Did I break it-break it, or just break it?
February 19, 2008 6:58 AM   Subscribe

Small gadgets filter: Did I cause irreparable harm to my Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor? A fall from the window ledge has cracked the screen. (Knowledge of the actual fertility monitor helpful, but might not be required.)

So, in a fit of clumsy this morning, I knocked the monitor off the window ledge. It landed on the top, right corner and damaged the screen area. The screen is made of the material that I see in most simple calculators screens. There are a few cracks and some small black blobs, like a drop of ink has smeared. The cracks are limited to the screen and do not appear on the white parts of the gadget.

The screen still comes on and is, for the most part, still readable. The only info that doesn't seem to show up well anymore is the day of the cycle, which I could keep track of on my own. All of the hormone monitoring bits are on the other side of the machine. I don't know what kind of relay system is in place to get the information about the hormones to the screen.

Anyone have experience with similar machines? If the screen cracked, is it likely that other bits that I can't see were damaged as well? Anyone dropped/cracked theirs and still found it usable? Can I trust that the machine would display the error code (FAQ #20) if there was a break outside of the obvious one to the display screen?

Sure, dropping another $200 bucks is the best way to ensure that I have a working monitor, but it's still $200 bucks that would be better utilized in the savings account we've got going for the anticipated baby.
posted by wg to Technology (5 answers total)
 
If the display is showing actual data then you probably just cracked the screen. I wouldn't worry about it.
posted by zeoslap at 7:13 AM on February 19, 2008


Agree with zeoslap. Sounds like you just damaged the screen and not the parts that read the sticks.

Good luck!
posted by tigerjade at 7:26 AM on February 19, 2008


If you're actually trying to get pregnant, what's the worst than can happen?
If it were properly broken, I imagine you wouldn't get anything at all out of it, if the numbers look like what you would expect then its probably fine.
posted by missmagenta at 8:05 AM on February 19, 2008


It is likely that the data is still correct, and you just can't see it.

However, the screen is likely to get worse with time.
posted by qvtqht at 11:06 AM on February 19, 2008


Agreeing with all here, just a bit of extra info: the screen type is called LCD. It varies from screen to screen, but some of them take very little impact to cause them to "spider web".

The impact you described doesn't sound like it damaged any of the electronics inside. It works on the same concept of smashing a computer screen: just because the screen is broken doesn't mean the computer itself has stopped working, and in your case, you can still read enough to the data to be able to continue to use the device!
posted by Stilus at 3:00 PM on February 20, 2008


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