Following a miscarriage about six months ago I was looking for some cheap pregnancy tests that would allow me to check that all the pregnancy hormones had left my body and then test in the following months to see if they had made a reappearance Although they are all designed to react to a hormone that is only present during pregnancy (HcG), the price of pregnancy tests can vary wildly, with the most expensive retailing at upwards of £10. The One Step pregnancy tests fall at the other end of the scale, I picked up 100 from Amazon for the ridiculously low price of just £8.95, making them less than 10p each.

As with all pregnancy tests, these very basic test strips detect HcG (human chorionic gonadotropin), which is a hormone that is generally only secreted during pregnancy. However unlike the majority of test that will give a positive when levels reach 25,50 or even 100miu, these tests are ultra sensitive and can give a positive result when there is only 10miu of HcG present, meaning that they can be used earlier than the majority of tests. The flip side to both the lower price and higher sensitivity is that these tests are very basic and the actual instructions are minimal.

The tests themselves are supplied in foil packaging, with each package containing a single test along with a sachet of silica that will help keep it dry. The packages are easy to open and are printed with very basic instructions. We are told to dip the test in urine but not told how long for and are informed of what a positive, negative and invalid result looks like. Unlike far more expensive tests these small thin strips cannot be used by being held in a stream of urine, they need to be dipped and so you will need a small clean pot to pee in. Personally I have a special pot that I keep for this purpose, but a plastic disposable cup would do the job as well as anything else. Looking on the Amazon web page, the seller states that these tests can be used any time of day from four days before your period is due, but for most people the best time to take these tests is first thing in the morning. I'm strange though and get best results about lunchtime.

Once the pee is in the pot, the stick needs to be dipped in to absorb the urine and it's not only obvious which way round it goes, but also how far with the clear maximum line. Although there are no instructions telling me how long to dip, I generally hold it in the urine for approximately 15 seconds and then lay it on a flat surface to work it's magic (the foil pack is perfect for protecting whatever you are placing it on from yellow stains). Within minutes a pink tide can be seen making it's way up the stick leaving either one or two lines in it's wake. In some cases results can be read instantly, but if the levels of HcG are very low it can take up to ten minutes for the results to reveal themselves. However the test should not be read after this time as it is possible for evaporation lines to appear. Once those ten minutes are up one of three results is possible, if there are two lines viable, no matter how faint the second line then it is positive. If there is only one line and it is closest to the handle (rather than the dipping end) then it is negative. The final result is a faulty test and this is when there are no lines or only one line and it's closest to the dipping end.

Over the last 6 months I have used all 100 of these tests and must say that not once have I had an invalid result and neither have I had an evaporation line (this is where a grey line can appear). I've always preferred red dye tests to blue as I find they are less prone to these evaporation lines and easier to read when the positive line is very faint, so I was glad that these use red dye. While many will find the fact that these are dip sticks a disadvantage, I prefer this method and even dip those posh wand sticks rather than holding them in a stream of pee. When the results have been negative, this has been very obvious, with stark white where the second line would have been, so far so good.

The spiel on Amazon states that these tests are 99% accurate when used four days before your period is due, but I have found them even more sensitive than that. I recently began to feel a little bit icky six days before the witch was due to make an appearance and decided to use one of these tests. This was about midday (which is the best time for me to test), and just before the ten minutes was up a very faint second line appeared. I will admit that it was very difficult to see the line but it was there. Not believing the result, I tried another test (this is where the fact they were only 10p each becomes a real boon) and again there was a second line. Over the next three days I must have tested every time I peed, with the line getting steadily darker, until I was confident enough to try a more expensive test which confirmed the result. So despite being ridiculously cheap these tests are accurate, with both negative and positive results. In fact my only problem with these tests is that as I have recently suffered a loss and got a positive so early, I have needed to continue to POAS (Pee On A Stick) regularly to ensure that the line is darkening daily and these don't seem to go as dark as some other tests, but they are cheap enough to make sure the line isn't getting any lighter. It's very early days yet, but these cheap and cheerful tests have certainly given me peace of mind that everything is on track.

Although very basic these tests do exactly what it says on the tin, that is give a very early indicator of pregnancy. I used these tests to "test out" a miscarriage and then each month to see if I had managed to catch the egg. Until this month I had always got negative results, which were correct as I wasn't pregnant. This month I got a very faint line 6 days before AF was due and this line got progressively darker. I will say that the point at which they refused to darken further was a little earlier than other tests, but these are perfect for POAS addicts.