Since I had difficulties with the diva-cup, I thought I'd try a different cup, so I got an orange ladycup, size large. My diva-cup is size small, and it is the older model. I heard that ladycup is a softer material, so I thought that might make removal easier. I decided to get the large, as that is closer to the capacity of the small divacup - I didn't want to have more leakage than with the diva.
So, this period, I tried the ladycup for the first time. Normally I use an extreme 7-fold ("triangle"-fold, as someone else called it) for insertion, but when I did that with the lady-cup, it did not open up. I guess because it is softer than the diva, it doesn't pop open as easily; maybe also because it is a bit wider. Since it did not pop open, I tried to pull it back out, which I did not succeed at, but while doing that, it did open up. So then I just left it in.
Removal however, was awful. It took me about 40 minutes to remove the lady-cup! By then, my hand was hurting, and my back was achy from being bent over for so long. The problem was that even though I was able to reach the bottom of the cup (the same as with the the diva), when I tried to pull/twist on it, it did not budge - my fingers just kept slipping off. The divacup has a thicker part at the base of the cup which gives me leverage; I can hold onto that thicker part while squeezing and pulling on it. But the lady-cup does not have that thicker part; when I press it together at the base, it just goes flat and when I pull, my fingers just slip off. My fingers aren't long enough to break the seal until I've been able to pull the cup down somewhat.
So now I am afraid of trying the ladycup again. I don't want to go through all that trouble again. Guess I'll stick with the diva.
A tip I wanted to mention, for cleaning the diva's small holes, is to stretch the rim of the cup by holding it with both hands and pulling outward, while holding it under the stream of water. This stretches the holes open wider, and the water running through gets them clean for me.