Thanks for the review Ben. I bought the large, also soft and can echo just about everything from your review. I decided on the large for the slightly bigger trough. For me, a small guy, the shaft on the large is ridiculously long! But my biggest issues with it are the trough and the texture.
When I pulled it out of the baggie, it was very sticky. I immediately treated it to some corn starch and that did help, but as Ben mentioned it is very porous. My trough, on the large size is not formed for successful use as an STP! Size wise, for me as a small guy, the trough is great - BUT the bottom is completely flat - no slope towards the shaft hole at all. Therefore, it is next to impossible to hold it any anywhere close to a normal position and get things to flow. I also found it is impossible to completely empty without turning it upside down.
In attempt at full disclosure, I only tried the Basic twice as I could not see a way to overcome the trough issues. Also, just before this arrived my TSW Custom Boa STP arrived from a different order (found it on clearance and could not resist)! As it turns out, I'm glad I did. There is no comparison in the texture of the basic and the Boa. Also, the trough on the Boa IS built with a slant toward the shaft. The Boa is not sticky and feels much closer to real than the basic (my Boa is also soft). I have not yet mastered using the Boa to the point I can use it outside the house, but at least I can see where it might be possible with -the Boa, not the basic.
With my Boa, I have had a few successful attempts, but probably more fails than successes (I've only had it for a week). Before my Boa I used a SheWee with about a 99.9% success rate but zero success packing it comfortably LOL
