The Sutra runs on batteries. It takes 2 AA batteries. The batteries are not included. To insert the batteries, there is a battery cover on the back of the toy. To open it, just hold it upside down with the back of the toy in front of you.
I place both of my thumbs on the cover and slide upwards. I push in slightly with my right thumb near the arrow, because it doesn't open easily. You must use a little force. Once you open it up, there is a slot to slide the batteries into. While still holding the Sutra the same way, add a battery with the positive up in the right slot, and then add a battery with the negative side down, in the left hand slot. To slide the cover back on, it took me a few tries to get it right. You have to press down on the area with the arrow that inserts into the toy. Make sure it locks into place. No matter how I slide it in, there is still gaps on each side of the cover. This does allow for a few drops of water to get inside the battery housing.
The batteries do seem to last a while. When I first tried out the Sutra, I only had some non name brand batteries that had been used before. The power wasn't strong. As soon as I purchased some Energizer batteries, it really gained some oomph!
Most of the vibrations are felt down the shaft and in the tip of the toy. They are actually stronger than I had expected. They are felt deep within my vaginal walls. I think that are about a 4 on the Vroom scale.
The Sutra has 2 areas of controls. The first button is very small. It's a small pink circle and it has a symbol for power, in silver. This button only controls powering it on and off. The larger button below the small one is pink as well. It has a squiggly line on it. It's larger in size; The diameter is 3/4".
To get the toy going, you must first press the small button. After you've done this, you will see squiggly line and circled area on the large button light up. This lets you know that it's ready for use.
1.Pressing once will put you into a low steady vibration.
2.Pressing twice will put you into a medium steady vibration.
3.Pressing 3 times will put you into the highest setting steady vibration.
4.Pressing 4 times will put you into an escalating vibration that ranges from low to high.
5.Pressing 5 times will put you in a pulsing function of low-high low-high low-high, etc.
6.Pressing 6 times will do a faster pulse action than the one before it.
7.Pressing 7 times will have 3 shorter pulses and one longer pulse. This continues back and forth.
Once you go past the 7th press, you will be back at the beginning of the settings, which is the low steady vibration. There is no way to cycle back down to a previous setting. You must cycle through them all again.
There is also no lock feature on this toy. The toy isn't loud. You can hear it through a blanket, but not through a closed door. I give it a 2.5 on the Bee scale.
The toy states that it is waterproof. However, this was not the case with mine. This may not be for all of them, but mine leaked water into the battery housing. Water can be placed all along the shaft and tip. I just had to make sure to not get it near the battery cover.
I did have a problem with the controls. My hand repeatedly knocked them to a different setting when I was using them. It also turned off on me a few times because of where the power button is placed. Once I was used to using the toy, this didn't happen as much.
I really like the higher settings on the toy. I'm a girl who likes power and the Sutra pretty good at giving me what I want!