The updated Lelo Ina Wave 2 is the best that rabbit vibrators have to offer

The rabbit vibrator has become so iconic that it's practically synonymous with sex toys. From Sex and the City to Fleabag, pop culture hypes up this bunny-eared dual stimulator to be the most earth-shattering of pleasure devices that (to quote Fleabag), "doesn't stop until you've cum."

In reality, though, rabbit-style vibrators kinda suck if you ask me. They are the single most overrated category of sex toys, with some of the least beginner-friendly and least consistent designs that folks mostly only buy because of mainstream name recognition.

But out of the handfuls of rabbits I've tried, there was one that did manage to wow me. So when Lelo recently launched the Ina Wave 2, an update to its very popular dual action G-spot and clitoral vibrator with WaveMotion™ technology, I jumped at the chance like Alice going down a rabbit hole into a very NSFW wonderland.

First, let's start with the positives: The Ina Wave 2 most certainly keeps its top spot as my favorite rabbit vibrator.

That isn't because of any notably remarkable design, either, since the Ina Wave amounts to just your standard uneven bunny-ear-like prongs that stimulate the clitoris and G-spot simultaneously with vibration. What does stand out, though, is the additional feature of the G-spot stimulator's "come hither" motion, which is meant to mimic the sensation of getting fingered. This sole, stand-out feature is why the Ina Wave 2 is $20 more expensive than the more rote Ina 3.

Now, I'm perpetually skeptical of high-end sextech companies that claim to have Revolutionary New Patented Cum Technology. (Spoiler alert: It's usually just more of the same for double the price or a useless gimmick fixing something that ain't broke.) In all likelihood, the Ina Wave wasn't even the first to add motion to the rabbit vibrator's sensation profile.

But as someone who never really understood all the hullabaloo about G-spots or internal vibration altogether, the Ina Wave was the first toy that made me get it. And by "get it" I mean gave me my first G-spot (aka vaginal) orgasm — at least, I think? To be honest, it's such a radically different sensation to the more typical, intensely centralized clitoral orgasm that at first I wasn't sure if it even constituted climax.

To be clear, though, the Ina Wave did not deliver that most sought-after holy grail "blended orgasm," which every sextech company loves to claim it can do, from Lora DiCarlo's Osé to Lelo's dual stimulators. But as far as G-spot exploration goes, it's my experience that vibration alone will rarely be enough to get most folks over the orgasmic finish line. Even the added pressure from the Ina Wave's motion tech wouldn't have been enough on its own for me, requiring the clitoral vibrator to pick up the rest of the slack.

So if you're new to vibrators or Lelo altogether, the Ina Wave 2 is a great purchase. But that seal of approval comes with a huge, flashing red warning sign: The Ina Wave 2 is, for all intents and purposes, utterly identical to the original Ina Wave that launched in 2014. They're so identical, in fact, that I had to mark one so I wouldn't confuse the models during testing.

The only hint of difference from the updated model comes in the form of two additional and wholly unnecessary vibration patterns (so now you have to press the settings button 12 times instead of 10 to get back to that vibration pattern you like). It also supposedly has what Lelo claims to be "thirty percent more power." I don't know how that's even calculated, or what unit of "power" is being measured. But in a blind comparison test, neither my hand nor my pussy could tell one lick of difference.

Unfortunately, though, this disappointing lack of innovation is very typical for big sex toy manufacturers like Lelo.

Side by side comparison of the Lelo Ina Wave 2 (left) and We-Vibe Nova 2 (right) Credit: Mashable Composite: LELO, INA WAVE 2 / WE-VIBE, NOVA 2

It's standard practice to add minute, marginal, inexpensive changes to a toy that a company already spent money designing, just so they can market it as something "new" — all without ever needing to test on actual people whether said "upgrades" make the toy any better. If anything, the two new vibration settings only make the Ina Wave 2 more annoying than the original, since no one wants to have to cycle through more useless vibration patterns while trying to cum.

Worse still, there are actual shortcomings in the Ina Wave's design that would've greatly benefitted from getting a true second iteration.

My biggest qualm with the Ina Wave has always been how inflexible, rigid, and short the clitoral arm is. There's such little give to it that it renders the clitoral stimulator useless to anyone whose anatomy happens to not perfectly align with its stunted length. Even when your anatomy does align, I still felt like I was chasing my clit around by perpetually and awkwardly repositioning it.

Overall, the Ina Wave's design is demonstrably worse and less inclusive than the We-Vibe's Nova, my second favorite rabbit thanks to its longer, flatter, and wider clitoral head. Meanwhile, those looking to explore truly groundbreaking technological innovation should look into the Lioness biofeedback-tracking smart vibrator (one of our favorite sextech inventions ever), which has a similar design to the Nova for about the same price as the Ina Wave 2.

In an ideal world, one could just combine the Nova's exterior design with Lelo's WaveMotion tech. Then you'd have a truly unbeatable champion of all rabbit vibrators.

So the Ina Wave 2 won't offer you anything new. But at the end of the day, it still is your best bet at a rabbit vibrator that can actually deliver on its promise of a G-spot or even blended orgasm.