The OvaCue unit was provided to me in exchange for review. A positive review was not guaranteed, and all opinions are my own.

What is OvaCue?

Ovacue is a fertility monitor that uses the electrolyte method to determine the specific days of your cycle that you will be most fertile. It consists of a small, handheld device, spoon-like oral sensor, and optional vaginal sensor.

How does it work?

Starting on day 2 of your menstrual cycle, you turn the monitor on, connect the oral sensor, press the “O” button, place the sensor on the tip of your tongue, and allow the device to take the reading. It will give you a number between 0 and 399, which corresponds to the electrolytes in your saliva. The reading is stored on the device via internal memory, and will display a certain color code on the calendar screen which lets you easily see which days you are most fertile. The days start out gray (no data), move to white (not fertile) and start changing to blue the closer you get to ovulation. The darker the blue, the closer you are.

The device determines your fertile window by looking at your own personal electrolyte trends. Specifically, it looks for a high reading followed by 2 lower readings. (3 days of readings.) This cue peak shows that you are on the way to ovulation. You can verify ovulation by using the optional vaginal sensor. The vaginal sensor works in conjunction with the oral sensor to pinpoint ovulation. You start using the vaginal sensor the day after your period ends. Leading up to ovulation, the vaginal sensor will show a downward trend in readings, and once ovulation occurs, there will be a sharp rise. The calendar will show a pink day to confirm ovulation.

Ovacue comes with a very detailed instruction booklet. This is just an overview of how it works. I strongly suggest reading the manual a couple of times to fully understand how it works. You can also contact customer service with any questions- they are AWESOME.

What do I think of it?

Well, truth be told- I love it. The best thing about it is that you don’t need to pee on anything! I don’t know about you, but I really dislike OPK’s because I’m always scared I’ll dump my pee cup. It was super easy to remember to do it, and literally takes less than 5 seconds to get the reading.

If I had any questions, I knew I could contact customer service and they’d answer very quickly. There’s also the OvaGraph forums, where OvaCue specialists are there to help you. You can also chart your cycle there, which is nice! I’ve only come across one other cycle charting site that allows you to enter your OvaCue readings, but it’s nice to have it all in one place.

OvaCue can be used by anyone. Whether you have a normal, textbook 28 day cycle, or irregular, all over the place cycles. It doesn’t measure you against anyone else. It’s only reading trends from YOU. I have PCOS, and this is the BEST way to tell if and when you’ve ovulated. Some women with PCOS can’t even use OPK’s because they constantly have a high LH level. Since OvaCue doesn’t check for LH to determine your fertile window, women with PCOS can use it, no problem.

I would definitely recommend the OvaCue to any woman who is trying to conceive. Yes, at $249 for the monitor and oral sensor, or $329 for the monitor and both sensors, it is expensive. But it is WELL worth it. If you consider the cost of OPK’s, or the fertility monitors that take sticks, plus buying more sticks every month… it’s going to work out to be less expensive in the long run. No interpreting lines, no peeing on things, no questions.