Unboxing Sino-doll SI-172/H body style with S4 head aka ›Britt‹

Hi,

maybe a word why I chose the 172 cm model for this Unboxing. Firstly, tall dolls are a challenge. As well for the manufacturer (e.g. how to get the weight down) and for the customer (e.g. handling). Secondly, based on the promotion photos released so far, I think the head better fit to the taller body. So going for the tallest available Sino-doll was a purely subjective decision. It covers things I am curious about.

When the SI-172/H was introduced in August 2018, she was specified with a weight of 42 kg without head, which would result in a total weight of about 44 kg. That's not really heavy for a doll of this body height of body shape. Actually it'd be 'only' about 2/3 of a (even smaller) heavyweight TPE doll.

However, 44 kg is a weight which I can not easily handle. I can handle 44 kg, but I know from other dolls in this range that - if I have the choice - I rather deal with the less heavier ones. This is what I call the individual comfort zone - the weight you actually like to handle without hesitation.

The individual comfort zone is different for everyone - it's individual. It depends on personal fitness, being used to physical activity, individual body size etc. Being aware of my own comfort zone, I would not have ordered a 44 kg doll. So when Sino-doll announced in September 2018 that the weight has been reduced to ca. 36 kg, it was the deciding factor to go for this rather tall lady. Obviously I will take a closer look at the weight issue later in this review.

Other topics I am going to cover in this review are, not necessarily in this order:

• Shipping & Packaging,
• Padding & Wrapping,
• Configuration,
• Documentation & usage instructions,
• Accessories and Scope of supply,
• Head(s),
• Neck connector and skeleton,
• Silicone blend, skin surface and skin tone,
• Body shape and lady parts.
• Head-to-body proportions.
• Body cavities,
• Hybrid doll potential.

The whole review will span across several days, and it will include an endoscope inspection of the body cavities.

For comparison, it might make sense to take a look at the older Unboxing reviews for the Z-Onedoll ZO-160/B from September 2016 and the update from October 2016. Sino-doll is not the same as Z-Onedoll, but there is a obvious heriatage, so I will take a closer look into the things which have (or have not) changed.

Let's get started with the first impressions.

1) Shipping & Packaging.

The doll traveled with UPS. As already stated above, her traveling time was about two weeks from departure from China til delivery at my doorsteps. There were no delays and no customs trouble, everything went as smooth as it should.

The packaging Sino-doll uses by default is identical with what we are used to from Z-Onedoll or TPE dolls. It's a neutral cardboard box. The measured total weight of the box is about 54 kg, so everything is within the dimensions to be expected.

As usual for a cardboard box of this weight, the box will come with some scratches and dents. And of course the UPS driver delivered the box with a hand truck with the short side up. Things like this often result in the neck poking through the cardboard, getting the neck distorted or having the soles of the feet injured. No shipping company accepts this kind of damage as a insured shipping damage. The rule of thumb is: If goods are damaged during shipping, packaging and/or padding wasn't sufficient. Everybody involved with international shipping has to deal with this, and we can not influence how underpaid courier drivers deliver the packages. Some Chinese manufacturers keep ignoring this reality, others try to solve the packaging issue.

2) Padding & Wrapping.

As well Z-Onedoll as Sino-doll do care about packaging. They keep refactoring and enhancing their packaging for years - once more, with interesting (in the sense of remarkable) results:

That's how the opened box looks like. It's a foam casing on top of the doll. Another foam casing is below the doll:

Both parts are roughly shaped like the doll's body. With this padding, the doll has almost zero chance of moving inside the box. Also it privides a rather strong protection against pokes from the outside and environmental influences like rain or dirt.

The padding does not look particularily noble, but it is effective. I think it's among the best padding methods I have seen from Chinese manufacturers (yet). The little downside is that you neither get a sleeping back nor a soft plush blanket. But the chances increase massively that you get a doll without dents or scratches - unless some physical customs inspection messes everything up.

On top of the foam padding are three bags with the wig(s), accessories, and the random factory outfit:

After removing the foam cover top, you get the first view of your new roommate.

Time to take a deep breath.

She looks very real and kind of alive. The tan skin color is beautiful. It's a good and natural pigmentation.

The remaining packaging is identical to what we are used from other Chinese dolls:

The doll's body is wrapped in a huge plastic bag; feet are extra packaged:

Also, hands and arms are extra packaged:

The head rests below the dolls legs. It's also extra packaged:

So far, everything is done thoughtful and with care.

In the pretty important discipline of packaging and padding, Sino-doll fully scores. There is simply nothing to complain.

Surely, a RealDoll from Abyss might come in a wooden crate with integrated shock sensor - but fancy stuff like this costs serious money.

What Sino-doll accomplished is a fully functional and pragmatic but still affordable solution to the long-standing issue of careless shipping carriers. That's something!

(to be continued)

3) Manual / Documentation / Instructions.

I am quoting from what I posted on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 8:14 pm:

The first WTF. The doll comes without any manual, without any documentation, and without any instructions.

There is not even a copied sheet of paper with diagrams, illustrating the permitted range of movements.

Guys, you need to change that ASAP. Customers need to know where they can bend, tilt or twist their dolls!

Exactly the same applies for this Sino-doll. No instructions and no serial number.

JY Doll provides pretty thorough instructions with their dolls. DH168 EVO dolls also come with a few pages of documentation. So it is possible to pute some kind of manual into the box.

On the other hand, even Doll Sweet has recently discontinued to ship a brochure, and a while ago I bough a 7k 3D printer from a European manufacturer which only came with a (faulty) quick setup sheet. So avoiding usage instructions has become rather common. I do not like it. Especially first time doll owners risk to damage their doll.

So in this discipline Sino-doll still sucks similarily like Z-Onedoll did more than two years ago. Everybody needs to decide for himself if official usage guidelines are relevant or if handling an expensive doll is self-explanatory.

4) First impressions.

The arrival of a new doll leaves most of us not unaffected, maybe unless you are a warehouseman for your day job. When such a creature arrives, the heart starts pounding and there is an excitement not unlike to a first date with an organic woman.

Savour this moment and try to ignore what your body might urge you to do. Take your time to caress her with your eyes. At least that's what I am doing when I see a doll for the first time.

Carefully unwrapping a doll like the SI-172/H will be a joy as there is a lot to cherish and admire.

A first glance at the breasts with bikini lines:

…and another first glance at the shaven lady parts, also with tan lines:

The tan lines are a pretty rare customization option. I can count the manufacturers who offer this with the fingers of one hand. Also, Sino-doll charges pretty reasonable money for the tan lines. The way it is done may not be utterly perfect, but it looks nice and is really sexy on the tanned body (imho). Maybe the tan lines are not a killer feature, but it's one of many details where Sino-doll stands out.

Also worth mentioning is the way Sino-doll applies the body makeup. It looks better than good. The nipple and areolae colors appear natural and organic. If you would show me a snapshot like this, I'd not bet my hand that the pictures does not show an organic woman. Since a lot of you are asking for visual realism - I think Sino-doll delivers.

You might want to compare the pictures above with the first impressions of the Z-Onedoll ZO-160/B from two years ago. There are lightyears between these two dolls.

Another issue with the ZO from two years ago was that the body makeup was not even semi-permanent. I could be washed off with a wet cloth and some soap. ZO has enhanced this over the past months, and on the SI-172/H, the body makeup appears almost like intrinsic pigments. It can not be simply rubbed off.OK, I did not try Acetone, but it survives a wet cloth and soap, and that's what matters.

If you are used to TPE dolls, you will be also used to semi-permanent body makeup which fades over time or rubs off when cleaning the doll. Typically, body makeup on a TPE doll holds for about six months, then it needs to be refreshed respectively re-applied.

The way the body makeup is applied on the Sino-doll, I don't think anything will fade or rub off anytime soon.

And then there are the lady parts…

…and seamlines.

Permanent body makeup is an advantage of silicone over TPE, whilst mostly invisible seamlines are an advantage of TPE. Making seamlines go away is much easier with TPE as you can use heat to 'melt' the seamlines away. Trimming silicone is way more complicated. Trimming seamlines precisely is a tough skill. Doll Sweet excels in this discipline with their 'Evo' models, and some other Chinese manufacturers like Lovely Doll are also capable of trimming seamlines almost invisibly.

Sino-doll is not there yet. TheSI-172/H has a lot of obvious seamlines. E.g. in the neck area:

…or between the fingers:

So at this point we need to weight what we have seen so far: Organic, skillfully applied permanent body makeup, and not so perfectly trimmed seamlines. One gives an outstanding impression of realism, the other counters the realistic impression.

Of course this is only one review sample, so it is not representative, but my guess is that in these disciplines, other Sino-dolls will be similar. If you consider a Sino-doll, you need to find out for yourself which elements of visual realism matter to you. If seamlines are a turn-off for you, neither Z-Onedoll nor Sino-doll might be a safe bet for you. If you don't mind some visible seamlines, look closer.

(to be continued)

Hi,

let's continue to assemble this lady…

5) Neck connector.

…and that leads us to the neck connector. It's no longer an M16 thread. That's good and not so good.

It's good because most of you don't like the threaded M16 connector too much, myself included. So basically I am happy about every manufacturer who abandons that thing.

It's not so good because this pesky M16 connector is some kind of industry standard and is widely supported, as well by other manufacturers as aftermarket suppliers like Indigo's Magnetic M16 Connector or the Dollworks adapter system. As long as there are still not so many native Sino-doll heads, it'd be nice to be able to just put a Z-Onedoll head or maybe a silicone variant of a SM Doll/Mate Doll head onto this body.

This is how the new connector looks like - head part:

And this is the neck part:

Without instructions it takes some guessing how it is supposed to work. It seems you have to push both parts into each other, then turn a bit - but it does not lock tight. It's something I still need to figure out. Until then I get this:

That's a gap of about 1 cm. With a thread I could screw it tighter or use a shorter grub, but with a tilt & lock mechanism?

And honestly, it severely impairs the overall appearance of the doll as a whole:

6) Silicone blend, Skin surface and Skin tone.

This is a slightly complicated topic to describe verbally. In a nutshell, the silicone blend is relatively soft, similar to the more recent silicone blend used by Z-Onedoll. In regard to softness, this qualifies Sino-doll as an alternative to typical TPE blends - like Z-Onedoll.

When looking at the breasts, some major differences with Z-Onedoll show up. The ZO-160/B from 2016 was poured in a rather firm silicone, with solid silicone breasts. More or less no jiggle, and a firmnes which makes a bra obsolete. A bit later, ZO introduced some kind of gel-filled breasts. The early versions of these breasts felt at first a bit odd - a firm silicone layer on the outside, but below you could feel some serious softness.

This is now different. The SI-172/H has homogenously soft breasts. They feel heavy, not like TPE dolls with hollow breast design, I think they feel more like the real thing. You can not feel a harder silicone on the outside anymore, the surface blends smoothly with the softer inside. These breasts are nice!

But how soft are they in comparison?

The softest doll breasts I know are (were) made by Maidlee Doll. Even a couple of years ago they were softer than any TPE blend I have ever touched, and Maidlee increased the softness even further in his more recent Maid-Fong builds. This had some drawbacks in regard to keeping the shape. Not unlike a human women's breast, Maid-Fong's breasts sometimes sagged a bit. For some this was too much realism. Sino-doll keeps the softness within a sane range. I don't think they will loose their shape anytime soon.

And then there is the oil leakage issue. Many TPE dolls leak mineral oil, some of the softer silicone dolls also leak something, possibly silicone oil. Maidlee's most recent Maid-Fong leaks oil like crazy, and even Doll Sweet ladies leak some oil. This is not different with Sino-doll's SI-172/H: There is oil leakage, similarily to an average TPE doll. So I wouldn't sit her naked onto an antique leather couch, and in regard to oil leakage, the SI-172/H has no advantages over TPE.

It's as always: You tweak one thing and break another. The fim ZO-160/B from 2016 hardly leaks any oil, and she rarely requires powdering. And she is much less a dust magnet than any of the softer silicone dolls. I loved all of this, these characteristics are just good. But you can not keep them all when making the silicone blend softer than something like Shore 2 A (Dragon Skin FX‑ Pro, virtually no oil leakage and - imho - soft enough for a doll).

I haven't inspected the skin surface systematically yet, but from the first impression it looks good, way better than the ZO from 2016. Also noteworthy: there seems to be some skin texture. I will try to capture it in a photo later, as well as the skin tone in comparison to other dolls.

And last but not least there is the ultra soft vagina option. For some of you this might be a killer feature. Especially if you are rather looking for a doll to have sex than for photography or companionship.

Just poking around with the fingers gave me some shivers. If the doll wasn't cold like a fish I might have mistaken her for the real thing. Even without lube it feels a bit slippery and damp, possibly from stronger oil leakage caused by the softer silicone blend inside. I have once felt something similar in an experimental TPE doll which never went into production, but I have never felt a production doll vagina like this.

Some of you might know that I am recommending everybody who is asking for the softest vagina to take a look at a Fleshlight. These things cost about $25, and (imho) no TPE doll comes close to a Fleshlight's softness. But now we have a silicone doll which is not too far off from a Fleshlight. That is f***ing awesome!

And it is getting even better! The vagina and the anus appear to be actually usable by an average Caucasian male. Maybe not if you are hung like a horse, but these cavities are not tight like a nun's. If a too tight vagina in other dolls is a deal breaker for you, you might want to take a look at Sino-doll.

At this point of the Unboxing review we have sifted out something what I consider a key characteristic of the Sino-doll SI-172/H. She is not primarily a photo model or a companion doll for cuddling. She is a serious sex toy. For some she might even be better fuckable than most TPE dolls. If I am right with this, Sino-doll might have created a game changer.

I will later take a closer peek at the lady parts with a speculum and an endoscope.

(to be continued)

7) Eye mechanism.

Movable eyes are a customization option which is charged extra, so I was very curious about this feature.

Precisely adjusting the line of sight is crucial for appealing portraits, and - so far - no manufacturer has managed to invent a easy to use mechanism that works consistently. There are some good ideas, e.g. Ruby13's mechanism which prevent cross-eyes view, and Doll Sweet's spring-based mechanism which theoretically allows for very precise adjustments. Though, in reality manufacturing spread messes with these good ideas. Sometimes the DS mechsnism works smoothly, sometimes it drives you crazy because the spring pushes the eyeballs exactly there where you do not want it.

Z-Onedoll uses full-round eyeballs which simply rest in the eye sockets. Initially they stuck to the silicon behind and were almost not adjustable; though there is an easy fix (putting a little piece of paper behind the eye ball), which makes them work smoothly.

Sino-doll's movable eyes feature seems to be inspired by Doll Sweet's ey mechanism. It looks like so:

This is the back:

Thanks to the silicone's softness you can remove the eye mechnism from the eye socket without causing damage.

The eye socket is similarily shaped like with a Z-Onedoll; I guess you can alternatively use a 32 mm eye ball. I will try this later.

Sino-doll's eye mechnism has the same problems as Doll Sweet's original. Sometimes it works smoothly, and sometimes it does not work at all. I guess that there will be manufacturing spread, so some people will get a nice eye mechanism, others will despair because it makes the eye balls jump around.

If I'm guessing right, we will see a lot of Sino-doll pictures with horribly cross-eyed views:

If you take a lot of time - several minutes per eye - you can force the eye into proper positions. Butthat's not how an extra-charged eye mechanism should work. It just takes too much patience, and you will ruin the eyelashes in no time.

The design ideas behind Sino-dolls movable eyes eye mechanism are good, but the implementation is - at least in the one sample head I got - not satisfactory. Z-Onedoll's full-round eye balls with paper fix were better usable.

8 ) Accessories and Scope of supply.

The scope of supply (in the sense of factory gifts) is similar as it is with Z-Onedoll:

I got a metal comb, a big syringe, an USB heater and a pair of cotton gloves.

Also there was a (very simple) outfit and one wig.

(to be continued)

9) Skeleton and Posing capability.

For me, the posing capability of a doll is important. Really important. I do enjoy nicely adjusted joints which help me to put the doll into exactly the position I want. What I do not enjoy is a skeleton which develops a life of it's own. Your priorities might be totally different, e.g. for missionary the doll just needs to lay flat on her back. A doll for missionary does not require an elaborate skeleton.

Having that said, I do not enjoy the Sino-doll skeleton. Actually I still do not even understand it after three days.

First of all, my SI-172/H sample can not stand properly. She has bolts for standing, but most of the joints are to loose for reliably keeping an upright pose. And her feet are way too small for a doll of this size. And she is somehow heavier than an old DS-167 with ~38 kg.

The lack of proper standing capability is a severe dissapointment. I wanted this to be a doll for standing, and I did not expect a massive regression compared to my Z-Onedoll from 2016. The ZO-160/B stands on her bolts for over two years without falling over. Do the extra 12 cm ruin the balance? I don't know.

So she needs to sit. Preferrably on a chair with a backrest as she should have four points of contact (back, butt, two feet). With only three points of contact she tends to slip aside and I could not make her sit on the piano stool I'm normally use for simple posings.

Here you can see the rather small feet. This might meet the Chinese beauty ideal, but it does not look European, it does not fit to the body shape, and it makes standing harder than necessary.

The next thing you will notice when seeing the whole body is that the hands are rather big. For my taste they look too big for this body shape, and they do not appear very feminine. The combination of baby feet and almost male hands is weird.

If you look at the enlarged picture above, you will notice how the seamline runs when the hand rests on the knee. Very odd.

At least, the SI-172/H is capable of a limited set of poses. For example, she can raise her arms like this:

If you push the arms further up, the joints for shrugging kick in, so she starts to shrug her shoulders.

I still do not understand how the shrugging shoulders are supposed to work. The joints are there, but they are completely loose and do not keep any pose. The way these joints are adjusted makes this feature utterly useless. Maybe someone can explain this to me…

Let's keep pushing the arms up…

The silicone on the shoulders starts to bulge… and next the arms turn and fall down like so:

Now try to reset the arms into the default position and you get this:

Keep twisting to return her to a proper pose:

As I said initally, I do not understand how this skeleton works. The joints appear to be arbitrarily adjusted and I absolutely do not get how shrugging is supposed to work.

Being able to see pictures of the skeleton or a manual with instruction would probably help.

But the way it currently is - no skeleton pictures, no documentation, unexpected skeleton responses and no proper standing capability - for me it's pretty useless.

(to be continued)

10) Weight.

The lack of standing capability and the posing calamities caused me some headache. A doll with roughly the specified weight simply should not have these issues. They are indicative for a much higher weight. I have seen similar standing and sitting issues with dolls in the 40+ kg range. They should not exist in a 30+ kg doll.

So I weighted her.

Since she neither has a M16 connector nor a tool for hanging or a back hook and can not even stand on a bathroom scale, I needed to sit her on my package scale.

WTF!!!

I double checked what I was promised before ordering. From an 13/10/2018 email:

172cm after reduction is about 36kgs.

Next I put the head onto the scale:

So the head adds about 2 kg. The specified weight of 36 kg plus 2 kilo should result in a total weight of about 38 kg at max.

But the scale does not lie. The SI-172/H actually weights 46.2 kg with head attached. Not 38 kg.

So she is roughly 8 kg overweight.

That's way too much.

She is even heavier than initially advertised in August 2018 - 42 kg without head, or 44 kg with head.

Actually, she is more than 20% heavier than she should be!

That's bad.

More than 20% heavier than advertised - that was the desastrous deviation of the ZO-160/B from two years ago. You can check the Unboxing post.

Back then I wrote:

[…] I consider a deviation of 5-10% normal, 10-15% might happen occasionally, 15-20% is starting to get really problematic and 20-25% are not acceptable anymore.

That's still applicable. A deviation of more than 20% is not acceptable.

Especially not after getting a weight of 36 kg explicitely confirmed.

I need an explanation for this.

Actually, Sino-dolls annoucement from September 2018 was pretty clear:

The phrases used are "we have" and "has been", past tense.

My dialogue with Sino-doll before ordering was:

12.10.2018 17:43 - Question: "The 172cm body is still 42 kg?"

13.10.2018 01:59 - Answer: "172cm after reduction [i]is about 36kgs.[/i]"

I'm not sure if there is much room for an accidental misunderstanding.

At this point I am pausing the review.

Sandro

Hi,

it's weekend, so no response from Sino-doll yet about the severe weight discrepancies, the loose jointed shrugging shoulders, the crude head connector gap and so on.

At the moment I am so pissed that my interest about this brand changed from "highly excited - supportive - very open" to almost zero. If I can not even trust that the most basic key facts - like the weight - are approximately correct, what am I supposed to believe about the other promises about less trivial things?

However, there seems to be an attractive special offer at Sino-doll's website:

:roll:

Sandro

Hi,

got a reply from Sino-doll.

The dolls announced to be available in September simply do not exist.

There is no weight reduction.

The specs still advertised on the Sino-doll website as of today are misleading:

These specs do not apply to the actual product.

There will not be a replacement sample with the flaws fixed as there is no such product.

All of this seems to be management decisions. The sales reps are just supposed to forward these management decisions, that's the reason why questions how these miraculous weight reductions were accomplished can not be answered.

So everything we got from Sino-doll so far are narratives. It is very well possible that some of these narratives match with reality. But it is also possible that some of these narratives are mere fabrications or wishful thinking (like the weight specs). There is no way to tell unless you can fact-check every bit. You can not verify, before you buy. I can not verify, before I buy. If something changes, fact checking every bit needs to start from square one.

We all know that this particular dissolving of the boundaries between fact and fiction is not an invention of Sino-doll. We have encountered it with several other manufacturers as well, and we see it in the TV news every day. So in this sense the rules of the game are now what is called 'epistemological anarchism', or in short: "Anything Goes!" (Paul Feyerabend).

I think I will sleep very badly today.

Sandro

Hi,

I made a couple of videos to better illustrate the textual descriptions from above.

1) Head connector:

Attachment: S1080003-640.mov (6.7 MiB)

Pics: First with head attached as firm as the conenctor allows; second one showing the gap of ~1cm between the neck and body part of the connector.

2+3) Both shoulders hang down, like with a pectoral girdle disorder. The shoulders hardly keep any position. It feels like a floppy joint.

2) Left shoulder:

Attachment: S1080001-640.mov (2.44 MiB)

Pics: First picture shows 'reset position'; 2nd: arm can be lifted without any joint resistance; 3rd: let loose and arm falls down.

3) Right shoulder:

Attachment: S1080002-640.mov (1.82 MiB)

Pics: Right shoulder exactly like left one; 2st picture shows lifting the arm from reset position without any joint resistance; 2nd: let loose and arm falls down; 3rd: movement can be easily repated - lifting up, falling down.

Sandro

Edit: I made some screenshots from the videos.

Hi,

some interesting news. The head part of the neck connector can be removed with a wrench.

It looks like so:

Approximate measurements:

So there is a M16 thread in the head. The connector should fit into other heads with removable M16 grub and other flexible head connectors. E.g., we can get DS heads onto the Sino-doll bodies - assuming that they don't change their connector. I'll check later how that looks.

With the appropriate tools, the connectors length could be possibly machined off from 34.8 mm by several millimeters to reduce gap between head and body (and this creepy giraffe neck).

So far no luck with forcing the body part of the connector out. If that part would get onto M16 as well, this would enable really interesting adapter options. And the hole connector could be binned completely and replaced by something more state of the art like Indigo's Magnetic M16 neck connector.

Sandro