Does Off Clip On Repellent Work?

[marshallkarp]

I am going to Belize in July and have heard the mosquitoes can be fierce. I've always used Off, but I saw the commercial for these clip on battery operated thingees.

Question 1: Anyone tried these? How do they work or not work?
Question 2: If they don't work, what is a good brand of repellent?

Thanks.

[MaxBottomtime]

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.

[Straegen]

It works... if there is no wind and you aren't moving. As soon as you are no longer stationary best to move onto something else, I use a Lemon Eucalyptus based product. Deet works great, but anything that can eat through plastic I tend to avoid. Lemon Eucalyptus works great but tends to attract bees and has a strong odor even more so than deet products.

[seaducer]

In a word...no.

At least not in my experience.

[knotical]

Even on their own website:
Clip-On Mosquito Repellent by OFF!
under Directions for Use, it says:

If you move, allow a few minutes for the unit to rebuild its protection.

Which supports what Straegen said.
Seems like a product with very limited usefulness.

[rhoadc]

Where are you staying? When I was there last fall we stayed on one of the cayes and I never really had a problem with the skeeters.

[marshallkarp]

Where are you staying? When I was there last fall we stayed on one of the cayes and I never really had a problem with the skeeters.

We will be on Ambergris Caye, Costa Maya Reef Resort. Two years ago in Grand Cayman East End, the mosquitoes were so bad, we just could not sit outside in the evening.

[vladimir]

what is a good brand of repellent?

Any product that contains DEET. I use Off, but don't rely on my recommendation, listen to this guy:

I've always used Off

If you don't believe him--and I guess there's no reason that you should--Consumer Reports also recommends it:

What we found. Hours of protection correlated with deet concentration. The top-rated Deep Woods Off is 98 percent deet, and several products with 30 to 34 percent deet were very good, protecting for an average of at least five hours. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found deet safe when used according to directions (not under clothing, in an open cut, or with sunscreen), but some people dislike its scent or feel. Use the lowest concentration that works, especially on kids, and don't use deet on infants.

CR's take. Products containing at least 30 percent deet worked very well; most of the botanicals we tested were middling or worse.

I agree with you that insects can be a real issue on the Belize atolls. We were fine at Turneffe Island Resort until the wind died down one day--and then the mosquitos and flies were fierce. Everything I've read casts doubt on the efficacy of most botanicals, and in Skin-So-Soft, which is often cited as an effective repellent. I have used Repel, though, which is a eucalyptus product, and it seemed to work well.

[knotical]

Another option.

According to the American Mosquito Control Association, at:
Frequently Asked Questions - AMCA

picaridin, …marketed as Cutter Advanced…Studies have shown it to be as fully repellent to mosquitoes as DEET

[jakeeib]

Get a Thermocell....I can sit in a tree stand for hours in the swamps of LA and not get bit. Well worth the $20 bucks.