What is the difference between the Nikon Coolpix s203 and the s230?
The Nikon Coolpix s203 and the s230 are the same camera. However, they have different model numbers so that they can be packaged with different accessories. The Nikon s203 does not appear on Nikon.com but is sold at Target stores and on Target.com. In November 2009, the Nikon Coolpix s203 was sold in Target stores for $139.99. On Nov. 27, 2009, the s203 was offered on sale at Target as a Black Friday doorbuster for $88.00. Wal-Mart stores were selling the s230 at a discounted price but granted customers with the Target advertisement a price match on the s230 for $88. According to Target.com, the s203 only comes with a rechargeable battery as opposed to the s230 which includes: a battery charger, a cord to hook the camera to a TV for viewing and a cord for uploading photos from the camera to a computer.
The Jill Fellow experience: I woke up at 4:15 a.m. to get to Wal-mart and buy a Coolpix s230 at $88 because I thought the Target ad about a s203 was a misprint. My friend got the last one and waited in line for 2 hours to buy it. She had to have the Target ad to get the price, but the sales clerk did not notice the difference in numbers on the sheet. On the way home we noticed that the camera in the picture on the Target ad specificaly said s203. We stopped at another Wal-mart and found a camera for me. I got the $88 price. I felt guilty, so I called Wal-mart later that day to make sure I did not cheat the system. I was finally transferred to a manager in electronic who explained that the cameras are the same but have different model numbers for bundling purposes. He told me not to worry because the cameras were the same. There was no need to come pay more.
SaveonTests.com
Are the ovulation and pregnancy tests at SaveonTests.com really the cheapest?
The Jill Fellow Answer
It depends on how many tests you need and what kind you want, but in most cases SaveOnTests is close to if not the cheapest place to buy tests. The other very cheap site is BabyCreation. Here is the info to help understand these sites and their products.
There are three formats that both LH (ovulation) and hCG (pregnancy) tests come in. Most familiarly, there is the midstream test, which has a handle and a nice little case. These are most commonly the kind people buy in a box at the store. At a normal store, versions of these tests cost anywhere from $7 to $20, and the tests sometimes come with up to three in a pack. These tests are user-friendly and can be held in urine as it comes out or dipped into a cup of urine. LH tests or OPK tests take about 3 to 8 minutes to complete, and hCG or pregnancy tests in this format take about 30 seconds (even though the box says 3 to 5 minutes.)
The other two formats besides mid-stream sticks are dip strips and cassettes. The strips are basically a mid-stream test without the fancy plastic packaging. They need to be dipped in to the urine because they are not stiff and straight like a mid-stream stick. The tests take a little longer to complete than mid-stream sticks, according to the directions. These tests are cheap, but are not really ever sold in stores.
And then cassette tests are basically mini mid-stream sticks that come with a droper to help you drop 3 to 5 drops of urine into the little whole on the stick to start the test. The test is finished within seconds of the drops hitting the test (although the box says in will take a few minutes.) Cassette for OPK's and Pregnancy test are commonly found at dollar stores. They are a cheap little test in a lot of packaging. They are not fancy, but have more bulk to them than a strip. (Some doctors offices have reporter less than perfect results from dollar store OPK's.)
The Save on Tests Web site and most cheap test Web sites sell all three versions of both kinds of tests. At most sites the tests get cheaper per tests if you buy in bulk BUT at Save on Tests the shipping also goes up based on how many tests you buy. This is the tricky part. Most cheap test Web sites are in the business of selling the test stripes because they are the cheapest for them to buy and the cheapest to ship. So a few sites charge a lot more for shipping the sticks than they do for the strips. The sites that offer free shipping have much higher costs on all the products, so it can be tricky to see what kind of deal you are getting. Buyers have to use calculators to get all the numbers straight. And if shipping is higher for sticks or cassettes, a buyer can get stuck buying strips when they feel more comfortable using another format.
But, all this said, even with its crazy high shipping costs, Save on Tests has the cheapest OPK's and Pregnancy tests most of the time, however, a newer and cleaner-looking site called Baby Creation can be cheaper for some combinations of purchases because shipping is a flat rate of either $2 or $4.50 depending on speed.
The Save on Tests site says the products ship to the United States in 5 to 10 days, which should give most women time to get their period, realize they'll need another months supply of tests, go online, order and receive their tests just in time to start testing for their LH surge in the next cycle. The Baby Creation site says that the $2 shipping usually takes 3 to 5 days but could take as many as 10 based on postal delays, and that the $4.50 shipping usually takes 2 to 3 but could take as many as 5.
To check prices and products at these and other cheap test Web sites, visit:
http://www.babycreation.com Simple site -- very good prices and cheap shipping. Amazing price and shipping on high numbers of test strips. (25 test strips with shipping for $10.)
http://www.saveontests.com/index.htm Best prices on tests, but expensive shipping based on number of items purchased
http://www.early-pregnancy-tests.com Expensive tests, but makes up for it with free shipping for most orders
http://www.testsforless.com Not less at all. Very expensive mid-stream tests and not comparable at all for strips (compare $22 at SaveOnTests.com to $38 at this site for 25 OPK and 10 pregnancy tests stripes)
http://www.accuratepregnancytests.com Almost of a complete copy of SaveOnTests with the same shipping but higher prices (even on strips.)
PRICE COMPARISON EXAMPLE
For $20 mid-stream OPK sticks and 10 mid-stream pregnancy test sticks with the cheapest shipping offered:
http://www.saveontests.com/index.htm $51
http://www.babycreation.com $52
http://www.early-pregnancy-tests.com $62 (includes free same-day shipping)
http://www.accuratepregnancytests.com $62
http://www.testsforless.com $78
The Jill Fellow Experience
I used OPK's for the first time to prepare for my first inter uterine insemination. I spent more than $20 on my first kit of 7 sticks, and I decided I would not do that again. The second box I bought for that cycle was a 7-stick kit for about $12, which is a good deal. But I am crazy, and I like to pee on a stick anytime I want without care of money. I like to use two OPK sticks a day if I feel like it, and I like to test for pregnancy long before I could ever get a positive result. I also like to look at the test for 5 minutes and see if I can see the crease where the test line would have turned pick. I like to analyze the shadows on the test lines and all that Jazz. I am out of my mind. But that is my right because I am infertile. So all month that first month, I kept thinking that the only positive part about getting a negative Pregnancy test on day 14 of my luteul phase would be that I could go to a cool cheap test Web site and get as many tests as I wanted for the price I was already paying for just a few.
Alas, I got to hold on to this one glimmer of happiness when I, in fact, did get my period that month. I went to Save on Test.com assuming that it would be the cheapest and not knowing that there are hundreds of these sites. I think the Pee on a Stick Web site has links to this, so I was trusting. I enjoyed picking out my tests and quantities, but I wanted to gag when I saw that my shipping was going to be $12. I ended up changing these around and getting strip pregnancy tests since I know that there is no funny business with a hCG test and stick OPK's since I am still learning and nervous with these tests.
I was really pissed that the shipping was so much. I took some time to check a few other sites, but I quickly realized all the time I was spending would just make them seem even more expensive (because my time is in fact valuable and precious, right?). I settled for Save on Tests after a few other test site were more expensive. I begrudgingly ordered my tests.
The next day I accidentally found a site called Baby Creation. The prices on the two sites are very close, but it just so happened that the order I got pressured into at Save on Tests was actually cheaper at Baby Creation. However the original order I had wanted at Save on Tests was cheaper at Save on Tests. It looks like these two sites are good competition for each other but miles ahead of all the other sites.
More Information about Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPK's)
Visit the OPK post on this site
The Jill Fellow Answer
It depends on how many tests you need and what kind you want, but in most cases SaveOnTests is close to if not the cheapest place to buy tests. The other very cheap site is BabyCreation. Here is the info to help understand these sites and their products.
There are three formats that both LH (ovulation) and hCG (pregnancy) tests come in. Most familiarly, there is the midstream test, which has a handle and a nice little case. These are most commonly the kind people buy in a box at the store. At a normal store, versions of these tests cost anywhere from $7 to $20, and the tests sometimes come with up to three in a pack. These tests are user-friendly and can be held in urine as it comes out or dipped into a cup of urine. LH tests or OPK tests take about 3 to 8 minutes to complete, and hCG or pregnancy tests in this format take about 30 seconds (even though the box says 3 to 5 minutes.)
The other two formats besides mid-stream sticks are dip strips and cassettes. The strips are basically a mid-stream test without the fancy plastic packaging. They need to be dipped in to the urine because they are not stiff and straight like a mid-stream stick. The tests take a little longer to complete than mid-stream sticks, according to the directions. These tests are cheap, but are not really ever sold in stores.
And then cassette tests are basically mini mid-stream sticks that come with a droper to help you drop 3 to 5 drops of urine into the little whole on the stick to start the test. The test is finished within seconds of the drops hitting the test (although the box says in will take a few minutes.) Cassette for OPK's and Pregnancy test are commonly found at dollar stores. They are a cheap little test in a lot of packaging. They are not fancy, but have more bulk to them than a strip. (Some doctors offices have reporter less than perfect results from dollar store OPK's.)
The Save on Tests Web site and most cheap test Web sites sell all three versions of both kinds of tests. At most sites the tests get cheaper per tests if you buy in bulk BUT at Save on Tests the shipping also goes up based on how many tests you buy. This is the tricky part. Most cheap test Web sites are in the business of selling the test stripes because they are the cheapest for them to buy and the cheapest to ship. So a few sites charge a lot more for shipping the sticks than they do for the strips. The sites that offer free shipping have much higher costs on all the products, so it can be tricky to see what kind of deal you are getting. Buyers have to use calculators to get all the numbers straight. And if shipping is higher for sticks or cassettes, a buyer can get stuck buying strips when they feel more comfortable using another format.
But, all this said, even with its crazy high shipping costs, Save on Tests has the cheapest OPK's and Pregnancy tests most of the time, however, a newer and cleaner-looking site called Baby Creation can be cheaper for some combinations of purchases because shipping is a flat rate of either $2 or $4.50 depending on speed.
The Save on Tests site says the products ship to the United States in 5 to 10 days, which should give most women time to get their period, realize they'll need another months supply of tests, go online, order and receive their tests just in time to start testing for their LH surge in the next cycle. The Baby Creation site says that the $2 shipping usually takes 3 to 5 days but could take as many as 10 based on postal delays, and that the $4.50 shipping usually takes 2 to 3 but could take as many as 5.
To check prices and products at these and other cheap test Web sites, visit:
http://www.babycreation.com Simple site -- very good prices and cheap shipping. Amazing price and shipping on high numbers of test strips. (25 test strips with shipping for $10.)
http://www.saveontests.com/index.htm Best prices on tests, but expensive shipping based on number of items purchased
http://www.early-pregnancy-tests.com Expensive tests, but makes up for it with free shipping for most orders
http://www.testsforless.com Not less at all. Very expensive mid-stream tests and not comparable at all for strips (compare $22 at SaveOnTests.com to $38 at this site for 25 OPK and 10 pregnancy tests stripes)
http://www.accuratepregnancytests.com Almost of a complete copy of SaveOnTests with the same shipping but higher prices (even on strips.)
PRICE COMPARISON EXAMPLE
For $20 mid-stream OPK sticks and 10 mid-stream pregnancy test sticks with the cheapest shipping offered:
http://www.saveontests.com/index.htm $51
http://www.babycreation.com $52
http://www.early-pregnancy-tests.com $62 (includes free same-day shipping)
http://www.accuratepregnancytests.com $62
http://www.testsforless.com $78
The Jill Fellow Experience
I used OPK's for the first time to prepare for my first inter uterine insemination. I spent more than $20 on my first kit of 7 sticks, and I decided I would not do that again. The second box I bought for that cycle was a 7-stick kit for about $12, which is a good deal. But I am crazy, and I like to pee on a stick anytime I want without care of money. I like to use two OPK sticks a day if I feel like it, and I like to test for pregnancy long before I could ever get a positive result. I also like to look at the test for 5 minutes and see if I can see the crease where the test line would have turned pick. I like to analyze the shadows on the test lines and all that Jazz. I am out of my mind. But that is my right because I am infertile. So all month that first month, I kept thinking that the only positive part about getting a negative Pregnancy test on day 14 of my luteul phase would be that I could go to a cool cheap test Web site and get as many tests as I wanted for the price I was already paying for just a few.
Alas, I got to hold on to this one glimmer of happiness when I, in fact, did get my period that month. I went to Save on Test.com assuming that it would be the cheapest and not knowing that there are hundreds of these sites. I think the Pee on a Stick Web site has links to this, so I was trusting. I enjoyed picking out my tests and quantities, but I wanted to gag when I saw that my shipping was going to be $12. I ended up changing these around and getting strip pregnancy tests since I know that there is no funny business with a hCG test and stick OPK's since I am still learning and nervous with these tests.
I was really pissed that the shipping was so much. I took some time to check a few other sites, but I quickly realized all the time I was spending would just make them seem even more expensive (because my time is in fact valuable and precious, right?). I settled for Save on Tests after a few other test site were more expensive. I begrudgingly ordered my tests.
The next day I accidentally found a site called Baby Creation. The prices on the two sites are very close, but it just so happened that the order I got pressured into at Save on Tests was actually cheaper at Baby Creation. However the original order I had wanted at Save on Tests was cheaper at Save on Tests. It looks like these two sites are good competition for each other but miles ahead of all the other sites.
More Information about Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPK's)
Visit the OPK post on this site
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