Didn't catch mosquitoes last year and has now caught fire!
Written: Sep 14 '05 (Updated Apr 26 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cordless, easily put together.
Cons: Doesn't catch the mosquitoes in my yard! Mine didn't last a year!
The Bottom Line: Avoid. I think this is a poor design, fails to catch asian tiger mosquitoes in any effective quantity, and didn't even last to be tried another year.
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| djh2000's Full Review: SkeeterVac |
(April 2006) - The mosquitoes are beginning to appear so I went to start up the SV-35 and see how well it worked this year. Well, it caught fire - very small but it melted part of the fan. The passage ways were clear of any obstructions and I'm not sure what went wrong. No reply from Blue Rhino customer service to an email asking what my options were. The unit is less than one year old! I really wanted this unit to work - but now feel it is absolute junk and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
For historical purposes my earlier review is below:
(Update: Important update at end of review!) I have had an SV-35 model for about two weeks and while I am impressed with the build quality and how easily it was to put together, I am disappointed with how poorly it catches the mosquitoes in my southern back yard. It does however catch some very small black flies. Perhaps this system works well in the North, but here, I can walk up to the unit and within seconds be surrounded by at least 6 mosquitoes and yet there are less than ten in the trap. Occasionally mosquitoes will fly past the vacuum inlet yet continue on their journey unaffected. Plenty of mosquitoes will hang around the propane tank - maybe because that's where most of the C02/Moisture is being blown. I think that it is only by chance that a mosquito accidentally flies into the vacuum area and then on to the trap. Perhaps the design is great for smaller, lighter and weaker mosquitoes. The unit comes with a block of "Octenol" which is supposed to help attract mosquitoes, yet the competing "Mosquito Magnet" system also allows the use of something called "Lurex 3" which is Lactic Acid based. It is claimed by the makers of the Mosquito Magnet that Lurex 3 may be more appropriate for use in the South and to try that first. SkeeterVac appears to have no equivalent to Lurex 3. I have written to the manufacturers for advice so will update this review after I receive their recommendations.
Update! Within 24 hours of emailing the manufacturers of the SkeeterVac I received a reply advising me that the striped, large and aggressive mosquitoes in my yard are the Asian Tiger species and that these mosquitoes are *repelled* by the octonel. The attractant should not be used if this is what I am trying to trap! I wished they had printed this in the manual - but at least their email customer service was very prompt and with some pertinent advise. I'll update this review if I see some improvement!
Update #2: After a couple of weeks with the octonel removed I haven't see a huge improvement in the capture rate. Standing by the unit while checking the trap I still manage to attract more mosquitoes than the unit does - and they still fly (carefree) around the intake. I think I can swat more mosquitoes in that short time than the unit captures all day. Although SkeeterVac's customer service claims that they have had good results capturing the Asian Tiger mosquito it is not clear to me that the unit is able to capture enough in a given period of time to make a dent in the local (i.e. my yard) mosquito population! So in conclusion this unit may well be OK "up north" - but for Asian Tiger mosquitoes I think the manufacturer needs to do a bit more research and design!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
djh2000
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Member: David
Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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