Fertility Tracker by Ava: Is It Effective?
The Ava Fertility Tracker is a wearable device designed to help women predict their fertile days and aid in conception planning. Here's a closer look at its benefits, limitations, and key features.
Benefits:
- Accurate Basal Body Temperature (BBT) tracking: Ava collects hours of temperature data while you sleep, offering a more precise measurement compared to a single daily BBT reading with a thermometer.
- Multiple physiological metrics: Ava tracks six additional metrics, providing a comprehensive view of fertility-related data.
- Ease of use and comfort: The wearable design is comfortable, and the user-friendly app interface allows easy logging of cycle data and fertility symptoms.
- Helpful for women with PCOS: Ava is particularly useful for women experiencing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), who often have higher baseline levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) that can cause false positives in hormone-based ovulation tests.
- FDA-cleared: Ava is the only wearable fertility tracker currently FDA-cleared, ensuring a certain level of regulatory oversight and credibility.
- Cost-effective long term: Although initially expensive, it can save money on monthly test strips used in hormone-based ovulation kits.
Limitations:
- High price point: Ava is more costly upfront compared to some other fertility tracking methods.
- Battery life limited: The battery lasts only for one night and requires daily charging, which could be inconvenient.
- Strap adjustment issues: Users may find the bracelet strap somewhat difficult to adjust properly.
- Less accurate than hormone tracking for some: While BBT-based, it may be generally less accurate than hormone-monitoring ovulation devices for predicting fertile days.
- Wearable dependency: Requires wearing the device every night for best results, which may not suit everyone’s preference.
Despite some limitations, Ava is a sophisticated and user-friendly wearable fertility tracker best suited for women looking for non-invasive monitoring, especially those with irregular cycles like PCOS. However, its higher price and device maintenance requirements may be limiting factors for some users.
Negative reviews mention inaccurate ovulation prediction, difficulty syncing data between the device and the Ava app, a bright light during the night, and broken bands.
The Ava Fertility Tracker can be ordered online through the company's website, with three packages available: Basic, Plus, and Premium. Ava offers a 1-year limited warranty on manufacturing defects.
The device currently ships to the United States, Canada, and certain countries in the European Union, as well as Switzerland and Lichenstein. It needs to gather enough data in a given cycle to assess the cycle's pattern accurately, which can take around six days after a person's estimated ovulation date. If a person does not wear the device regularly, it may return inaccurate results.
To use the device, a person needs to charge the pod, download the Ava app, connect the device to the app via Bluetooth, and wear it for at least 4 hours during sleep. The Ava Fertility Tracker, OvuSense, and Tempdrop have different prices, measurements, ways of use, and accuracy claims. It's essential to discuss fertility strategies and planning for pregnancy with a healthcare professional before making a purchase.
- The Ava Fertility Tracker, being a health-and-wellness device, is beneficial for pregnant women as it accurately tracks Basal Body Temperature (BBT) and multiple physiological metrics, providing a comprehensive view of fertility-related data.
- For women emphasizing fitness-and-exercise and emphasis on overall wellness, the Ava Fertility Tracker can be a suitable choice due to its ease of use and user-friendly app interface that allows easy logging of cycle data and fertility symptoms.
- The Ava Fertility Tracker, a wearable device specifically designed for womens-health purposes, offers not only fertility benefits but also cost savings in the long run by eliminating the need for monthly test strips used in hormone-based ovulation kits.
