Review date: January 2023
Icon Male is great for those of us who like a bit of a storyline in our porn. Video quality is very good, though there are too many upsells to other Mind Geek sites, no tour, membership is streaming-only and rebills are expensive at $34.95.
Tour
The Icon Male tour no longer allows you to preview any of the site. Any links from the splash page takes you to the sign-up page. This is a great disservice to potential members.
From the tour it is not obvious that this is a streaming-only membership. On the Join page, be sure to de-select "add Premium" as this is for unrelated content, not worth your money.
Usability
Icon Male is a good-looking site and fairly easy to get around -- once you take into account the huge number of upsells, including a full page of ads after you log-in. Click "Movies" for the themed series and "Scenes" for all the scenes. Use the "Filters" button to sort by date or popularity or filter by category. "Networks" and "Channels" are upsells to other MindGeek properties.
The Men and the Action
You can't really pin down a type of guy among the different models on Icon Male; some are more collegiate, and some are very masculine and muscular, with chest and facial hair. It may surprise you but a few of these guys even have some acting talent. You'll probably recognize some well-known porn stars, including Nick Fitt, Skyy Knox, Seth Santoro, and Dillon Diaz, while others have had much less exposure.
The content is released as themed "movies." In some, like "Fathers and Sons," there is much more of a plot-thread linking the scenes together, while in others, like "Prisoner of War," the only unifying factor is the theme. Some fantasies explored include teachers / students, "straight" men discovering their gay side, football teams and priest confessionals. Most scenes before 2020 use condoms and most after do not.
Video Details
The technical viewing quality of the videos is excellent, given that the sex scenes are shot in a naturalistic manner with a hand-held camera. There's nothing fancy about it, but it does the trick.
As of this review update there are over 500 scenes on the site, averaging 25 minutes in length. Updates are biweekly.
There are several quality choices for MP4 streams; all the videos have a top size and bitrate of 1920x1080p HD (6000 kbps). The streams play in a resizable embedded player as well as a resizable "picture-in-picture" window. Downloads are only available with ocassional offers and at an extra cost of $15 a month.
Screens: The videos will play on any sized device and the largest ones will look good on the full sized television in your living room.
Image and Other Content
There are image galleries for most of the scenes. These average about 125 images per set and can be viewed at the optimum size for your screen. These are available as zip files and can be viewed as a slideshow.
Although it's not obvious, if you click on "Channels" you'll find that Noir Male, from the same studio, is accessible with your membership.
Summing Up
Icon Male's themed movies featuring many of today's hot young performers will be of interest to anyone who wants a little more from their porn than just sex. Just be aware that this is a streaming-only membership, rebills are expensive and there are upsells aplenty.
BananaGuide Price
30 day: $29.99 $14.99 (rebills @ $34.99)
Conditions
Pricing is for streaming-only access.
Quality | 29/33 |
Quantity | 16/20 |
Personality | 5/5 |
Video Options | 5/6 |
Updates | 2/6 |
Content | 57/70 |
Tour | 2/5 |
Usability | 12/15 |
Fairness | 2/5 |
Value | 3/5 |
User-friendly | 20/30 |
Condoms: Some
[safer sex in porn]
Memberships
BananaGuide Price
30 day: $29.99 $14.99
(rebills @ $34.99)
Conditions
Pricing is for streaming-only access.
Billed as:
Icon Male is operated by Aylo and has been online since 2014.
Also reviewed by:
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