Does Off Clip On Repellent Work?

[captndale]

Be very careful when using DEET around scuba equipment. It is very aggressive in dissolving neoprene and other rubber products. It will turn your drysuit seals into a mess of goo on contact. It will do the same to neoprene wetsuit material and many regulator components.

 

[emoreira]

Deet works great. I've used it during the short summer in Alaska and had no problems. BTW, in Alaska they refer to mosquitos as the state bird.

I would never have thought that there are Mosquitos in Alaska.

 

[acwest]

I would never have thought that there are Mosquitos in Alaska.

They are there, but you may have mistaken them for small helicopters...
-Craig

 

[scwdive]

I just got back from diving the cenotes in Mexico, and had some success with two products...
When there is no breeze, or I suspect a Mosquito feeding frenzy I use Jungle Juice, which is about 98% deet I watched swarms of mosquitos (it had been raining a few days before I arrived) look for lunch elsewhere....no problems with damage to my wetsuit, watchband, or dive computer bands, but I am carefull about what I touch with the stuff on me.

Sawyer Jungle Juice 100 Pump Spray Insect Repellent - 2 fl. oz. at REI.com

Near the beach where we stayed and in the evening I would use Cactus Juice, especially on the ankles and feet, it even has a sunscreen in it if I'm on a boat or the critters are lite during the day.

Cactus Juice: Prickly Pear Skin Care for Naturally Healthy Skin

Hope it helps, safe journeys....

 

[tridacna]

Be very careful when using DEET around scuba equipment. It is very aggressive in dissolving neoprene and other rubber products. It will turn your drysuit seals into a mess of goo on contact. It will do the same to neoprene wetsuit material and many regulator components.

Interesting. I placed nine different pieces (3x3mm,3x5mm and 3x7mm) of neoprene in nine beakers of deet (10%, 30% and 70%). Left them in the solutions for seven days. Stirred twice a day. No damage observed after a week. Maybe I did something wrong?

 

[knotical]

Interesting. I placed nine different pieces (3x3mm,3x5mm and 3x7mm) of neoprene in nine beakers of deet (10%, 30% and 70%). Left them in the solutions for seven days. Stirred twice a day. No damage observed after a week. Maybe I did something wrong?

Neat experiment. I always thought it might be some other ingredient in certain insecticides, rather than the DEET itself. Some of them are pretty oily, for example.

 

[on_two_wheels]

Deep woods off is what I used when stationed in panama. Mosquitos there were known to carry off small children.

 

[tridacna]

Neat experiment. I always thought it might be some other ingredient in certain insecticides, rather than the DEET itself. Some of them are pretty oily, for example.

You are correct. But those ingredients are supposed to be inert. So they should not really make a difference. Most of what you hear about DEET is rumor and myth. It is by far one of the most tested and safe products out there. I suspect that the real reason for all the fearmongering is that is sounds like DDT. That was a bad name they chose for the product. I bet if they had called it "skin so moist"" or "rose petal cream", we'd be lathering ourselves with it...!

But it was developed for the military and no soldier is going to use "poof de la nice cream" in the bush. LOL.

 

[Snuff]

Mosquitos are bad here in GA, and they just did a test of the most popular brands on one of the local news stations. The clip ons were "ineffective" while the Cutter Deep Woods Scentless was the best of the batch with regular Off almost as good. The separating factor between the two was scent. They are also good for repelling ticks. The other "natural" ingredient repellents that has eucalyptus and other things in them were alright for mosquitos, but didn't last as long and had zero effect on deer ticks. Don't know if there's ticks in Belize, but the way I see it, if there's mosquitos, there's probably ticks, and I'm more worried about them anyways.