Arctic Products Mosquito Shield

I hate to rain on anyone’s parade, but in trying to find some information on the replacement cartridges, I stumbled across this site http://www.comfortchannel.com/prod.itml/icOid/3022

Shows the unit as discontinued (which explains woot’s awesome price), but would be MY red flag that the replacements for these will soon be extinct…

How do I insert a hyperlink in my messages? Anyone? Bueller?

[MOD: Changed to link.]

There’s a handy-dandy link to a guide on posting in my signature. Enjoy.

I am a camper and read through it. I actually found it encouraging.

Millions of people have used this product, and the number of folks who had ill effects is extremely low. Probably same number that die from deoderant exposure, toothpaste use. And of the 8 that died, 3 ingested it intentionally. Quite honestly, those folks shouldnt even be counted.

I personally use a candle and deet. You are actually probably more likely to die from West Nile virus than deet or citronella.

According to your link, in the last 45 years, there have been 8 deaths, 3 of which were deliberate ingestion. Sounds pretty safe to me: “…reports of adverse effects in humans associated with the dermal application of DEET have been relatively rare, given the billions of applications of the repellent.”

Maybe you could spray some Deet on the cartridges when the citronella is used up. Probably would work better.

These work good too for a few more bux 7 don’t require batteries or add’l parts. http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Scented-Votive-Candles-Citronella/dp/B002MF996C/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1271678473&sr=8-13

Exactly. What would you rather do; take a risk with DEET, which has been around since the 50s for civilian use, or take a risk of getting West Nile or Malaria. Hmmmm. My Dad’s been using it for an awfully long time and he seems to be fine… never-mind the 3rd arm.

we all know by now that citronella does not work,it only smells good, it does nothing but feed Mosquitos. if it does not have deet in it, it does’nt work, just that simple.

I’d rather stick with my ThermaCell. They do very well with backyard gnats, no-see-ums and mosqitos. We took one on a safari to Zimbabwe a few years ago and it did a great job keeping the tsetse flies away. Those are some mean flies that can take a whacking and keep on biting. ThermaCells have no odor and are pretty compact. Plus, you can shut it off and not waste the butane.

I think I’ve tried a few dozen of these small repellents, and unless you have 10 of them taped to your body don’t expect to not get bitten. If you really want to keep mosquito away, get a mosquito magnet (it’s like roach motel for mosquitoes). You’ll end up spending more money on these little things, and batteries, year after year that don’t work than just investing in something that does.

DEET is quite effective. I use it when I need to (hiking). The Citronella or incense type stuff is barely effective. I find that in order to cover the 20x20 camp ground I needed to burn one every 4-5 feet (literally). Which for ambiance is fine but for $$ and woodland safety is bad. I find that a garden sprayer with a solution of ammonia sprayed in a 40x40 pattern around my camp is quite effective. But application is needed every 4 hour or more if windy.

Seriously. There are probably far more deaths from people swallowing coins, but we still use them. There are over 2 deaths a year caused by vending machine mishaps, as well. I think we have things far worse than DEET to worry about. Like zombies.

Especially the fast moving ones! O.O

So, does anyone know if this works on all mosquitoes, or just the ones of the arctic variety?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ considers oil of citronella as a biopesticide with a non-toxic mode of action. Research also shows that citronella oil has strong antifungal properties, and is effective in calming barking dogs.

If this will shut my neighbors dog up I’m in for one.

Living on the Texas coast I can affirm that citronella is not effective for real mosquitos that are after vengence because you swatted their momma – and the only two things that will work are (1) Deet (lesser concentrations are fine unless you are down in the marsh/wetlands) and (2) mosquito attractors that emit CO2 by burning either propane or butane – but you must place them away from you (b/c they do attract mosquitos) and they don’t create “collateral damage” to the butterflies, lightening bugs, misc good bugs, etc, that foggers, zappers & like the do.

We’ve had a couple of the mosquito attractor units over the years & it’s remarkable the number of mosquitos that end up either in the basket on the vacuum intake or on the sticky trap on the outside of the unit – to say 1000’s is truly an understatement. We sit on the windy side of the house (which faces the water so we can enjoy the view), and put the mosquito deletos or skeeter vacs on the lea side of the house to catch the little suckers. Very rewarding to empty out the trap of all the dead mosquitos!!

From the manufacturer’s page of online retailers I checked over a dozen before finding one that carried this - most of them carry NO Arctic products (i’m just sayin’).

Here are the EXPENSIVE REFILLS: 2 for $17.57 + $5.86 s&h!
Scroll down on the page and you’ll see the shield itself selling for $35.66, so I guess woot’s giving us a great deal - and if yer goin for it, may as well get three, just for the refills, right? Still…

Sounds to me it works about as well as the Cone of Silence.

(“Please, Max. Not the Cone of Silence.”)

LOL

In the other case, a 30-year-old man applied DEET daily to a rash as a means of self-medication. After application to half of his body, he would enter a home-made sauna for up to 90 minutes. He would exit and apply the repellent to the other side of his body and repeat. These treatments continued for a week, and he was noted to be lethargic and incoherent following the treatments. After his final treatment, he developed grandiose delusions and became verbally aggressive, irritable and belligerent. He was treated in the hospital with various drugs and his condition improved by the 6th day. He was discharged on the 10th day and did not have recurrence of symptoms (Snyder et al. 1986).

Let’s hope you never get a disease. Playing with mosquitos is like playing russian roulette. You may survive many times, but it only takes one time and BAM! Sick or DEATH!

From the CDC site you quote:

“Of the DEET calls, 54% had no symptoms at all at the time of the call, and only 40% had symptoms that were thought to be related to DEET exposure. Symptoms were most likely to occur if the patient sprayed the repellent in the eyes, or inhaled the product. Symptoms were least likely to occur if the patient ingested small quantities of the repellent. Of all exposures, 88% did not require medical attention; 35% had minor side effects (skin irritation); 1% experienced moderate symptoms”

In other words, don’t swallow toxics or spray them in your face and eyes…hmmm if only someone would have told us this growing up?

Seriously??? Do you need clear instructions not to swallow toxics? I’m guessing you read the warning label on the hot coffee you order saying caution…hot coffee may be hot!!! Otherwise you might get burnt!