Not-Too-Clear Blue (Clearblue One Minute Pregnancy Test)

Member Name: Mrs-LT

Product:	Clearblue One Minute Pregnancy Test
Date:	02/04/09 (603 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Overpriced, unclear, gimmicky

This is probably the best known pregnancy test, due to the regular TV advertising the manufacturers have done. However, it is also the most expensive by a very, very long way! A single test costs just under £9, or you can get a double pack for £11.99 from Boots. This is hideously expensive when you consider that for less than £5 you can get 2 Asda tests and they do exactly the same job!

You can buy these tests from loads of places - I have seen them in Boots, Asda, Tesco, Superdrug and Sainsburys to name just a few. The price tends to be similar wherever you look.

They may be a trusted brand, but when you scour the internet it is littered with complaints and reviews of them commenting on the relatively high number of false positive results that women have had from the Clearblue tests. While I have no personal experience of this, I am considerably put off by this plus the extortionate price tag. Having tried almost every pregnancy test on the market (from the £1 shop ones upwards), this was the most expensive and the one I liked the least. I would definately not purchase it again in the future.

It comes in a distinctive blue box with instructions on a leaflet inside and a foil-wrapped text. You remove the cap off the dipstick end and hold it in your urine stream for 10 seconds. After 5 seconds the end turns pink to show it is working, and you are supposed to keep in in the stream for a further 5 seconds then replace the cap and wait for your results. The idea of the end turning pink sounds good, but in reality it is a gimmick. None of the other tests I have used have done this, and it is not something I have found to be a problem. I found the pink colour change odd if anything, and certainly not reassuring. I think it is actually just unncessary.

As for the results windows - one is round (result) and the other is a smaller diamond shape (control line). The test is read by a positive + in the test window or a negative - if you are not pregnant. The control line (to show the test has worked) is a vertical line. The lines are blue, which is unusual as other tests all seem to have purple/pink lines. I found the colour to be less clear than other brands which is another thing I did not like about it.

Also, despite claims to give one minute response I found this to be the slowest test I have ever tried in terms of the length of time before the control line appeared. I am sure it was under the claaimed one minute slot but the other cheaper tests which do not make this claim still give more rapid results.

In short, this test is full of gimmicks, but it actually not that good.

Summary: Not worth the extra money, stick to own brand tests!