Has anybody used these? Effective at all? Off Clip-on Fan Thingy

We're looking for alternatives to slathering DEET on our 7-month-old first mate. Seems like it may work for him since he doesn't move around a whole lot. Just put it near him (where he can't get to it since he's at the put everything in his mouth stage). Scattered reviews I have found are mixed.

We can't find the actual starter kits in stock anywhere around here, refills yes, fans no. The skeeters are awful bad this year!

I'm not sure of the significance, but I checked Google on the active ingredient Metofluthrin. Here's what I found....

Norm 1- is a personal outdoor insect repellent product consisting of a holder containing a replaceable cartridge insert coated with up to 50 mg of metofluthrin. The product is activated by turning on a battery powered fan to release the metofluthrin into the air surrounding the individual. The device can be worn by adults or children for up to 12 hours although a specific time is not presented on the proposed label. A time of 12 hours was used in the exposure study and was used by the Agency. There are no label restrictions on who can use the products or the use frequency.

Concerning mosquito bites and West Nile virus, Deet is the only repellent I've heard the experts recommend. We go thru it like it was koolaid, and it only works so-so. BTW, If the stuff is bad for you, I'd have been sick or dead years ago. We have no less than 10 cans of 40% Deet 'Sportsman' repellant on or around our boat at any time.

Mosquito's are attracted to your breath (C02) and your sweat. All any repellent does is attempt to mask them. I should buy one of the clip-on's and give it a test. There's no place on earth with more mosquito's than our harbor at dusk...

Good call, GFC. I should have looked up the toxicity of the active ingredient since I have access to the NIH tox database.

Here's what I found on just the first page for metofluthrin:
PAN Bad Actors are chemicals that are one or more of the following: highly acutely toxic, cholinesterase inhibitor, known/probable carcinogen, known groundwater pollutant or known reproductive or developmental toxicant. NOTE! Because there are no authoritative lists of Endocrine Disrupting (ED) chemicals, EDs are not yet considered PAN Bad Actor chemicals.

'Nuff said.

FR, have you played around w/ different % DEET products? Notice much difference between low, middle and high % products? Favorite brand?

I understand that the higher concentrations don't repel any better, but may prolong the duration of action. I believe what is recommended is around 30% DEET. Going off of memory here, so I could be way off.

NIH tox database shows DEET as being fairly safe. My concern with using it on an infant is that everything goes in his mouth - arms, feet, knees, elbows, shirt, bugs, leaves, cat poop...

I just buy the Sportsman stuff at Wally's, it's way cheaper than OFF or other 'name' brands. I believe the cheapest (and what I usually buy) is 27%, and it works fine. I have a bunch of 40% right now simply because it was on sale, so I bought a bunch of it. Last night I was putting the new license plates on the motorhome, was about 9:30, a little past "dusk", and prime-time for mosquitoes. I was getting swarmed with the things, so after getting the first plate on, I sprayed myself down with some 27 that was in my wagon. As a guesstimate, I'd say that I went from around 30 to 40 skeeters bugging me at once, to about 10. Of the 10, most would take off after landing...

The stuff does work. As for stronger, I bought some 100% Deet at Flaming Gorge once, and I think the weaker stuff actually works better. Deet is mostly a "mask" for sweat and C02, to make you 'invisible', so I don't think it actually "repels" mosquitoes much--you may be invisible to them, but if they find you, they'll bite. The weaker repellents do seem to repel them, I noticed that last night--mosquitoes would land, but most would leave.

As I'm sitting here in front of the computer, I have a small fan pointed at me. So it makes me wonder, if you're using one of those OFF clip-on's, and there's the least little bit of breeze, won't that just blow the repellent away?

And while we're talking repellents--We have a citronella "bucket" candle, about 1/2 gallon size. My thinking is: If the stuff really worked at repelling bugs, the bucket wouldn't be full of 'em...

I have a freind who had a mosquito trap installed on his property and he says it has drastically reduced the numbers of the little buggers.

It uses propane to emit co2 and attract them in. I don't know what it cost but in some parts of the coutry it wouldn't matter.

My parents use one at the cottage. The one they have is called a SkeeterVac. The trick is to start it early in the season. This way you catch the females before they lay their eggs.

Pretty cool that they figured that one out huh?

As far as Off and the like, I seem to have mixed results with it. It seems to help but I have to reapply rather frequently, every 3 hours or so. I think some people attract them more than others as well.

I have not noticed a difference when using the citronella candles.

seeing as its the state bird around here, we have tried a number of things to ward off the demon fly!
OFF sprays are pretty much the only thing that REALLY keep them at bay. I havent been bit more then a few times this year at our house but then again, I spray the yard with mosquito be gone, we run a "mosquito deleto" just like the thing above, I call the state to have them spray in the back by the pond, and various other things as well as use repellants.
A buddy of mine tried that clip on last night at fireworks and thinks that it worked but I dont know if it was the sulfer in the air or the clip on fan keeping them away.

reproductive toxicant, huh? so i keep mosquitos at bay while simultaneously controlling the size of my family without the dreaded snip-snip? can i buy the stuff in bulk? kudos to the first guy who figures out how to turn it into an aphrodesiac hallucinatory drug as well.

You can see a detial video about how this product works and how to use it on the following website:

http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/productDetails.aspx?SKU=7203680


Its very hard to find this product. Its out of stock everywhere. However this site still has them instock.

I'd pay good money if ANYthing would get rid of OUR bugs. I'm pretty sure our bugs would laugh at these OFF things...
(click on the pics for the LARGE pics)

We have the little clip on doodad and it seems to work alright. We put it on the boy as he is somewhat alergic to bites.
The other thing we use are those OFF lanterns with the replacable candle and repellent patch. A little pricey for daily use, but two lanterns going near the deck and we don't have much problems.