Even though I’ve been reviewing sex toys in some capacity or another since 2014, my experience with JimmyJane products remains limited and largely negative. On the face of it, their stuff looks classy, well designed, and well deserving of its high-end status. But when it comes down to it, the power payoff just isn’t worth the financial outlay. For this reason, I’ve actively avoided the entire brand. Then I spotted the JimmyJane Focus Sonic Vibrator – their answer to the Zumio – and decided it was time to give them another chance.
It wasn’t because I love the near laser accurate stimulation offered by this type of toy because, on the whole, I don’t. I discovered with the Zumio that there is such a thing as too pinpoint when it comes to my clitoris. I chose to check out the JimmyJane Focus because it had something the Zumio didn’t, something I’ve thought the latter might benefit from. Sleeves. Three silicone attachments that slip over the stimulating tip to change the type of stimulation on offer.
Now, I promised myself that I wasn’t gonna compare the Focus to the Zumio for the entirety of this review, especially when I have the newer, larger tipped Zumio S whose review is basically gonna be all comparison. But it’s just so hard to not compare them. It’s so hard not to point out all the ways that the JimmyJane Focus is better than the original Zumio.
Firstly, the shape. Where the Zumio is like a fat paintbrush with its controls so close to the tip they might as well be on it, the Focus reminds me of a fully inflated hot air balloon. The second I wrapped my hand around it I knew that it would be so much easier to hold and control during play. It fits snugly in my palm, not so small that my fingers might cramp if I hold it too long, and not so big that I might lose my grip.
The body is coated in silicone, scored all the way around with evenly spaced grooves. Those two things combined make it super easy to keep hold of, even when things get wet. Size wise, the body has a circumference of 6.75” at its widest point and it’s 4” long.
The second thing that works so much better for me is the positioning of the controls. Yes, the one button affair is more rudimentary than the Zumio’s three, but it’s positioned right in the centre of the main body. And because it’s solo there’s no groping about and wondering if you have the right one. Just hold the button down to switch the toy on or off, and press it quickly to move through four intensities.
Thirdly, there’s the hard-plastic tip. Build-wise, it feels significantly more robust than the tip of the Zumio. It’s fixed and feels firmly fixed, not like it’s gonna snap during cleaning. There’s no gap where the silicone joins the plastic so even cleaning is a comfier experience, I don’t have to dig my nails in anywhere.
Then there’s the size of the tip. The plastic antenna is just shy of an inch and a half long, and the rosebud-shaped tip is about the size of my little finger’s nail. Still small, but probably three times the size of the Zumio’s half a garden pea. It doesn’t slip beneath my clitoral hood and its surface covers more ground when I angle it on its side. Not that I actually use it like that, though, because without its attachments, the JimmyJane Focus fucking sucks.
The first time I used it, I used it naked, no silicone sleeves, just the bare plastic tip. God, the sound when I switched it on! On its lowest setting is has a super high-pitched drone, so fucking irritatingly familiar that my brain sent a warning through my entire body. What did it say? “WASP ATTACK!! We have a rogue wasp, people, assume the position of NOPE!” My muscles clenched so hard I could have picked my desk chair up with my arse cheeks and flung it across the room. My toes were pretty much pressed into the soles of my feet.
Ugh, what a horrible, horrible noise it makes, I hate it. Partly because fuck wasps, and partly because I had to fuck the Focus and I knew it was gonna be uncomfortable. It was. The tip may be a great size, but the vibrations are insanely buzzy. I mean, it does say that on the box, it calls them ‘high-frequency’ but I didn’t think it would be white noise for my clit. The lowest setting is heinous, and while the higher three have more definition, they’re still almost painfully surface level and entirely unpleasant.
However…
Adding a silicone attachment transforms the vibes into something more tolerable. The silicone dampens the buzz, making for a slightly smoother experience. Yeah, there’s a sense of having less power coming through, but for that I was oddly thankful.
The ‘Caress’ attachment is by far my favourite of the three. It’s basically a wee brush for the clit, covered in excess of a hundred stubby little bristles. They’re soft but still firm enough to not just flatten to nothing when pressed against the body. I get broad stimulation from it, managing to reach my two clitoral hotspots at once when I rock it.
I must have it on full speed to get the full benefit from it, though. Anything less than that is just pointless, not enough power transfers through.
As for the other two – pinpoint tipped ‘Aim’ and cupped ‘Embrace’ – I can live without them. Aim is okay but not nearly as good as Caress, and Embrace does little for my clit. My nips like it, but that’s about it.
Some things to note about the JimmyJane Focus are:
- It’s only splash-proof, not submersible, so cleaning is more or less a wipe it down affair
- Charging takes an hour and a half for an hour’s worth of play
- After 10 minutes of run time, it shuts off – yes, I do mean it will shut itself off during your wank, it will not care that you’re aaaaaaalmost there
- It comes with a storage bag
So, yeah. Even though I like and can come with the Caress attachment, I really don’t rate the JimmyJane Focus. There’s just so much to it – four types of stim and four intensities – to have only one sleeve and one setting combo work for me. And that energy saving switch off thing can fuck all the way off, who even wants that feature in a toy? Whose idea was it? Cause it was a bad one, dudes. It was fucking bad.
If you’re a fan of this type of hyper-focused stimulation and like your vibes on the buzzy enough to feel like a knife slash side, the Focus could be for you. I don’t like it and I know some other bloggers despise it, but I have seen some positivity from various folks. Different strokes and whatnot.
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