Pouch potato
The Sensate 2
comes with a USB
charging cable, a travel
pouch, a lanyard for
dangling it around
your neck and an
eye pillow.TESTED SENSATE 2Sensate’s vibrating pebble lets people
seeking meditation, escapism and a
better night’s sleep hide under a rock
QThe Sensate 2 is a strange little
Bluetooth vibrator (not that sort)
that rests upon your chest to help
lull you into moments of calm. It
does this using near-infrasound
bone conduction on your sternum,
in tandem with a selection of
musical soundscapes from its
companion app.QChoose from 10, 20 or 30
minutes of mindfulness with
sounds across ‘nature’, ‘space &
time’, ‘sacred spaces’ and ‘breathe’.
These work with the Sensate 2’s
haptic core so moments of zen are
felt as well as heard. Neil from The
Young Ones would approve.QYou can adjust the volume and
intensity of the tuned vibrations,
and play the sounds through your
usual headphones (or a speaker),
while a suitably stress-free setup
process means there’s no need
to register an account or subscribe
to anything.QSensate says the pebble uses
a “proprietary audio mix of four
trade-secret elements”, which
sounds a bit like ‘special stuff’
from The League of Gentleman
but equates to vagus nerve toning.
In short, it helps the brain sustain
wellness by calming your organs.QJudging mood, anxiety and
stress levels during a pandemic
is a tough one, but lying back
in a darkened room while being
semi-aggressively wobbled
with the blower on ‘Do not disturb’
feels nice; and after repeating the
mantra of “For God’s sake relax!”,
quality of sleep did improve.The key to tapping into the Sensate 2’s power is ensuring your environment is right
before settling, because you don’t want to be disturbed. I wouldn’t call it a miracle
cure for stress, but a week in I was sleeping better and waking abuzz. We do wonder
whether an app using your phone’s vibrating powers could do at least a basic version
of the same job, but there’s no sign of such a thing existing just yet.Lock the door, lie
back, switch on
the vibrator and
let yourself go
James DayNice and easy buzz it
STUFF SAYS It’s not cheap, but for helping you get a decent kip it’s dead clever ++++,
Connectivity Bluetooth,
microUSB charging
Compatibility Android, iOS
Battery life Up to 7 daysQ It buzzed all my
cynicism away
There are two terms that
are guaranteed to wind
me right up: ‘mindfulness’
and ‘chillout music’. Which
is hardly helpful in this
context... but Sensate
made fending off my
inner cynic easier than
I feared. The sounds are
inoffensively relaxing, and
the vibrations add to the
sense of immersion in a
way I wasn’t expecting.
Richard PurvisQ An odd sensation,
but very relaxing
The only thing normally
vibrating on my chest is
the rumble of the PS4
controller after nodding
off during a late-night
THPS session. The
Sensate vibrations were
stronger than I was
expecting, but they soon
merged with the music
and generally left me
deeply relaxed. Just avoid
the new-age chanty ones.
Ross Presly£199 / stuff.tv/SensateTech specs
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