Potentiometers and Other Sexy Daydreams: A Review of the Wand Essentials Speed Controller

For you engineers (and techies) out there, the following is a review of a potentiometer, colloquially known as a pot. This potentiometer is meant as a speed controller for two-speed vibrating wands like the Hitachi Magic Wand, and no matter how many sex toys you have lying around, if you’re anything like me, you’d jump at an opportunity to make your Hitachi even more functional than it is already.

Now, let it be clear that I am a Hitachi junkie. Like most Hitachi users, I find myself defaulting to “low” and riding that wave to orgasm, only occasionally flipping the switch over to “high.” When the existence of the Wand Essentials Speed Controller came to my attention, I was all ears. It seemed like the perfect way to get more use out of my wand, by giving me the capacity to vary the speeds between “low” and “high” (which some wand-users affectionately refer to as high and higher).

The item itself is a potentiometer in a neat black box, complete with what is essentially an on/off switch, and a turn-dial that spins from a color-coded area marked as “low” through “medium” to “high.” Your Hitachi (or similar wired two-speed massager) plugs into the end of the Speed Controller, and the controller’s own six-foot, heavy-duty, three-prong electrical cord plugs directly into the outlet. Simple enough, right?

To use the Wand Essentials Speed Controller with your Hitachi, you need to flip the switch all the way to the left, where you’ll see parallel vertical lines and the label “Multi-Function ON.” Quick lesson here: The middle position cuts all power to your wand. The third position, all the way to the right, with a single vertical line and the label “Multi-Function OFF” allows your wand to function normally, as if it wasn’t hooked up to the Speed Controller at all. (The protruding nub marked “fuse” holds the potentiometer’s fuse, and is something that you shouldn’t have to worry about for a long, long time. If your Wand Essentials Speed Controller stops working at a certain point, you can unscrew (after cutting the power, of course), check to see if the containing fuse is blown, and replace it, if need-be.)

After learning my way around the Speed Controller, I got my Hitachi plugged in and ready to go. I turned the Speed Controller on, and flipped the switch on my Hitachi to “High” (this is important, for the pot to function correctly). I started out slow, turning the dial through the lavender section marked “Low,” and found, to my astonishment, that any setting within the first 75% of the lavender section had absolutely no effect on my Hitachi. By no effect, I mean that it sent no power to the device. None. Nada. Zilch.

I kept turning, however, attempting to hold onto my faith, and right after the first three-quarters of the lavender section, my wand got very excited. It kicked on, sputtering and spitting, as if it were electrically-constipated. (Note for non-techies: This is not good for your Hitachi, or any electronic device. As tempting as it is to leave it in this mode and laugh, don’t do it if you’d like to preserve the life of your Hitachi. End service announcement.) That said, the mid-tone and dark purple sections, labeled “Medium” and “High,” respectively, worked fine, with enough custom-variability of the Hitachi’s speed/power to make a difference.

But even on the controller’s highest setting, you’re not going to surpass the native “Low” speed of your Hitachi Magic Wand, and you certainly won’t be able to get anywhere close to the Hitachi’s powerful “High.” Unfortunately, the way that this potentiometer works, it seems that you also won’t be able to touch that elusive zone between “High” and “Low,” either, which is curious, as I thought the whole point of it was to give you additional functionality, not to strip the Hitachi down and make it less powerful than it is naturally. Oh well.

I haven’t tried the potentiometer out with my power drill yet (looking forward to that!), but even with the additional six feet of range I get from having my Hitachi plugged into the Speed Controller, I’m not satisfied. Not even a little bit. I wasn’t looking for speeds lower than low. I was looking for speeds higher than low, and lower than high. And I didn’t find ‘em here.

If you’re looking for variability in your vibrator’s speed, I recommend looking elsewhere… potentially to other multi-speed vibrators, and keeping the potentiometer (at least this one) out of the equation.

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Disclaimer: This product was provided free-of-charge by Babeland for the purpose of unbiased review. This review is in compliance with guidelines set forth by the FTC.