| Review:
Loved it, loved it, loved it.
And there isn't much more to say than that. Simonscans is another
high-quality site by an independent adult photographer determined to
make a difference (think Abby
Winters or Sapphic
Erotica). You think reviewing porn is easy? You try finding
something to be critical about in a site this good.
And we're saying this on a re-review. When we first visited this site
in 2003 we loved it and gave it a top score, but Simon got in touch with
us for a re-visit because he's been improving!
Indeed he has. He is now up to over 230 models and well over 100,000
huge images. For
pics of this high quality (check out the samples on the tour!), that's really
impressive. And there aren't any duds. Plus all of the shoots are "100% original" and
exclusive. Plus updates occur five times a week, with approximately
1,300 new pics a week. Plus, plus, plus . . .
Site design is just plain perfect. It is clean-looking and easy to
navigate. It has a site map and some of the fullest indexing and search
functions we've ever seen. Support, either through e-mail contact or the
message boards, seemed very responsive. On the downside, clicking on
pics is now a two-step process (you go from a thumbnail to an
intermediate size pic with some extra navigation, and then to full-size), which we thought was totally
unnecessary. Still, it's no big deal.
The nature of the content is mainly solo amateur women. There are a
few girl-girl sets, but not that many. There is also a lot of toy play. But
no cock. The shoots are more casual than glamorous, but all the more
erotic for that. There is nothing really fanciful, but Simon works well
with ordinary settings. One recurring obsession is with close-up spread
shots and gapes. If you want to see supersize pics of high-res pussy (shaved,
trimmed or hairy), this really is the place. The models cover a good
range in terms of body types and ages (there is even a small MILF
section). They are also all pretty cute, especially for amateurs--and
maybe Simon deserves some credit here for bringing out their best. If you can't find some bona fide
babes here then you should
probably start trolling the gay picture posts and open the door to some
other forms of experience.
There didn't seem to be any licensed extras, but with a site this
large they certainly weren't missed (do we ever miss not having
licensed content?). One thing we did find ourselves looking for though was some
info about Simon himself. But despite being quite personally active in
the day-to-day operation of the site (he's on the message boards and has
a log), he keeps himself out of the picture. Aside from being based in
the UK, we don't know a thing about him or his studio. Still, it's clear
that the site is his baby and he's (quite justifiably) proud of it.
One aspect of the site he seemed sensitive about when we first visited (and
the fact that he was so sensitive shows how much he actually cares) was
the movie section. At the time, it wasn't that well stocked. Since then
there have been improvements. The site was featuring 64 movies when we
visited. The older ones were a little clunky, and broken into clips of
around 7 megs. The newer ones are much better. You can download them all
in one file of anywhere from 40-100 megs (but we didn't see where you
could still download shorter clips). File formats are mpegs and wmv's,
and playback is around 600 kb/s.
Despite these improvements, however, we would still insist that this
is primarily a photography site. That's what you should be joining for.
The action in the videos is the same as in the photoshoots and still
seems to be mainly an extra. It's OK, but not dramatic. And for a site
so far above average in every other way, that didn't bother us a bit.
The site tour is very complete and gives you a good sense of the type
of material on offer as well as the basics of layout and navigation. And that's as much as we can say. This isn't just a top rated site,
but one of the best and most original adult sites on the Internet period.
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