Hellobee Boards

I used OPKs for the first time last month and people recommended to me that I just get the regular and not the advanced.

I've heard of many people that get flashing smileys for 7-10 days before getting a solid smiley with the advanced CB tests and I know (at least for me) that the super long stretches of flashing smileys would just stress me out (and at that point, they aren't really telling you anything).

I was happy with the regular CB tests.

I think whether the advanced is helpful really depends on your BD habits. By the time you get a positive OPK/solid smiley you've already missed most of your fertile window. If you're BDing frequently leading up to O and and you're mostly using the OPKs to get in one more well-timed BD or to know when your TWW starts, the regular (or internet cheapies) will do fine by you.

If you and your partner work opposite schedules, don't tend to BD often, or you otherwise really need to make a priority of scheduling sex during your fertile window... Then the advanced can be helpful for identifying the earlier part of your fertile window for you.

I think most of the bad reviews are from people who didn't follow the directions with them and then were disappointed that they didn't work anyway. You really do have to start testing on a certain cycle day, continue testing daily, and they will not work for you if you tend to have very long or irregular cycles.