Easy@Home Ovulation and Pregnancy Test Strips, 50 LH + 20 HCG Kit

Description

The Easy@Home kit puts ovulation and pregnancy test strips in one box. You get 50 LH strips, which detect the luteinizing hormone surge that comes before ovulation, and 20 HCG strips, which detect the pregnancy hormone. They're simple dip strips. You dip one in a cup of urine, lay it flat, and read the lines within about five minutes.

This is the cheapest way to track ovulation that actually measures a hormone. At the current price it works out to well under a dollar a strip. That matters more than it sounds, because most people test once or twice a day for a week or more each cycle. You'll actually use strips that cost this little, instead of rationing them.

The ovulation strips pair with the free Premom app. You photograph the strip, and the app reads the line, gives it a number and charts your LH across the cycle. That takes most of the squinting out of it, and after a cycle or two you start to see your own pattern. The pregnancy strips detect hCG at 25 mIU/mL, a sensitivity Easy@Home says is FDA cleared. The brand also reports 99% accuracy. That figure comes from lab conditions, and how well the strips work for you depends a lot on when you test.

What an LH strip can't tell you. A positive means the surge is happening, not that you ovulated. Most of the time ovulation follows within a day or so. But in a 2017 study in Frontiers in Public Health, LH testing alone gave false positives in about a third of cycles. PCOS makes this harder still. LH can run high all cycle or surge more than once without ovulation, so strips can read positive for days and mean very little. If that sounds like you, read the PCOS question in the FAQ below.

How to use it

Ovulation strips. Start a few days before you expect to ovulate. In a 28-day cycle that's around day 10 or 11, and earlier if your cycles run short. Test once a day at first, then twice a day once the test line starts to darken. LH usually shows up better in afternoon or early-evening urine than first thing in the morning, and it helps not to drink much in the two hours before. The result is positive when the test line is as dark as the control line or darker. A faint test line counts as negative.

Pregnancy strips. Use first-morning urine, when hCG is most concentrated. Two lines means pregnant and one line means not pregnant. Testing early is tempting, but a negative before your missed period isn't final. A 2004 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that many home tests miss pregnancies even on the first day of a missed period. If you get a negative and your period still hasn't come, test again in two or three days.

Why women love it

• Both tests in one box: 50 LH strips to find your fertile window and 20 HCG strips for afterwards
• Cheap enough to test freely: one of the lowest per-strip costs in the category, so testing twice a day doesn't feel wasteful
• Free Premom app: photograph a strip and the app reads it, scores it and charts your LH curve
• A simple rule for a positive: the test line is as dark as the control line or darker
• 25 mIU/mL pregnancy strips: FDA cleared at that sensitivity, per Easy@Home
• Lasts more than one cycle: for most people, 50 ovulation strips cover two to four months, depending on cycle length and how often you test

Best for

• Women in their first few months of trying who want to time sex without paying for a monitor
• Anyone with fairly regular cycles, where the LH surge is a dependable signal
• Frequent testers who'd rather test twice a day than ration expensive sticks
• People who like seeing their data charted in an app
• Anyone who wants pregnancy tests on hand for the end of the two-week wait

Not a good fit for PCOS or very irregular cycles, and it can't confirm that you ovulated. See the FAQ below.

Related reading

If you're still deciding how to track, our comparison of the best fertility trackers and monitors puts LH strips next to Inito, Mira, Clearblue, Oura and Daysy, and it's honest about where each one falls short. Mindy's guide to the signs of ovulation covers the free signals, like cervical mucus, that make strips more reliable when you use the two together. And once you're in the two-week wait, when implantation happens explains why testing too early so often gives a false negative.

Explore more

This kit sits in our fertility & ovulation tests collection, curated by Mindy Motta, FNP-C. If you'd rather not read lines at all, the Clearblue Digital ovulation kit shows a smiley face instead, at a higher cost per test. If you have PCOS or want proof that ovulation actually happened, the Inito fertility monitor measures PdG, which LH strips can't. The wider fertility essentials for TTC collection covers supplements and support alongside tracking.

A quiet companion for the wait

Seventy strips is a lot of mornings spent staring at lines. Our fertility affirmation candles are for the days in between, when there's nothing left to test and all you can do is wait.

A note from Mindy on getting the most out of cheap strips

I recommend LH strips more than any other fertility tool, and price is a big part of why. A box of inexpensive strips used well will do more for most people than an expensive device used anxiously. But "used well" is doing a lot of work in that sentence, so here's what I mean.

Don't wait for the positive to start trying. This is the most common mistake I see. Your fertile window is the six days ending on the day you ovulate, and the best odds are in the two days before ovulation, not after it. That comes from a landmark 1995 study in the New England Journal of Medicine that still holds up. So when the test line starts getting darker, that's your cue. By the time it's fully positive, you're already in the best days. Sex every day or every other day from the darkening line through the day after your positive covers it.

Pair the strips with your cervical mucus. When you see slippery, egg-white mucus and a darkening LH line together, you can trust the signal far more than either one alone. It costs nothing, and it fixes most of the false-positive problem.

Be kind to yourself with the pregnancy strips. I know how hard it is to have twenty of them in the bathroom drawer at 8 days past ovulation. A negative that early tells you almost nothing, and it can make a hard week harder. If you can, wait until your period is actually late.

And the line I'll keep repeating on this site: twelve months of trying, or six if you're 35 or older, means it's time to be seen. Strips are a great way to start. They aren't a substitute for that appointment, and if you're already at that point, bring your Premom charts with you. They make the conversation with your provider a lot more useful.

Mindy Motta, FNP-C

FAQs

How do ovulation test strips work?

Ovulation test strips detect luteinizing hormone (LH) in your urine. LH surges about a day or so before ovulation, and the strip's test line darkens as LH rises. A result counts as positive when the test line is as dark as the control line or darker. Ovulation usually follows within 24 to 36 hours of the surge starting.

When is the best time to take an ovulation test?

Test in the afternoon or early evening, when LH tends to show up best, and limit fluids for two hours before. To pick a start day, subtract 17 from your usual cycle length (day 11 for a 28-day cycle), or start a few days earlier if you're unsure. Once the test line starts darkening, test twice a day so you don't miss a short surge.

How long after a positive ovulation test do you ovulate?

Usually within a day or so. Most women ovulate 24 to 36 hours after the LH surge begins, and a 2017 study found the best single predictor was ovulation within 24 hours of the first positive test. Because the most fertile days come just before ovulation, have sex on the day of your positive and the day after, and ideally in the days leading up to it too.

Can an ovulation test detect pregnancy?

Not reliably. LH and hCG have a similar structure, so some ovulation strips will show a dark line in early pregnancy. That isn't a good way to find out, though. A negative means nothing, and a positive could just be an LH surge. Use the HCG strips for that, which is why this kit includes them.

When should I use the pregnancy test strips?

Wait until the day your period is due or later, and use first-morning urine. The strips detect hCG at 25 mIU/mL, but hCG levels vary a lot in early pregnancy, so testing before a missed period often gives a false negative. If you get a negative and your period hasn't started, test again in two or three days.

How many ovulation strips do I need per cycle?

It depends on your cycle length and how often you test, but many people use somewhere between 8 and 15 in a regular cycle. That's once a day at first and twice a day around the surge. At that rate, the 50 strips in this kit last about three cycles. Longer or irregular cycles use more.

Can I use Easy@Home ovulation strips if I have PCOS?

You can, but read the results with care. With PCOS, LH is often high at baseline and can surge more than once without ovulation following, so strips may read positive for days. A monitor that measures PdG, like Inito, can confirm whether ovulation actually happened, and it's worth involving your provider. Our guide to how PCOS affects fertility covers what else helps.

Is Easy@Home better than Clearblue digital ovulation tests?

They measure the same hormone, LH. The difference is how you read the result. Easy@Home strips cost far less per test but ask you to compare two lines, which the Premom app makes easier. Clearblue Digital gives a yes-or-no smiley face for a higher price. Neither one confirms that ovulation happened.

How accurate are Easy@Home ovulation and pregnancy test strips?

Easy@Home reports 99% accuracy under lab conditions. In real life, timing matters most. LH strips can give false positives, especially with PCOS, and pregnancy strips can miss a pregnancy if you test too early. Testing at the right time of day, and pairing LH results with cervical mucus, makes a bigger difference than the brand of strip.