Hmm, I can't answer the poll because I haven't had to replace my cup yet?

To answer your question, though: my first cup (small Meluna) works fine, but didn't have the capacity I needed, so I got a second (large Lunette) for the heavier days. It's still a little under-capacity though, so if I ever replace it I'll probably upgrade to a large Diva or Fleurcup.

You can answer questions selectively.

My first and only cup works very well most of the time, I'm not looking for a replacement as such but I'm looking to try something different (slightly shorter, the first one is as long as I can accomodate) and maybe start a little cup family of 2 to 4 cups. :)

My first cup, a small Lunette, worked fairly well (not hard to insert or remove, no leaking) but wasn't the most comfortable. I felt the pressure from the cup as a continuous, very mild cramping. I went for a smaller, softer cup next (small LadyCup), and I can barely feel it when it's in. No leaking issues, although it holds less so I can only go about 6-8 hours on my heaviest day (as opposed to 12 with the Lunette). It pops open more easily than the Lunette, but can be harder to remove (slippery stem). Around the same time I got the LadyCup, I saw a great deal on this board for a small Fleur and small Meluna soft, so I got those as well. Both the Meluna and Fleur seem to leak a little every now and then, but are fine with a thin cloth liner as backup. The Ladycup is my go to. :-)

My first cup worked well (Ladycup) but started chafing me sometimes.
My second cup works perfectly (Fleurcup).

I think that many of us use the first cup to learn what we need, and the second one is a much more informed choice for that reason. Unless, of course, the first one happens to work fine.

My first cup was the Diva. It works just fine for me. I have a few hang ups but nothing that makes it breaks it for me. When money isn't so tight I may invest in "the perfect cup". So I guess I may still be on the search but am quite happy with my current cup. :)

I have my first cup, a diva cup, that I still use because it is a hassle to get another type of cup ordered and sent here to Canada. If I had the extr money
I would get a different one.

I have a small Lunette that's not working for me. I don't have the money to spend on a different style right now. It makes me feel really ill when I use it, probably from touching my cervix. I have no idea at this point if any will work for me!

Don't lose hope! I don't know how you feel about "gently used" cups, but there is a community associated with this one, link on the sidebar, where ladies sell their gently/barely used cups at great prices. Never hurts to check it out.

My first cup was a small MCUK, because that's the only cup available in shops in the UK. I did lots of mooncup googling, but only found out there were other brands through this comm AFTER I had bought and struggled to use my MCUK! :(

I now use a small Lunette and a large Fleurcup with no problems (both solved the low capacity, stem and stiffness issues of my MCUK) :)

My first cup was a Diva, and it was fine. It took me a little while to figure out how to make it work for me, but eventually it did, and if the Diva were the only cup in the world, I'd still be using it nad faitly happy. Still, I found it slightly uncomfortable by the end of my period (still more comfortable than the alternatives, but not perfect) and it took a bit of finagling to pop open. So, I wanted a cup that was slightly shorter and firmer. I tried the Mooncup UK and like the firmness and length, but the grip ridges still chafed a little, so I went for the Mooncup US, and that's what I've been using ever since. All three cups worked just fine for me in terms of leakage and being more comfortable than pads or tampons, but it took three cups to find my perfect cup. I still keep my Diva and Mooncup UK as backups.

I bought a small MCUK first, and it's still my primary cup. However, I won a small Meluna soft, which is great for when I'm waiting for my period to start (I can be waiting for 2 weeks, so it's comfier!) and at the end of my period.
I'm happy with them, but if I was to have a "dream" cup it would be the small Meluna soft with the small MCUK capacity haha.

My first cup was a large Diva and when it turned out to be too long, that's when I created the size charts and guidelines so that others wouldn't have to choose a cup by trial and error like I did.

My second cup was a small Lunette. I'm still not sure why it fit me so poorly -- but it did.

My third cup is a large UK Mooncup that I bought second hand in the last seconds of an ebay auction only because no one else wanted it. Except for the wide flared rim, its body is even narrower than the small Lunette. I don't know why -- but it fits me great. Because it has a fairly low capacity, I use it as my light days cup.

Along the way, I got a box of Insteads. They're messy and leak on anything but light/spotty days. I never tried them for PIV but I don't think they'd be comfortable for either of us. But I occasionally use them to administer YI treatments.

My fourth cup is a large Lunette and I LOVE it. But sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't like a large Fleurcup better only because it's a little squishier.

My latest cup should arrive in the next few days. It's a small Mini MeLuna that I want to experiment with for making whoopee. PIV makes me spot sometimes and I think it's rude to bleed on my husband. ;o) Will it be tiny enough for him not to notice it? NOTE: For those of you thinking it, I don't think a cup would make a good cervical cap for pregnancy prevention. It is not shaped right to form a secure enough seal. And it has anti-suction holes through which sperm can enter.

For my first cup, I researched pretty well, using size charts and everything. It was a classic medium meluna. It fit my body but couldn't handle my heavy flow days. Looking back, I really had no idea how much I even bled.

I bought a large lunette for my next cup, researching as usual. But by the time I was using it, I went back on the pill and it slowed my flow to a crawl. Since the meluna is much more comfortable, I'm using that now. So technically, I got it right on my first cup.

I also have a small mini meluna that I'd occasionally use for cervical fluid, but obviously I won't be getting any eggwhites on the pill.

My first cup (a medium MINI Meluna) was, and is, my Goldilocks cup.

However, I bought 2 more cups as backup. I have one at the office in case of "surprises", and the other in my earthquake grab-and-go kit.

So when I answered your question about buying more, it didn't imply any dissatisfaction with the original cup. I mention this because high counts in that section of the poll could be taken by the casual reader to imply that we had to try many different cups before finding the "right" one. In my case, at least, multiple cups = high satisfaction!

P.S. The reason I did so well in my first choice is due to two things: (1) the helpfulness of this comm in helping me narrow down my choice to the right cup for me, and (2) the fact that someone on mc_sales was selling a medium MINI Meluna at just the right time :-)

Edited at 2012-07-13 06:13 pm (UTC)

one and only large luna for 7 years now. When I got it it was the only one around. all you youngsters get choices. #getoffmylawn =)

I basically need a cup that defies the laws of physics: one with the length and width dimensions near a small Lady Cup but with capacity equal to or greater than a large Fleur or Yuuki. :P

i voted for "it's perfect" because i'm not in an active search. there's one cup that COULD work better for me (a small mini meluna) but i can't be bothered to try it. there's also the hope that a new cup comes out and it'll work better.

basically i know all of the options perfectly, i know which cups would work similarly to those i have, which could possibly work better (there's little evidence for that...just no reason to think it won't work), and when new cups come out i can quickly decide whether i'm interested or not.

as for my tries, the first cup was a clear "works but not well enough" and the three after it have been somewhere between the first and second category. gotta admit that if melunas were more expensive and didn't come in glitter, idk if i would've tried more than one of them. though i'd also not have got a large ladycup if i had waited just a little longer for the soft melunas to come out. (my cups are small lunette, large ladycup, medium meluna mini, small "new" meluna)

In truth, they ALL work for me fine. Well... Ok, maybe not large Yuuki, Extra large Meluna (especcially soft), or large Si Bell.

Its just because they are too wide for me. and the softer ones which are also too wide (Large Si Bell and Ex Large Meluna soft), being softer only makes it harder to pop open.

But their mediums and smalls work great for me! And all the other cup brands work too, both large and small.

I just prefer small Lunette because I have a low cervix, and I need a shorter cup, but one with decent capacity, and the shape is more comfortable for me, also its not too firm or too soft. I know that particular one may not work for everyone, but my body seems to love it.

See, my first cup ever was a small DivaCup. And although it was mostly comfortable (with the stem trimmed completely off), and it worked like magic-- I just wanted something a little shorter, because the end was always partially protruding-- again with my extremely low cervix. And I loved the grip rings! Perfect firmness for me.

Well, small Lunette was just like small Diva, only a flat step, and shorter. So that was the magic one for me :)

I think the question I hear most often (and the one that really bothers me the most! haha) is,

"Which cup is the best over all?"

And I understand that people ask me that, because I've tried almost every brand int he world. But the problem is... There is no one cup that is going to be the best over all for everyone, because we are all so different.

And when I say that, a lot of people say,

"Well I know we are all different, and bla, bla, bla... But sill, which do YOU think is best?"

And that kind of makes me feel like they think I only say that to be diplomatic, or to not insult any particular company, or maybe because I carry more than one brand... But NOOOO, lol. Honestly, there really is no one brand or size that is best for everyone.

The best thing to do, is do your research, find an experienced cup user, particularly one who has tried many brands (gosh, there are sooooo many of us out there now! lol) and ask them about the specific differences between each cup.

Doesn't hurt to give your details either-- heavy or light flow, sexually active or not, kids or no kids, very sensitive or not, etc. You don't have to know where your cervix is, but if you do, include that information. It all helps in narrowing things down.

Edited at 2012-07-13 11:17 pm (UTC)

My first cup was a Diva 2 because I needed a cup NOW and they had them at the store. It was a bear to remove (I now realize due to nervous clenching) so I found this community, searched for cups that seemed easy to remove and good capacity, and bought 4 more cups over the next 2 months. The L Fleur and L Mia are tied for best cup evah. The L MeLuna classic also gets regular action.

I've been around since we had only three cups: the rubber Keeper, the DivaCup, and the Mooncup (UK). So being in the UK, I bought a Mooncup. Took a couple of cycles learning to use it, and haven't looked back.

I think it's amazing that we have so many to choose from now, but it does get overwhelming, and sometimes I wonder how much of people's increased success rates with their second cup is from having had more practice. (Easily tested by going back to the first cup after the second one works and seeing if it's any better, I guess!). I expect the majority of cups will work okay for the majority of women, but I can definitely see the appeal in fine tuning it to get the perfect one for you.

My advice for newbies would generally be to pick one on a whim, give it a fair go (expect a learning curve!), and then you'll know in what direction to adjust if you need to.

Just to clarify my answers: the first cup I got was a small Diva and I'm perfectly happy with it and it works great, but some months later I just decided I wanted a second cup so I'd still have one if I lost it, and I got a large Lunette (even though the Diva was great, I'd heard great things about the Lunette too, and just wanted to try something different) - so my second cup wasn't a "replacement" and I'm still using both and still perfectly happy with both. Even though they're quite different in shape and squishiness, they both worked for me right away.

I tend to use the Lunette on my heavier days since it's got a slightly higher capacity, and then switch to the Diva for my lighter days, but I basically only do that because I like both and don't want to just cast one of them aside - either one of them would work fine for the whole time if necessary.

I'm a little late to the party, but, I hit the nail on the head on my first try with a small Fleurcup and I also have a large Fleurcup. :)

I too needed an immediate cup and so went for a Diva from Whole Foods. It worked perfectly from Day 1, because I had all the great information here to help me out. With the videos etc it was quite easy to be immediately successful. I bought the soft pink MeLuna just because I like pink and wanted a backup cup. It also worked perfectly the first time I used it, since I had the experience from using the Diva already. With the pink Meluna they sent a sample purple Classic, so I tried that one too.

I think they're all great and work exactly as you'd want. I use the C fold with the soft, and the punch-down with the others - they always immediately pop open. The only difference I can really find is that the soft pink may be the most comfortable and easy to remove - not that the others are difficult, however. I guess I just like having the pretty colors. . . :)

I have two melunas which I am fed up with and don't work as well as I hoped. I did quite a lot of looking around when I bought them. I went for the highest capacity number I saw.
I went to buy the yuuki. Which was not too expensive and capacity wise good for me. I did a lot of looking around for capacity sizes for cups and decided on that.
Which I'll be giving a go this month hopefully,

Edited at 2015-01-10 04:24 am (UTC)