What Makes a Bullet Vibrator Rumbly — A Look at 6 Motors!

Buzzy is skin-​deep. Rumbly is to the bone (sometimes).

"Rumbly" and "buzzy" are two descrip­tors that sex blog­gers use to describe vibra­tion qual­i­ty. The for­mer is deep and often low-​pitched, while the lat­ter is surface-​level or irri­tat­ing­ly high-pitched.

What gives them these traits comes down to a handful of factors:

• How big is the spin­ning weight inside?
• How heavy is it? How dense is the material?
• How fast are the com­po­nents moving?

I've talked about rumbly vs. buzzy wands before, but this post is going deep­er into five rumbly (some more so than oth­ers) bul­lets and one buzzy one. I took them apart to show you the inter­nal com­po­nents and dis­cuss how they affect the vibrator's pow­er and sensation.

UPDATE: Mini-​vibes have changed a lot since this post was orig­i­nal­ly writ­ten! Check out this oth­er post for my top bul­let vibra­tor picks. Also, it was back when I didn't have a weigh­ing scale, and if I did, I def­i­nite­ly would have been more pre­cise with the measurements.

---

Bullets vibrators included on this list

---

1. Hot Octopuss Digit

The Hot Octopuss Digit was one of the rum­bli­er bul­lets I had tried when I orig­i­nal­ly wrote this post. Times have changed, and we have bet­ter options now, but it was great for its time (and price tag).

My hypothesis for how Hot Octopuss Digit looks inside

With this bullet's deep and purring vibra­tion qual­i­ty, I'd expect the spin­ning weight to be more sub­stan­tial. It may be a dif­fer­ent, denser mate­r­i­al than the oth­ers on this list.

What I actually found when dissecting the Digit

I was right! The Digit's motor wheel was the only one on this list made of cop­per. From the top view, it's a cir­cle, instead of a wider half-cir­cle like most of the others.

Takeaway

If any­thing, the motor is small­er than some of the oth­ers, but the denser mate­r­i­al choice was key to the Hot Octopuss Digit's purrrrrring pow­er in a petite package.

---

2. Je Joue Bullet

Though Je Joue's bul­lets are small­er than their oth­er vibra­tors, they're very much in the lux­u­ry realm.

They res­onate with a deep purr on the low­er set­tings. There's an inter­est­ing flut­ter to the vibra­tions, though it's less notice­able as you increase the speed.

Note

I took apart the rabbit-​eared Je Joue bul­let for this post, and I don't miss it. BUT I bought myself a Je Joue bul­let in the Classic shape to use for recre­ation­al orgasms!

It retains the rum­ble, it's a more pin­point shape that trans­mits the vibra­tion strength bet­ter, and it comes with a fin­ger loop. What's not to love?

My hypothesis for how the Je Joue Bullet's motor looks

I'm not sure what caus­es the unique­ly non-​sinusoidal vibra­tions, but I'm guess­ing that the weight is asym­met­ric and even more lop­sided than the others.

Actual observations upon dissecting the Je Joue Bullet

I was wrong! The Je Joue bullet's motor is the same mate­r­i­al and a sim­i­lar shape to the BAM's (which you'll see next), Ffix's, and Gaia Eco's. The Hot Octopuss Digit's wheel, in con­trast, is a full circle.

The Je Joue bullet's wheel is a half-​circle, but nar­row­er and taller than the BAM's to fit a sim­i­lar vol­ume into a small­er space. Not much else dis­tin­guish­es it.

Takeaway

It looks like Je Joue's vibra­tion qual­i­ty lies more in the chip's pro­gram­ming than the actu­al motor wheel.

See also:

• Je Joue G‑Kii G‑spot vibra­tor review
• Je Joue Amour, Vita, Duet bul­let com­par­i­son & review

---

3. VeDO BAM bullet

(Not to be confused with the VeDO Bam Mini)

The full-​sized VeDO BAM bul­let vibra­tor is quite a bit thick­er than the oth­ers — for some, its 1" diam­e­ter and 3.81" length can feel good for vagi­nal insertion.

It's pow­er­ful but on the high-​pitched side, with some bite to the vibra­tions. Though it's a cheap and GOOD bul­let for half of the Tango's price, I wouldn't ever in hell call it a We-​Vibe Tango alternative.

(Oh, and it starts at the high­est speed and goes down, then to pat­terns. The func­tion order might be a deal­break­er for some.)

My hypothesis for how the VeDO Bam bullet's motor looks

I expect­ed a moderate-​to-​small spin­ning weight but a big bat­tery for this zingy vibrator.

Actual observations upon dissection of the VeDO Bam

VeDO BAM's motor wasn't much dif­fer­ent from the Je Joue bullet's. More uncan­ni­ly, it's prac­ti­cal­ly iden­ti­cal to the FemmeFunn Ffix bul­let. But that makes sense.

Takeaway

While the VeDO BAM's motor isn't bad by any means, it def­i­nite­ly relies on its speed for power.

---

4. Femmefunn Ffix bullet

The Femmefunn Ffix bul­let is anoth­er zingy bul­let vibe. It's a 2‑AAA bat­tery alter­na­tive to the Ultra Bullet in a hard plas­tic shell, mak­ing it a lit­tle weak­er but way more affordable.

Its type of vibra­tion feels sim­i­lar to the VeDO BAM, but a lit­tle weak­er. Separate-​battery vibra­tors tend to more notice­ably lose "juice" as they die out than recharge­ables do.

For a more luxe look and feel, upgrade with the Booster Bullet or Bougie Bullet.

Hypothesis

I expect­ed about the same motor as the VeDO BAM.

Observations upon dissecting the FemmeFunn Ffix bullet

Yep! Again, the VeDO Bam and FemmeFunn Ffix have prac­ti­cal­ly the same motor wheel.

Takeaway

The FemmeFunn Ffix bul­let offers com­pa­ra­ble rum­bli­ness at a low­er price. The trade-​off is that its pow­er isn't as con­sis­tent and declines over time.

---

5. Blush Gaia Eco slimline

Blush Novelties' Gaia Eco biodegrad­able slim­line vibra­tor is about as bare-​bones as it gets. It's 1" wide and 7" long, mak­ing it a great first toy for get­ting used to penetration.

As far as the Gaia Eco's strength goes, it's a lit­tle less pow­er­ful but notably rumbly for how cheap it is.

What I expected the Blush Gaia Eco's motor to look like

Probably also a similarly-​sized motor weight.

Observations upon dissecting the Blush Gaia Eco vibrator

Unsurprisingly, the Gaia Eco's motor wheel is almost the same as the VeDO BAM and Ffix bul­lets'. Almost. It has about the same cross-​section area but is a bit (about 17%) short­er in height.

The pho­to below shows that the Gaia Eco's motor wheel has the same half-​moon shape and width as the BAM and FemmeFunn Ffix, BUT it's five "notch­es" tall instead of six.

Takeaway

Yep, I now have more evi­dence that the Blush Gaia Eco is only a step down in pow­er, but its vibra­tion qual­i­ty is sim­i­lar. Since it retails for quite cheap at Spectrum Boutique, the quality-​to-​price ratio is phe­nom­e­nal here.

---

6. VeDO Bam Mini

I wasn't orig­i­nal­ly going to include the Bam Mini, but after see­ing the lack of vari­a­tion, I want­ed to add some­thing that was unde­ni­ably buzzy!

It's more potent than the shit­ty free bul­lets you get with most vibrat­ing dil­dos, but that's a low bar to clear.

And yes, it's strong enough to get me off on a pat­tern, but as we've seen above, there are more pow­er­ful and rumbly bul­let vibra­tors for the price. If you expe­ri­ence pelvic pain or just pre­fer more gen­tle vibra­tions, though, I understand.

How I expected the VeDO Bam Mini's motor to look

The motor wheel in this bul­let vibra­tor is def­i­nite­ly tiny and cheap.

How it actually looked

I emphat­i­cal­ly con­firmed my hypoth­e­sis. Like, yes, there's some mate­r­i­al den­si­ty to com­pen­sate, but it's seri­ous­ly sooooo embar­rass­ing­ly dinky com­pared to the oth­er motors that it didn't even feel fair to have them side-by-side.

---

Discussion & conclusion

To recap, I mostly found what I was expecting to:

• The Hot Octopuss Digit had the dens­est motor for some thud and a great size-​to-​strength ratio
• The full-​sized VeDO BAM and Femmefunn Ffix bul­let motors were about the same
• Blush Novelties' Gaia Eco was one step down but still close
• The VeDO Bam Mini's guts are as dis­mal as its mosquito-​like hum would suggest

Also worth not­ing is that the Hot Octopuss Digit had the short­est gap under the motor head — result­ing in qui­eter vibra­tions. The VeDO Bam Mini's dis­tance is far longer, and the Je Joue bul­let some­where in between.

What I wasn't expecting

One thing that sur­prised me was Je Joue's bul­let motor. It makes sense that the vibra­tion qual­i­ty would be more a mat­ter of how it's pro­grammed, but it struck me just how sim­i­lar its hard­ware was to the others.

So what?

Nevertheless, Je Joue's low thrum gets along with my clit remark­ably well — I'm far more often in the mood for the Je Joue Bullet than the VeDO BAM or Ffix bullet's type of power.

I also reaf­firmed my love for Hot Octopuss toys. Most of their prod­ucts are deli­cious­ly rumbly, and it's refresh­ing to see why from the inside for myself.

Further reading

• My favorite bul­lets, ranked!

---