Review on 🪰 Enhanced Flowtron BK-80D 80-Watt Electronic Insect Killer with 1-1/2 Acre Coverage in Sleek Black by Marcy Padia

I bought two of these after researching all kinds of mosquito control products and options. Therefore, my review is fully devoted to the fight against mosquitoes - if you are not interested in this, then this information may not be useful to you. I'll add info on THIS product first - skip to the bottom to read other options I considered and why this product was a winner. I know this isn't a direct review of this product, but sometimes one article is best due to the limitations or shortcomings of other solutions. I felt it important to include them as I spent a lot of time collecting and analyzing the data - maybe it will save someone else's time. Everything was great. What you get is exactly what you see in the photos - a device with a metal loop for hanging, as well as some documentation. Take the time to read the instructions - through all my research I've found that there are some nifty tricks to catching or killing mosquitoes - so don't just pull the cord, plug this thing in and expect the magic. Height above the ground, position in relation to normal wind directions, position in front of or behind something blocking the wind, visibility (insects need to SEE the light to be attracted!), and more are all factors to consider. . Some of these are in the manual, but there is a lot more information on the web. And PLEASE DO NOT hang this right next to where you want to sit and enjoy your outdoor space. This device ATTRACTS and kills vermin. But there is a short time between the appearance of pests and their death. Placing this device too close to your entertainment areas will result in MORE errors. I'm amazed at all the bad reviews I see for pest attracting devices because the owner hasn't thought about how something like this actually works and hasn't read or followed the instructions. You want this device to be close enough to your resting area to reduce the local pest population, but far enough away that it draws the bugs away from you instead of towards you. </rant> :) You have to hang this thing somehow as it has no legs, the bait bowl is on the bottom and you just end up with a bunch of bugs ruining your zipper if you don't hang it lol! I just went to my local hardware store who had a few options - check out the garden section for hanging plants and these are good options. I've found tall metal poles that stick into the ground like stakes and have a loop and hook at the top - great if you want the unit to stand on its own and want to move it around easily. I bought a basic 12-15" hanging basket mount - it bolts to a fence, your house or whatever and works as you can imagine. Nothing wrong with that. In addition, the bottom of the black outer cage is not flat, so it is not stable when standing upright. I think they should have done a little better as the bait holders make it unstable. A slight reshaping of the plastic outer grille would fix this. But that's a VERY minor issue as it only happens when you're working with it. Be careful though - if you drop it hard on the base you can break the little plastic tabs holding the bait cups - they're also lamp holders so they're important even if you're not using bait. And on the subject. Baits, baits and attractants - all names for the same things - this device comes with a small octenol lure - only 400mg time release I believe. Depending on where you live you may need different baits if you are a mosquito hunter like me. In Houston we have a great diversity of species. So I ordered a combination of baits from an online company - unfortunately I can't find the right baits on Revain. For all types of mosquitoes, you need THREE key bait ingredients: Octenol attracts classic mosquitoes - those that are active early in the morning and early in the evening at dusk. But for other species, like tiger mosquitoes, which bite during the brightest sun of the day (and also at night, in the evening, on holidays, etc.), you need a combination of lactic acid (found in human skin) and ammonium bicarbonate. Depending on your location, mosquito species, and other factors, you'll need to adjust your baits. Of course you can check what results you get without baiting. That can be enough, and if so, you have a 100% maintenance-free solution. I – I HATE mosquitoes and they LOVE me so my goal was to eradicate as many as possible. Of course, this device must be connected to the network. You won't see anything like this in a hardware store. I ended up buying a dark green 50ft landscape power strip designed for outdoor use. Given the sheer number of Christmas lights, arguably anything suitable for outdoor Christmas lights will do here. Of course, if you're paranoid and have the money, you can hire an electrician to hook you up with something trendy. One last thing before I go out and buy extensions, mounting brackets and invest in a permanent installation I wanted to do a simple test. I put the octenol bait in place, built a hanging version by screwing a small piece of wood into the tree, and hung the unit about 2-3 feet off the ground - about where your shorts bare legs would be, LOL! Then I put a piece of clean white material under the trap to get a better look at the dead mosquitoes. I used a styrofoam cooling cap, but whatever. Just make sure it doesn't get blown away - the brick solved that problem for me. not a single power outage and not a single dead bug. So I let it run for a while. About 90 minutes later a violent storm came up so I thought my test was over as all the "evidence" would be blown or washed away. And so! There were about a dozen dead mosquitoes on the foam cover. SUCCESS! Turns out it's only one or two species, but once additional baits are supplied and installed I expect better results. being able to go outside and not get bitten. But he kills the mosquitoes in the Houston area and hopefully with more attractants he gets these aggressive and fearsome tigers. My next project is once I hang them up and get some extra baits and see how they work it might be worth considering adding CO2 to the mix. . Carbon dioxide is probably the BEST mosquito bait, which is why you see all those propane traps generating CO2 and heat as propane burns. I have a different plan - following the method used by medical professionals around the world to trap mosquitoes for public health and medical research - dry ice. The plan is to buy a simple insulated dry ice storage tank (a thick cooler for long life) and some simple plastic tubing. Make a hole in the fridge, put dry ice in it and seal it so the fumes come out through the tube. Put the end of the hose in my trap so that the mosquitoes get into the net - DONE. I will only go this far if other options are not completely successful. Overall, I like this product because it's simple, inexpensive, and durable. But by adding baits and other attractants, you can customize it to suit your needs and still spend WAY less money than fancier products with fans, nets, and propane tanks. OTHER OPTIONS - and why I didn't choose them over this product. I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on one of these mosquito traps like the Mosquito Magnet for several reasons: 1) Huge amount of feedback about device breakage (1 hit), huge amount of feedback. suggesting that maintenance was difficult (Problem 2) and the huge cost of repairs was sometimes a decent percentage of the original purchase price (Problem 3). As such, the ability to support any of these things was questionable. 2) All "Trap" style units require significant consumption of consumables. Propane tanks, branded nets that deteriorate, dry out or wear out. Special batteries and electronics. Even the bait/attractants used have to be purchased in specific form factors and shapes to fit the machine, unlike the Flowtron zapper where you can literally stick the bait anywhere, under or in. Yes, there are two small corners at the base. Pears designed for this purpose, but there's no reason to think that throwing in a few alternative types of bait and just pinning, tacking, or otherwise attaching it to your own fancy won't make the trap work. Most traps won't work unless you're creative with placing bait - they require it to be in a very specific location in order to attract mosquitoes to the vacuum suction area. Just like your home vacuum - just inches from the nozzle and very weak suction. some. It wasn't like you could hang them on a fence post or attach them to a tree. Not sure where they would land I wanted something smaller and lighter to move around as needed for the best results. wasn't for me. It's also REALLY expensive, has significant running costs, and requires space for a large chemical tank, pump, and more. spray chemicals on my body? No thank you. MAYBE for camping in the Everglades, but not anywhere near my house. I tried one of these foggers - you know the type that sometimes runs on propane and some on electricity? They use a special oil-based product to create an ultra-fine mist with droplets hundreds or thousands of times smaller than what a garden spray set on "fine" produces. The idea is that the fog can penetrate in and around foliage, leaves and pretty much anything else, providing absolute and complete coverage. It takes less than 5 minutes to clean your garden, the fog clears in minutes and you'll be bug-free for hours. It just didn't take 5 minutes. It took five minutes for the device to warm up enough to be used. And then you had to pump the oil into the mist chamber with the compression trigger - the problem is that the speed you pump has to be precise - otherwise the mist will be too "wet" or "dry" as instructed , I have found my device constantly ejects not only mist but also small oil droplets from the tip. The mist is said to last a liter of oil for weeks or even months, but if you don't mist the product and ONLY mist, the product will wear out MUCH faster. It all depends entirely on keeping the device level during use and pulling the trigger at the right speed. And that speed varies with the outside temperature and other factors, so you have to be a master at it. And you have to sweat every time you want to enjoy your garden. I found it took about 15 minutes to unplug the unit, plug it in, warm it up, mist the garden, and then you NEED to let it cool down for about 10 minutes before storing it. To give you an idea of the heat, flames can shoot out of the smoke machine if you use it incorrectly, and there are all sorts of warnings on the large smoke chamber not to touch it. Human type repellent. Some had good reviews and seemed like a viable option - relatively cheap, easy to use, no waiting, minimal consumables. I'll be honest - I haven't tried them, although they were among the top picks for my criteria. When the guests came in, I couldn't see the spare parts that were there. What if we had a party? Will women in beautiful cocktail dresses attach them to their shoulder straps or ankles? There are too many logistical complications here. These products have their place, but not to protect your home and castle from pests. And alongside store-bought products, there are plenty of do-it-yourself mosquito control options, from a 2-litre bottle of yeast to box fans with a mesh. I had a hard time separating fact from fiction, but eventually managed to find some research done by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and others. Look - mosquitoes transmit some unpleasant diseases. Finding a cheap way to control them in third world countries is BIG DEAL. In the end I found that most of these home made systems work but are not powerful or effective enough to control the population. You will catch some mosquitoes and you will think they work. But just test in the real world - walk down the street and see if you get bitten! This will ultimately determine whether my methods are successful or not. And if you've read this far, God bless you! I hope you find this useful and worthwhile.