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I just started using the monitor this cycle regularly. It analyzes both estrogen and LH within your urine. If used correctly, it can effectively predict ovulation about 1 to 2 days before it occurs. If you get it in ebay, you can get a new one for half the price. I got mine for $100, instead of $200-220 in the stores. The test sticks are about $50 for 3 month supply, give or take, depending on if you have long or short cycles. When you first use it you will start testing on CD 6, you must set the "M" button anywhere from your 1st cycle day to your 5th cycle day. It won't let you set later than the 5th day. If your period starts when you wake up in the morning that is CD1, if it starts later in the day, the next day is CD1 on the monitor. The next cycles you won't test until CD9. There are 30 tests in each test stick box, usually a 3 month supply. It will ask for 10 test sticks at a time, it will never ask you for 11 or 15. It's always 10, 20, 30, etc.. The reason for this is because each box is it's own batch of test sticks. So they don't want you using 3 from your old box and then some from your nex box. Don't buy used, because there is no way to reset the memory. It might take at least 3 cycles to get to know "you". Plus it's not sanitary, somebody eles's urine was on that monitor. If you do get the monitor, read the manual slowly and thoroughly, it can be confusing. If you set the "M" button at 9am you can test anywhere from 6am to noon. It's going to give you 3 hours before and 3 hours after the time that you set the "M" button. You will not be able to test anytime before or after that. So make sure that the beginning time to test is the earliest that you wake up for work during the week. Feel free to ask me anything else that I didn't cover. Hope that helps, it takes the guessing out of the OPK's.

Thanks so mujch. The regular type of opk's like first response etc, don't they also predict the day 1 or 2 days before? I'm not quite sure why this one is better? thanks so much

lovemy3-i use the clearblue ovulation tests (not the monitor) they work just as well. i also bought some cheap ones off ebay i think i got like 60 for 15.00 and tested with the and clearblue with the same urine and they both worked the same. i dont think that you have to spend that much money on the monitor. i didnt and now i got a + hpt on thursday. i think it is just what you are comfortable with and what you can afford. good luck to you.

i agree with slowpoke01, and i am a monitor user. i dont feel any diffrence. the only one is the monitor will tell you if its a peak or high days, as for the sticks you have to care for the color of the line. and now you can buy OPK cheap and they work based on one line only, if no line then its nigative, and if there is a line its positive, i bought 50 of those for $9. hope his helps

I honestly believe that it is worth the money for the monitor. I've used OPK's before I got this monitor and I could never tell if it said it was positive or negative. Although if you know what to look for by your body, then there shouldn't be a problem. You're temperature in the morning, your cervical fluid, and your cervical position and feel should give you just as good of an indication as to wheather or not you are approaching your fertility phase. I'm just starting to learn all about that, so I'm checking that stuff plus using the monitor. Here are some reasons, in my fertility book, that OPK's can be misleading: 1. The kits test only for LH surge that precedes ovulation. The don't indicate that you have actually ovulated after. There is a condition called LUFS (Luteinized Unruptured Follicle Syndrome) in that case you do have and LH surge but the egg never actually comes out of the ovary. 2. A woman can experience false LH surges in which you would have a small peak of LH before the real peak comes, thus causing you to time intercourse to early for the sperm to survive long enought before the egg is released. And if you have PCOS then your body might continually produce false LH surges. 3. The kit does not indicate if you have suitable cervical fluid to allow sperm a good environment to travel to the egg. Also, by the time the kit does show a surge, the cervical fluid could already be starting to dry up. 4. The kits are only as accurate as the person that is using them. There are many steps involved that can be done improperly, making the test invalid. They can be exposed to excessive heat during delivery and storage. 5. They are only accurate if they test a womans fertility right around ovulation. Usually the type of woman that purcgases them is one who, by definition, has irregular cycles. So a kit that only has 5 to 9 test sticks will often not have enough to cover the range needed for you to determine ovulation. So if you have irregular cycles don't start testing until you notice that your cervical fluid is getting wet. 6. Women that have short luteal phases may not realize that they kits instruct them to test for ovulation based on the average length of luteal phase. This may mislead you and cause you to test to early giving you a false indication of anovulation, which in fact you may not have ovulated yet. 7. Some fertility drugs such as Pergonal, Donocrine, or injections containing HCG (e.g., A.P.L. or Profasi) can invalidate the results. Clomid does not have this effect. 8. Women over 40 approaching menopause can have elevated levels of the luteinizing hormone that isn't indicative of ovulation. A kit should only show a surge of one day. If it shows more than one day, there is an increased chance that it is invalid. 9. And obviously if you havppen to be pregnant already the kit will simply say you aren't ovulating. I got these facts from my fertility book TCOYF. If you check your body and use the OPK's they can be very useful. In all reality, the monitor is not that much money it's minimal to the money you can spend on fertility enhancement, fertility tests, etc. And if it helps you concieve your baby, all that money you spent on it even if you only had to use it one cycle it's well worth it, we all should know that by now. Like everybody tells me, if you can't afford to buy this monitor how are you going to afford the doctor bills for when you get pregnant and the money involved in having children. My insurance only covers one ultrasound a pregnancy, and an amniosentisis. The rest I'm sure I'll have to pay by myself. I think the monitor is great, that's my opinion. If you don't want to spend that much on it, then start charting your temps, it's just as accurate. Check your cervical fluid, position, and feel. Go to the library and get the book that I have Taking Charge Of Your Fertility. It tells you all kinds of things you never knew about yourself. It will help and it would be alot cheaper, if not free for you to do it the natural way. If you already have a digital or glass thermometer in the house. I can't chart my temps, because I don't get up at the same time every morning, I have a schedule that is not the same everyday, so it's hard for me to do that.

Thanks everyone, I bought the monitor today and the strips. i will start tommorrow on cd3 and am praying for results this month. I will check back if i can't figure out what I'm doing(lol!)

that is wrong kare because i tried it. if you are pregnant the opk's will pick up hcg and give you 2 lines. i tried it and got a + on an opk before i did on a hpt.my cycles are every 28 days so they arent irregular and thats not why i use them. also they always show a couple days surge for me. the cost had nothing to do with why i didnt buy it. to me it was just rediculous to spend that kind of money on it when the opk's told me the same thing. i pay for everything out of pocket. iui's clomid hcg trigger shot all ultrasounds a total of 3 this cycle all testing(hsg dye test cost me around 1300.00) all office visits progesterone everything i pay for out of pocket and i just couldnt see spending that kind of money on something when the opk's are just as good. i am not trying to make you mad but that book was wrong about some of the stuff and i thought that needed to be clarified. just because someone doesnt spend 200 on a monitor doesnt mean they couldnt support a kid and whoever told you that should not have said it that is just wrong to say that to someone. also the clearblue monitor really cant tell you if you have ovulated or not just like opk's it just detects a surge. temping or progesterone bloodwork after ovulation is the only thing that can tell you that. i really am not trying to make you mad and if i have i am truely sorry. i am just giving you the honest truth about what i know about opk's. they worked for me since i got a +hpt and +hcg beta quantative blood test. so i would use what i felt comfortable with and if you feel more comfortable with the monitor use that. i didnt feel comfortable. to me the opk's were convient and i was able to buy them anywhere whereas the small town that i live in you cant find the sticks for the monitor so you may look into that before you buy it too. well take care all good luck to all of you.

I'll give you my personal experience. Last month was my first month using the monitor. I started testing on cd6, and it went to a "high" status that day. I stayed at "high" the whole time, except for the last test day, at cd26. On that day, it went back to "low" fertility. But, I felt that I was ovulating, or very close to it that day, so I used a regular opk the night of cd26. It was a definite positive for ovulation. I didn't understand why at cd 26, that the monitor went back down to "low," but the opk clearly showed peak fertility. I do have a long cycle (38 days last month), and I'm not sure if it affects the monitor or not. This month, I was surprised that given the long cycle last month, it still had me start testing on cd6. I'd be surprised if I actually ovulated before cd20, but then again, I guess that's what the monitor is checking for. I'm hoping I actually see a peak this month.... Good luck!

I have long cycles and my monitor asked me to test on CD6 the first month and then CD9 the next month. I've never kept with the monitor, I've missed some days. This is the first month that I'm going to keep on the monitor. You might not have actually ovulated. You could call their hotline and see if maybe you did something wrong, they are very helpful.

hi there, I started the monitor today on cd3. i was told it wouldn't ask me to test until day 6. i know I don't ovulate to around the 20th day, so most of the tests will be a waste. my friend gave me her old one so i just needced the new strips. It didn't cost anything, so i figured might as well give it a try. i'll keep you posted.

slowpoke, that is what my fertility book said about opk's. it's wasn't opk's vs. the monitor. it was just stateing the facts about them. The book was written by an MPH and not some woman that doesn't have a degree in this stuff. You should really read that book, it's actually quite informative. I've had bad luck with the OPK's, so I don't use them.

i understand that. but i know for a fact that opk's can pick up lh. my doc gave me the hcg trigger shot and said that it mimics lh and makes you ovulate. the opk's will pick it up. and i am pregnant now and they are still picking it up.like i said it was what you felt comfortable with. the woman may have degrees or whatever but i think that she was just stating her opinions and not the facts because the monitor isnt 100%accurate either. read newmommy's post about her experience with the monitor.i am not trying to argue with you but i know for a fact that the opk's can pick up hcg in your urine way before a pregnancy test can.research it on the net you will see.

I love my monitor...it was deemed substantially accurate by Consumer Reports...and my RE encouraged me to get it. Anyway, I have used it on a medicated cycle with Clomid and it has worked fine, even peaking correctly when I got the trigger shot (I stopped using it after the trigger shot.) I also used it this past month (while I have two cysts waiting to go away) and it revealed elevated LH levels for over two weeks...which means that the cysts are probably still there...anyway, I never peaked this month...got AF today. It was the first time I never got an egg (peak) on the monitor since I started using the monitor last January. I find it also very accurate, coinciding with my temperature elevations after ovulation in the past cycles I used it.

lovemy3...direction on the monitor indicate that you are not supposed to shaer monitors because the monitor actually stores cycle information and because of the "urine" issue that it is picking up LH levels. Let me know if it works even though you are using a Used Monitor, it would be interesting to see if it does. Actually, it is probably asking you to test early on CD6 because of your friend's history stored in the monitor...

It might take the monitor awhile to get used to "you". Probably 3 or more cycles I would imagine, because it has your friends history in it, like linds said. But hey it was free, you can't beat that, and it might take a little bit for it to know you, but it will be worth it. See my cycles are longer, that might be why it asks for it later. Your friends might have been short and that might be why it is asking for it right after menstration.

I used the monitor for 3 cycles and got preggers, it takes a while for the monitor to get to "know you", and it works best if you have regular cycles....I had irregular cycles, so it was harder for me.....it is nice because the first day you test, the rest of the tests are compared to that.....so the minute it detects a slight rise is estro & lh, your monitor will change from low to high, telling you that Ovulation is coming soon, the when you hit your LH surge, your monitor will go to PEAK, meaning BD baby!! And also, BD when your monitor says high, then you will have one or two days of high after your peak, and then low again....I would really suggest buying it, I"m glad I did....it really helped me because I never knew when i ovulated....with this I couldn't miss it....However, for one of my cycles, it never showed me HIGH, it just went straight from LOW to PEAK, which can happen once in a while, so you have to be prepared!! But anyway, it is a good investment, and I would buy it off of e-bay, thats what I did and I saved about $100....Good luck!!