If you grind, buy a pad. If you like texture, buy a grinder. That is genuinely the whole decision. A pad gives you a broad vibrating surface to move against. A silicone grinder gives you ridges and shape to press into. They are not competing versions of one thing.
A remote matters more here than anywhere else in the store. Your hands are not on the toy and often are not free at all, so a remote or an app is the only way to change speed without breaking position. On a handheld toy that is a nice extra. On a pad it is the difference between using it and fighting it.
An internal arm turns it into a complete toy. Most pads are purely external. The VibePad 3 adds a G-spot stimulator, which is the single biggest jump in this range and the reason it costs what it does.
Weight and grip decide whether it works. A pad that slides across the bed is useless, and it is the most common complaint about cheap ones. Look for real weight and a textured base.
Some strap down, and that changes where you can use it. A flat pad wants a firm surface under it. A grinder with adjustable straps cinches around a pillow, the arm of a chair, a headboard or a thigh, which turns furniture you already own into the base and lets a partner wear it instead. If a bed is not where you want this, look for straps.
These are not small. A full-size pad is roughly the footprint of a small pillow. That is the point, but it does mean thinking about where it lives when you are not using it, which is not a question a bullet ever raises.
Fully waterproof, because this is a full-contact toy. You want to be able to wash the whole surface under a tap rather than wipe around a seam. And water based lube only, since every one of these is silicone.
Still stuck between the VibePads? That is the comparison this category actually turns on, and we tested them rather than guessing. Our VibePad review runs through the whole family with ratings for each.
