Part of the Reflections line by Doc Johnson, the Joy is a beautiful glass vibrator. Yes, it's glass and yes, it vibrates! With its somewhat bulbous head covered in a multitude of glass nubs, it is designed to provide intense stimulation to the G-spot. However, it can also be used as a clitoral vibrator or to stimulate the breasts or any other part of the body. Although a bit short, at 6” long with only 4.5” insertable, it can be used for thrusting, but the texture of the nubs and the firmness of the glass might make thrusting unpleasant for some.

Because it does not have a flared base, nor is it particularly long or easy to hold on to, I would not recommend using the Joy anally. However, it can certainly be used to stimulate the scrotum or the perineum (aka the taint, so called because 'taint one thing or the other).

The Joy is great for solo sessions, but also works as a toy for couples. As with any really firm toy, care should be used during partner play so as not to damage any delicate areas. The Joy is also good for temperature play.

The Joy is completely waterproof and can be used in the bath, shower, pool or hot tub. The Joy is quite slippery when wet, so be extra careful not to drop it on the hard surfaces in and around your tub or pool.

The Joy is made mostly of glass, but it has a hard plastic base. Glass is completely non-porous and has a material safety rating of 10 out of 10. Plastic is effectively non-porous and has a material safety rating of 8 out of 10.

The insertable portion of the Joy is made of tempered glass (the same kind of glass as the name brand Pyrex). This glass was designed to be much stronger than your average glass for specialized use in cooking utensils and scientific instruments. Although tempered glass can be broken under extreme circumstances, it is highly unlikely to break during use as a sex toy. However, it is always a good idea to inspect any glass toy for chips or cracks before using it.

Glass holds heat and cold very well and can be used for temperature play. You can run it under warm (but not hot, you don't want to burn yourself) water to heat it up or submerge into a bowl of ice water to cool it down. Do not put it in the freezer as it could become cold enough to cause damage to sensitive tissues. Also, you should not subject glass to rapid temperature changes because extreme temperature changes could cause it to break.

Glass is extremely slick and you may not need to use any lubricant with it at all. However, if you do decide to use lubricant, water, oil and silicone based lubes are all safe to use with both glass and plastic.

The glass and plastic used in the Joy are food-grade quality, hypo-allergenic, latex-free and phthalates-free. The Joy has no discernible odor or taste.

The shaft and head of the Joy are a lovely turquoise blue color that the ocean blue plastic base does not quite match. There is a silver Doc Johnson logo imprinted on the front of the base, and a “3” printed on the button on the bottom. The nubs on the head of the Joy are a deep cobalt blue. There are some barely visible seams(?) down the shaft of the Joy, but they cannot be felt at all.

Glass toys must be hand made and so there will always be slight variations between each toy. The Joy that I received is approximately 6” long with 4.5” insertable. The shaft of the Joy is approximately 1.25” in diameter and the somewhat wedge-shaped head (not including the nubs) is approximately 1.5” at its widest part. The nubs are approximately 1/4” in diameter or a little less and stick out from the head a little more or less than 1/8”. They vary a bit in both size and spacing, but are distributed roughly evenly in three rows around the head of the toy.

Length: 6”
Insertable length: 4.5”
Widest diameter (excluding nubs): 1.5”
Widest circumference (excluding nubs): 4.75”
Shaft diameter: 1.25”
Shaft circumference: 4”

The size of the head and all the nubs on it make this toy suitable for those who enjoy thick toys with extreme texture. Those who prefer smaller, more gently textured toys may find this toy uncomfortable or even painful to use.

Although not a realistic toy, the Joy is somewhat phallic shaped and very obviously a vibrator. It is not discreet. It is small enough to pack easily in an overnight bag, but too big for most purses. Also, although tempered glass is very strong, it is probably best not to subject the Joy to the kind of rough handling that luggage sometimes receives while traveling by air.

The Joy has three vibration settings. The lowest setting is approximately 2 vrooms, the medium setting is approximately 2.5 vrooms and the highest setting is approximately 3 vrooms. There is not a lot of difference between the settings, but they do get noticeably stronger. Although the vibrations are not very powerful, the glass of the Joy transmits them very well.

The Joy is moderately quiet. It could clearly be heard from beneath the covers, but it could not be heard through a closed door.

Operating the Joy is very easy. Press the button on the bottom of the base once to turn it on at the lowest vibration setting. Press the button again to move up to the middle setting. Press the button a third time to reach the strongest setting. Pressing the button one more time turns the Joy off.

There is no “immediate off” button, but since you only have to go through at most two more settings to turn the vibrations off, I do not consider this to be a significant problem.

The Joy runs on one AA battery inserted into the body of the toy through its screw on base. There is a piece of paper inside the toy showing which way to insert the battery. This piece of paper is glued in and should be left in place.

There is a thick rubber or silicone o-ring where the base screws onto the toy. This o-ring works very well to keep water out of the battery compartment. When held completely submerged, the Joy turned on and went through all three settings without a hitch. Even after holding the Joy under running water throughout a vigorous cleaning, not a drop of water made it past the o-ring to the interior of the toy.

Since the Joy is made out of glass and plastic, it is simple to clean it before and after each use with warm water and antibacterial soap or toy cleaner. Because the Joy is waterproof, you don't have to worry about getting any part of it wet, so it is very easy to clean by passing it under running water. However, it does take a bit of time and effort to clean between and around all those nubs.

After cleaning and leaving the Joy to air dry, there were some discolorations on the glass shaft of the toy. I don't know what caused them and was unable to remove them even with another very thorough cleaning. My water is very mineral and I suppose they could be water spots, so if you have hard water, it might be best to wipe the Joy dry rather than allowing it to air dry.

It is generally recommended that if you wish to share your sex toys between friends or between orifices that you cover them with a condom first. However, I think the nubs on the head of the Joy might cause a condom to break. So, if you ever need to clean the Joy more thoroughly, you can sterilize the glass part by cleaning it with a 10% bleach solution. To sanitize the plastic area, it is recommended that you wipe it down with rubbing alcohol. Because of the plastic and mechanical parts of the Joy, I would not recommend submerging it in boiling water or running it through the dishwasher like you can with solid glass toys.

As mentioned earlier, oil, water and silicone lubes are all safe to use with both glass and plastic.

The Joy is small and can easily be stored in a drawer or cabinet. Even though tempered glass is extremely tough, it is probably best to store the Joy in such a way that it doesn't bump against other hard objects. You can keep it in a special sex toy storage pouch or simply a thick sock. You could also store it in the box that it came in.

The Joy comes cradled in a plastic nest inside a clear plastic box covered in slightly psychedelic decorations. The text on the box describes the toy in various ways and various languages. There are no instructions given on how to use the toy, but I do not really think they are needed. The most important information given is probably the directions for where to find online instructions about warranty information and product registration. Sadly, there is no information about if or how the packaging can be recycled.

Since you can clearly see the vibrator through the transparent box, the packaging is not exactly discreet. However, it does not have any of the naked or half-naked women making silly sex faces on it that are so common in sex toys, and therefore the packaging should be nice enough for gift giving in all-adult situations.

Because the box isn't that much bigger than the actual toy, it works quite well as a way to store the toy. As with all battery operated toys, if the Joy is not going to be used for a while, it is best to remove the battery before storing. You can slide the battery inside the box, but under the “nest” to keep it nearby, but not touching the toy.

Unfortunately, the Joy did not work very well for me. Although I like larger toys, I do not like extreme texture. I had to warm myself up before even trying to insert the Joy, and even when I was thoroughly aroused and relaxed, the nubs made the insertion uncomfortable verging on painful. Once the head was inside me, the smooth shaft did not irritate my labia, and the head did provide some nice stimulation to my g-spot when I ran the head gently back and forth across that area. However, there was not enough vibration to actually bring me to climax, and after just a short period of time, the texture began to feel uncomfortable. I gave up on trying to reach orgasm and pulled the toy out before things became flat out painful.

I tried holding the head of the Joy against my clitoris to see if it could get me off that way. However, the head of the Joy was too big to provide the kind of pinpoint vibration that I like, and the nubs were too small and too close together to be able to focus the pressure using just one nub. However, women who prefer to vibrate their whole vulva might enjoy the feeling of the nubs transmitting the vibrations against several areas at once.

Overall, the Joy was rather a disappointment for me. I liked the size, but the texture was just too much for me to handle. Women who like large toys with extreme texture will probably love the Joy, but it simply didn't suit me at all.