Buyer’s Guide

Confusing Choices…

There are lots of e-stim options. You can choose from devices designed for medical use (like TENS and EMS units). There are also devices marketed direct to consumers for massage and “body toning.” Other people try to adapt devices never intended for human e-stim. Finally, there are units especially designed for erotic use. This section discusses the various options and things to consider.

TENS and EMS Medical Devices

TENS units have dropped in price making them a common choice for erotic e-stim. While they can be used for this purpose, most people don’t find them especially erotic. This is because they were designed to desensitize nerves (for pain management) rather than provide erotic stimulation. EMS units are designed to cause muscle contraction and are also far from optimal for erotic use. Both suffer from a limited number of modes and variety. Some of the newer, less expensive units being marketed direct to consumers also lack a proper bipolar waveform and do not have fully isolated outputs. You get what you pay for, and where your genitals are concerned, you might want to think twice about trying to save a few bucks?

Electro Massage/Body Toning Devices

An increasing number of e-stim devices are being marketed direct to consumers rather than to medical professionals. Most of these are “body toners” or “electro massage” type devices. They vary widely in quality and capabilities, but most suffer from a very low power output–often too low for erotic use. Many are also very cheaply made, lack bipolar waveforms and are missing important features.  And, like the medical devices, they were not designed to be erotic in the first place.

Homemade or Adapted Devices

Some people, usually in an effort to save money, try to build their own e-stim devices or adapt commercial products that were never intended for human e-stim–like animal training products, hand generators, transformers and audio equipment. These devices generally use high duty cycle waveforms, which is the opposite of what you want for e-stim. They can easily cause various kinds of damage to the body or even death. We know of several people who have suffered lasting harm from trying to use these devices for e-stim. Given all the serious safety issues, they’re simply not worth the many risks!  Always use devices designed for use on the human body even if they’re not ours. [Read more about stereo amplifier e-stim.]

Analog Erotic E-Stim Devices

A few manufactures have designed products specifically for erotic e-stim. Nearly all of these are based on a very simple analog design that dates back to the 80’s. The stimulation simply turns on and off at an adjustable rate. These products have few advantages over less expensive TENS units and, in some ways, are often inferior. Regardless, most people who buy them end up wanting more variety. Many also end up wanting more intensity although at least one model packs quite a punch.

Digital Erotic E-Stim Devices

We’re often asked “what’s so great about digital e-stim?” The answer is simple: Variety! Instead of a device that can only turn the output on and off over and over, a digital device opens up a whole new dimension. We like to compare it to playing the same note over and over on a piano versus playing real music. Which would you rather listen to?

By producing waveforms in the digital domain, and including a powerful microprocessor, our products can deliver vastly more complex stimulation. The output can be constantly changing and choreographed between multiple channels. It’s simply a night and day difference.

ErosTek pioneered the use of digital erotic e-stim in 1999. Since then, a few others have come and gone with digital products.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If you’re interested in purchasing erotic e-stim equipment, you might want to consider the following points before you make your decision:

• Ease Of Use:

  Ease of use is important. The lighted display on our ET-312 tells you what’s going on in plain English and our remote units have a lighted numeric display. Most of our products use simple controls to set the stimulation intensity which are easier to use than Up/Down buttons and make it easy to rapidly turn down the level if there’s a problem.  Finally, our exclusive MultiAdjust control makes fine tuning very easy. It automatically lets you adjust the best parameters for each mode.

• Type of Waveform:

  Nearly all the competition is still using an asymmetrical waveform. While this makes their units cheaper to produce, it yields inferior "lopsided" stimulation and there's scientific evidence it may not be as safe. All ErosTek products use a medical grade fully symmetrical bipolar waveform.  It's a difference you can feel and offers additional peace of mind. See our Technology section if you're curious why symmetrical waveforms are important.

• Maximum Power & Frequency:

  Small hand held units that run off a 9 volt battery are inherently limited in the types and intensity of output they can produce. While our small units use 9 volt power for portability, we’ve learned the very best waveforms for erotic e-stim require a bigger power supply. The battery powered ET-312 uses a large internal battery and the unit weighs nearly 3 pounds. It’s simply in a different league altogether.Even in our 9 volt powered units, we use exclusive Dynamic Pulse Technology to use the battery power as efficiently as possible.  Many customers say our 9 volt powered units simply “feel better” and also offer more intensity than the competition’s products. The ET-312 is the only unit we know of that provides the same output regardless of the battery’s charge level. With others, as the battery runs down, the maximum output power falls with it.

• Number of Settings & Variety:

  Most competing units have only a few unique operating modes. Variety is the spice of life and it’s especially important for e-stim. Our remote-controlled ET302R gives you 10 unique modes, our ET232 gives you 15 modes,  and our ET312B gives you 18 or more (via optional ErosLink software).

• Audio Input:

  Audio-based stimulation can be really fun but most units lack audio capabilities–something we introduced to the world in early 1999. If you haven’t tried audio-based e-stim, you don’t know what you’re missing! We’ve further refined our exclusive audio technology in the ET312B and the microphone is built-in on our other products.

• An Eye Towards Safety:

  Not only do all our products use a medical-grade bipolar waveform, but they all have fully isolated outputs which helps prevent dangerous unintentional current paths in the body. Our products use current limited outputs and duty cycle management to limit maximum power levels. We also incorporate fail-safe circuitry that helps prevent dangerous output levels even if a critical internal component should fail during use. Finally, the microprocessor in our products performs a self test on every power up. If any problems are found, the unit displays an error code and shuts down instead of risking unsafe operation.

• An Experienced Manufacturer:

  ErosTek has over 10 years of digital erotic e-stim experience. We've also learned a lot since we introduced our first model. We're already working on our fourth generation products. This is a very small niche market and some competitors have already come and gone. Will you be able to get your expensive unit repaired if the manufacturer is no longer in business?

• Value:

  Our products contain more advanced technology and more features than any offered by our competition. Many of our customers own half a dozen e-stim power units and, after buying one of ours, never use anything else. Two of our products easily offer more variety than 3 or 4 other devices combined. We suggest you shop carefully and you might want to read what others think.

• Not Sure What to Start With?

  Starting out with erotic e-stim can be challenging given the variety of power units and electrode accessories available. We have a few ideas to get you started:

  1. Check out our ready-to-go Package Deals featuring the ET312B and ET232 power units and an assortment of our most popular electrodes and accessories to get you off in the right direction.
  2. You can always contact us via our Support Page if you need help deciding what to buy or need help after your order arrives.