Welcome to the board, I personally find using the pump a very good way to have sex. When I first started pumping I was a little disappointed that there was so little info on the web about pumping and the problems that people experienced.
Here is my story at 63 I discovered I had ED and took ED drugs for about 7 years and then I started having eye problems and my Doctor said stop the ED drugs. That left me with the pump or injections, since the idea of injections left me with a bad feeling I bought an Encore pump. However you can't just pump yourself up and expect great results, you need to practice for two or three weeks and establish a routine to get the penis used to pumping.
When I first started pumping I was disappointed with the results using the info that came with the Encore pump. After researching this site I found a procedure that real works for me.
The routine is pump and hold for one minute at low pressure, release pressure and repeat at a slightly higher pressure, do this 5 times. Then pump for 5 minutes at the higher pressure and repeat this 3 times each time increasing the pressure. Also when you get a firm erection ( I mean firm) mark the tube so you have a benchmark on when to stop pumping. Normally when I have sex we neck for a while and then I pump, it takes 1 to 2 minutes to get firm. When I first started pumping I would go into the bathroom and pump now I do my pumping in bed with my wife and therefore she take part in the pumping and the time to pump doesn't seem to effect the quality of our love making.
Here is a list of the equipment I use:
The Encore Deluxe Vacuum Therapy System with manual and electric pumps purchased from Amazon for $125.00. I think this pump works very good and if a part breaks it can be replaced from Encore for $15.00.
The medium short foam sleeve from UANDMETIME.COM (cost $18.95 ) . The foam sleeve eliminates the problem of the your balls being sucked up in the tube and when using the small rings it feels much better to have the foam as a cushion.
Also the sleeve will help reduce or eliminate the hinge effect. I use the tighter Osbon rings C and D rings from
http://www.timmmedical.com (cost $19.95 ). I have discovered that constriction ring size and penis size have no correlation so you just have to experiment with different rings. I can keep the rings on 30 minutes with no problem however my penis does get cold and there is some color change. About 2 to 3 minutes after taking the rings off everything is back to normal.
The final piece of equipment I use is an Easy Action Ring Loader that I bought from Timmmedical for $29.95. The ring loader makes it so easy to get the Osbon rings on the Encore tube. However out of the box the loader will not fit the Encore tube it's diameter is to big but 10 minutes with the one inch belt sander solved the problem.
Other things you should know the pump will increase your girth both base and head so you may need to use more lubricant. In my case the pump increased my shaft girth 20% and the head girth about 35% and this caused some problems.
The wife had trouble accepting the large penis head and it took several days before we had normal penetration during intercourse. Also the large head does not have much feeling but the shaft feeling is almost the same as a normal erection. One big benefit of the head not having much feeling is I went from a one minute man to 7 or 8 minutes and now my wife loves the size increase and the fact that I can last longer.
Keep pumping it really works