel Nea, my knuckles sure could.
Nea is so quiet she's almost soundless. On the highest setting you can't hear her through a closed door, under covers, or in the same room. If I put her in my lap turned on I barely hear the noise unless something happens to come in contact with her. Nea is discreet on all fronts.
Don't play with Nea in the water, as she is not waterproof or splash proof.
Nea is a fingerprint fiend. You can see from some of the pictures that my fingerprints are all over her and I haven't really had her very long and I cleaned her right before I took the pictures. Those fingerprints represent perhaps ten minutes of actual touch time. While she does collect fingerprints, she doesn't collect hair or lint. If I had to pick one, I guess I'd go with the prints.
As Nea is not waterproof, you have to take extra care when cleaning her. Lelo gives two approved methods for this. One is to apply solution to a towel and wipe Nea down. The second is to spray solution directly onto Nea and wipe off. I tried both and found the second cleaned far better than the first. I use an antibacterial toy cleaner. You could also use a soap and water mix, but I'd recommend making a spray bottle out of it or getting a damp cloth so you don't overdo the water.
Ah, Lelo packaging. It's like buying a Lexus when you get a Lelo. It's elegant, sophisticated, and expensive looking. Gotta love it.
Nea comes in a black outer package which contains a black inner box. I couldn't get good pictures of the outer box as it too was a fingerprint magnet, but I did manage to get one of the outer box:
Inside this beautiful box sits the Nea along side a raised area for her charger. Underneath you will find a charger, a lengthy instruction manual, warranty information (1 year product warranty), a little color pamphlet with other Lelo toys, a pouch, and a Lelo lube.
The instruction manual was very helpful, though I think the part on the buttons was a bit confusing as I mentioned before. The rest of it was easy to understand and navigate though.
The packaging is elegant enough to sit on your bedside as storage but in case you don't want to do this or simply don't have enough space, Lelo was nice enough to include a lovely satin pouch as an alternative option to store Nea in. This is where my Nea sits, as my bedside is already pretty much full of boxes of things.
Front:
Back:
If you like to give toys as gifts, this would make a lovely gift packaging.
I think I have a glitchy Nea. The instruction manual boasts 7 hours of pleasure on a 24 hour charge. I got 30 minutes. I also had a ton of problems unlocking my Nea once I locked her. You're supposed to have to hold down 3-4 seconds to unlock Nea and I have to hold mine down somewhere around 10 seconds to unlock. I though I had killed mine the first time I locked her because I held it down for a good six seconds and she didn't unlock and I panicked. I ended up emailing Lelo and they have been very helpful. By the time we figured out that it was the lock button being glitchy I found out the charge also wasn't holding. I'm waiting to hear back on that issue at the moment.
As a total disclaimer, I paid for Nea almost entirely with build up credit card points. After all those I was only actually out of pocket $11. I feel like I wasted $11 and a lot of credit card points. If I would have paid full price for this I would have been LIVID. Nea was a total bust for me. I can't even recommend Nea to anyone else at this point because I feel like there are so many better clitoral stimulators on the market. Wait. If you're really over the top in love with plastic material and like mild vibrations, then maybe try Nea. But then you could just get a bullet. So nevermind. Save your money.
Nea gets two stars from me though - one because it's pretty and one because Lelo's customer service has been top notch. If it wasn't for them being so responsive to my issues this would be a one star product.
I usually buy waterproof toys and try them in the shower first, so my usual routine was out of place. I took my shower and ended up using Nea in the bathroom anyway as a force of habit but with the water off. I turned her on speed one. I wondered if my Nea was defective because it was the slowest speed setting ever. Speeds two and three increased ever so slightly and I was increasingly annoyed. I finally got to speed four which was mildly better. I spent, no lie, a good twenty or thirty minutes my first time with Nea and not only did I not cum but I didn't even get wet. Nea was a turn off. The vibrations were so low I spent most of my time bored and thinking about how this time could be better spent with toys that could do something.
I tried this again during foreplay thinking maybe if something sexy was going on around me Nea might have some better luck. Same result. This time, the issue I mentioned with my clit ring became a major issue. When I use Nea on my own I can hold things out of the way. When my husband used Nea, my clit ring and Nea decided to duke it out for space and it was incredibly uncomfortable even painful at times. I decided I would stop what I was doing just to keep my ring out of the way to use Nea, an incredible inconvenience, which turned out to be for nothing because she still couldn't get me anywhere near an orgasm. She can't even get me anywhere near turned on. If I'm horny, Nea will actually frustrate me enough where I'll be slightly less in the mood than I was before use. For a luxury item, that's sad. If it was a $10 bullet, eh, whatever. But at this price I expect not to be bored to tears and turned off.
Total fail. I'm thinking about using Nea to make a Zen rock garden.
Follow-up commentaryI still don't like it2 months after original review
Lelo's customer service finally came through on their warrantee claim. When I wrote this, I was getting responses to my emails within 24 hours. As if they knew I had already given them a glowing review and good service was no longer needed, as soon as the review went up, the replies stop. I heard nothing for a week. I then got an email saying my contact had gone on vacation, which I suppose is understandable. I didn't get another email for about four days or so. In all, it took about a month to get the warrantee claim finished. I ended up filing for the 10 year warrantee, which gives you 50% off another Lelo item instead of just replacing the defective one you have. Since I hated the Nea anyway, I figure this was the way to go.
Since I gave it an extra star because Lelo was responding so quickly, that star would go away now which would knock the Nea down to the one it would get for the vibrator itself. For the price, I still say you're better off buying another luxury clit vibrator. Maybe even a cheap bullet.
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