Is a Midstream or Strip Pregnancy test Better?

Good question, is a midstream or strip pregnancy test better? To be honest it isn’t down to better or worse, but to personal preference. According to research 95% of women prefer midstream or in-stream tests.

What’s Good and Bad About Midstream Pregnancy Tests?

GOOD

• You don’t get your hands wet… or have the potential to get them wet, you wee right onto the test
• The test lines are pretty big and therefore easy to see, especially if you wear glasses!
• Midstream tests are available in digital or analog versions, digital can be handy if you are unsure if you have a line or not
• Anywhere you can buy a pregnancy test they have midstream versions available

BAD

• Depending on which tests you buy you can end up spending a fortune on tests, as most brands don’t usually sell packs larger than 3
• The majority, ok all except ours, have a hard plastic case that takes 20-30 years to breakdown in landfill

What’s Good and Bad About Strip Pregnancy tests?

GOOD

• They use far less plastic than a traditional midstream pregnancy test (unless you buy our Hoopsy test!)
• You can buy them in bulk (eg pack of 25) which makes them much cheaper on a per test basis

BAD

• You have to wee in a container to catch the urine for testing, which means a) more chance of getting wee on your hands (if that bothers you) and b) you need to find a container and wash it up afterward
• The strip tests are tiny, approx 7-9cm long by 0.4cm wide, which makes the lines harder to see, plus fiddly to pick up and easy to drop
• Not every retail store carries strip tests, so usually you need to buy them online

Is a Midstream or Strip Pregnancy test better?

It comes down to personal preference:

• Whether you are worried about getting wee on your hands or in a container that you own when using the strip test
• If you have bad eyes and need the bigger lines of a midstream test or can read the small lines on a strip test
• If you are a bit clumsy you might not cope with the strip tests
• Your budget, if you are addicted to peeing on a stick, strip tests are probably the way to go unless you have a BIG bank account! The lady in this article used 650 tests, which would be a lot of $$$$$$

So which way do you go? Personally, when I was testing last year I used midstream tests, mostly because they were less fiddly, and I often dipped them in urine I collected because I felt it was easier to make sure that I had actually got it in the urine! Sometimes it can be hard to see with midstream tests.