MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints Review

Looking for bondage cuffs that are hardier, stronger, easier to clean, and more friendly to messy play? This MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints review is exactly what you’re looking for.

While leather can be an extremely erotic material, it’s also finicky. As a natural material, it is easier to harm by improper cleaning and use. Leather can be strong, for sure, but it isn’t designed to be covered in bodily fluids and then cleaned with abrasive, sanitizable cleansers.

This is where the magic of neoprene material can come in. Created in 1920s by DuPont, neoprene was designed as a more accessible alternative to natural rubbers and materials. Fun fact: It used to be sold under the trade name “Duprene” – but now is sold as a material type called “neoprene”.

Those abilities are accurate, too. Neoprene is much hardier than leather. It’s more resistant to water, oils, heat, and solvents than natural rubber or leather. That almost sounds like more than you really “need” for sex, but if you think about it: oil-based lubes, bodily fluids, lots of friction from bondage struggles, and sanitizing chemicals are all commonplace in kinky scenes.

The MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints are made entirely from neoprene. A softer, plushier neoprene layer makes up the innermost, wearable surface while the outer layer of neoprene is firmer to help hold the cuff’s structure. Black, color-matching metal hardware allows for the cuff’s adjustability while maintaining that “serious bondage gear” look.

And since this is all neoprene material, everything is water-friendly, vegan, hypoallergenic, and easier to clean.

Plus, as the name MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints review implies, these bondage cuffs are lockable. The locking mechanism features a small loop that fits one of the included small locks into the hole, making it impossible to remove the fastener post from its hole, “locking” them onto the wearer.

To make this locking function as easy to play with as possible, these MEO.de bondage cuffs come with the two cuffs themselves, two locks, four keys for the locks, and a large, black drawstring bag that holds all of the pieces together.

MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints Review: Neoprene Cuff Uses

In BDSM, “leather” tends to be the standard. It does have that sultry leather smell that’s hard to resist. However, leather is also more expensive, can be damaged by moisture, and can be impossible to sanitize because of its natural, porous material.

That’s where neoprene material comes in. It’s hardier against some harsher kinky “elements” of play.

We’re talking about stuff like:

• Bondage in the water. Water (especially chlorinated water) will destroy leather. Neoprene is common for wetsuits because of its water-friendly properties. That’s the case here as well.
• Super sweaty sessions. If you plan on getting really sweaty, neoprene is a better choice than leather or faux leather. Not only does it clean more easily from skin oils and sweat, but its material is lighter weight. Getting tons of sweat and oils on leather sends it to an early grave without in-depth care. Neoprene wipes up easily, and it can handle harsher cleansers for deeper messes.
• Bondage with make-up. If you’re someone who uses concealer on your wrists, ankles, or neck, getting that off of leather can be really, really difficult. Neoprene can handle harsher cleaners to get make-up off of your kink gear. (This is most important for collars which get near lots of face make-up.)
• Watersports play. If omorashi bondage and other wet play is on your favorites list, neoprene gear handles liquids and cleans up from liquids much, much better than leather. After watersports play, you can literally hold these cuffs under running water to ensure every crevice and fold of the cuffs is free of pee before you place them back in storage. That’s the type of activity that would ruin leather.
• Messy play. Whether we’re talking “messy” from solid bodily functions or “messy” from buttercream frosting that smears into every crevice, neoprene can clean up easier after.

Their Durability As Cuffs

These neoprene cuffs are impressive! They inhabit that perfect place between “too flexible” and “too rigid”. They bend with ease to wrap around a wrist while simultaneously maintaining enough structure that they’ve held up to most of the bondage that we’ve thrown at it. The inside of each cuff features a lightly-grippy neoprene while the outside of each cuff is a smoother, pettable neoprene.

There isn’t a single thread out of place. Honestly, I don’t even see any rough or uneven stitching. The quality for these is impressive.

Throughout every test we’ve thrown for this MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints review, they’ve held up. Rough play holds up great. Gentle play passes all tests with flying colors. The single D-ring on the surface of both cuffs is connected with two rivets that fasten through every layer of the cuff, providing really good support.

We have yet to even manage to make them look like they’ve been used. These bondage cuffs are very solidly built.

(They even went on the beach for beach bondage!)

MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints Review: Locking These Cuffs

The MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints use a predictable, easy-to-understand system to lock the cuffs.

The tip of the fastening buckle has a small circle on it. The lockable buckle slides into the fastening hole like usual, and it’ll work like a belt buckle if you don’t want to use your locks.

However, if you want to make it impossible for your captive to remove the cuffs, you can slide a small lock into this circular hole. A lock makes it impossible for the fastener to slide out of the fastening hole, essentially locking the cuffs onto your captive’s wrists. Until the bulky lock is removed, the cuffs will remain.

This is how a lot of locking BDSM cuffs function. If you’re familiar with locking kink gear, you’ll be comfortable here.

Most locking kink cuffs do not include their own locks and keys. The MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints include two gold mini locks and four silver keys. The locks are etched with the MEO.de logo, and they fit perfectly into the holes of the fasteners.

I won’t say they match the cuffs. The gold locks and the silver keys don’t match the all-black, svelte vibe of the neoprene cuffs themselves.

BUT the gold and silver colors actually make the locks pretty easy to find – even in the dark – so I almost appreciate the stand-out color choice. If you’re going to be enjoying the visual of being locked, the gold locks are also very eye-catching, making for a hot visual and stand-out locks if you’re going to take photos of these cuffs being worn.

These are a set of universal locks and keys, so all four keys work in both locks. I tried it with another set of MEO.de mini locks and keys I had from another product, and all of those locks and keys were interchangeable as well.

I really appreciate that; if I lose a set of keys, I can use my keys from any other MEO.de mini lock set that looks the same. I’m not actually trying to make it impossible for my partner to ever escape the cuffs. Having back-ups (and knowing I can repurchase another lock and key set if I lose the keys) makes me feel more comfortable locking my partner into these cuffs.

But Are They Comfortable?

The only big downside of these wrist cuffs is that they’re not particularly comfortable for long-term wear. They’ll wrap around the wrists – and hold up great to whatever play you throw at them – for short sessions, but these are not the cuffs you’ll probably want to use for hours-long marathon play.

For one, they get warm. Neoprene material, despite its benefits, is not known for being breathable. These cuffs trap sweat and oil underneath them. This compounds the longer your bottom wears the cuffs. (Luckily, as noted, that sweat and oil cleans off really easily.)

This is exacerbated by the fact that the rivets for the D-ring were fastened through all the layers of the material. Not only that, but for some odd reason, the material around the rivet hole, on the inner layer, is extremely scrunched up. It resembles an anus, honestly. (You can see it on the photo underneath here.) Once this ribbed area gets sweaty, it gets very irritating on the skin. It feels itchy.

(This, by the way, is its own form of predicament bondage hell if you’d like to use that to your advantage. Having your wrists itch underneath your bondage in a way that’s impossible to itch while it’s impossible for you to move is a serious level of sadism.)

Adding fuel to that fire is the fact that the innermost neoprene layer tends to slide around. You can see this best on the display photo below. This innermost layer tends to separate from the outer wrap relatively easy, making for a ribbed surface that’s sweaty and regularly moving and rubbing that itchy area along different parts of your wrist. Really, it’s just waiting to be the centerpoint of a sadistic BDSM scene.

While it’s a minor downside, both of these cuffs are also missing a strap keeper. If your wearer is on the smaller side, and you have to fasten cuffs at their smallest settings, you’re going to have a lot of excess “strap” just hanging off the side of the cuffs. There’s no loop to help keep that excess strap near the cuff’s surface. You can definitely “cut” the excess if you want to, but this will likely mess with the stitching security throughout the entire strap.

These are downsides my submissive and I are happy to “deal with” in exchange for cuffs that are waterproof, easy to clean, and can be used with wet and messy play in a way that more-sensitive leather cuffs cannot. But they are downsides you should be aware of.

Final Thoughts: MEO.de Lockable Chicago Neoprene Restraints Review