Reliability

Mosquito Magnet®, Lentek™ and SkeeterVac® traps all use propane to produce CO₂. Many reviews have positive comments such as “catches and kills thousands of mosquitoes”, “did significantly reduce the number of mosquitoes”. However, there are reviews also expressing frustration with start up issues, propane blockage/clogging issues, regulator problems and the cost of maintaining the traps given that the average tank of propane lasts 21 days of continuous operation Source.

Poor reliability is a common theme with customers who own traps that use propane to generate CO₂. Mosquito Magnet owners certainly have a lot to say about the reliability of these traps. One customer reviewed the Mosquito Magnet® Liberty Plus in July 2008 saying “Worst Purchase I ever made …” Source. A reviewer of the Mosquito Magnet® Liberty highlights issues with running costs, reliability and warranty support and in their conclusion of the review states “The failure of the machine at 6 months is unacceptable” Source.

SkeeterVac® by Blue Rhino appear to have had a major reliability issue with their SV-27 model (now replaced with the SV3100) as a customer noted on his review on Amazon.com, “This year it would not start ...They [Blue Rhino] said this model SV-27 had a flaw in the design of the combustion chamber which made it more likely to fail” Source.

A reviewer of the SkeeterVac SV-15 model says “craps out after 1st season, bait and trap refill is expensive” Source.

Another reviewer of the SV5100, heads their review “High malfunction rate” and ends it by saying “Like other similar brands it is expensive and prone to malfunction” Source.

Another reviewer called his SV35 an “unreliable unit after only 2 months” and further comments “I called Blue Rhino, and the first person said the engine was probably bad and I’d need to replace it, which they would do if I had proof of purchase … I called back and they said that I had to take out the fuel filter, even though I could see that it was not clogged …” Source.

A reviewer of the Lentek™ MK01, an earlier Lentek™ model, said “I find lighting the burner to be rather difficult and think this is due to the time it takes to purge air from the feed line. I use a clamp to hold the knob open for a while to initially purge the line after installing a new propane tank. This changed the lighting process from a 20 minute ordeal to a 30 second task … the fan is quite loud …” Source.

When researching the reviews for Flowtron®’s MT-350 and MT-275 models it has become quite clear that there are serious reliability issues with these traps. As mentioned earlier the MT-150 model (we assume is the predecessor to the current models) received critical reviews for both. As these models use propane to generate CO₂, Flowtron® appear not have remedied any design issues that they had with the prior MT-150 when designing the MT-350 and MT-275. One reviewer says in relation to the MT-350 “It worked for a couple of months … however it just quit before the end of the season … haven’t been able to get past the three blinking lights (no propane)” Source.

In reviews of an earlier model, MT-150, reviewers complain of the “unit would not continue to run” (Source) and one indicates a “gas cut off problem” along with poor customer service Source.

In relation to the current MT-350, there are 4 reviews on Amazon.com all having a common theme in their title “worked only one season!” and one reviewer comments “It refused to work … so I sent it to the manufacturer … they sent a rebuilt unit that worked for one day …” Source. Similarly the MT-275 only have 3 reviews and all rating only 1 star.

It would also appear that Mega-Catch™ had an issue with the internal fans in their PREMIER model but as noted by one reviewer (see After Sales Service page) Mega-Catch™ have rectified the problem with a new fan design.

A reviewer of the Mega-Catch™ PREMIER trap says “I thoroughly investigated a mosquito removal device. The other brand propane devices seem to have a high malfunction rate and I really didn’t want to have to use propane – especially since those devices use a tank a month … After the first night, caught hundreds of mosquitoes. Since then, I have caught thousands …” Source.

Recent reviews of the Dynatrap® by Dynaseal Inc. on Amazon.com and other review websites develop a common theme that there is a problem with the UV bulbs in the traps. One reviewer commented “The product worked well for over a month … but now both the bulbs have blackened and no longer work …Source. Another reviewer comments :”One of the 2 bulbs burned out in a about 5 weeks. They say that they are rated for 4 months …” Source.

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Did you know?
Female mosquitoes can beat their wings up to 500 times/second.