Electric Bug Killer
The hand held bug zapper is the best way of clearing your immediate vicinity of insects, especially the flying ones such as mosquitoes. The hand held bug killer vaporizes any insect from a mosquito to a gnat instantly on contact with a nice, loud, electrical ‘zap’!
However, this is not to say that the hand held insect zapper cannot be used outdoors, as long as it is not raining. It should be treated like any other high voltage electrical equipment. Keep the electric insect zapper dry and definitely do not use it while you are standing in the pool!
Models do vary greatly, but there are really only two types of indoor bug killer: the battery operated bug killer and the rechargeable electric bug zapper. Both are equally effective at zapping bugs and employ the same principle.
The electric bug killer looks like a ‘junior’ tennis racket, but with three layers of ’strings’, which are in fact wires. The central network of wires becomes electrified at the touch of a button, while the other two grids, one on either side, are only earths.
When a bug is caught between the wires of the electric insect killer, it creates a short, which vaporizes it instantaneously with a loud crack. The electric insect killer will zap other insects too, but they tend to fry rather than just disappear.
I have been using the rechargeable type for about five years and am extremely satisfied with the electric insect killer. In fact, the electric bug zapper has come a long way in the last few years. A fully charged indoor insect killer is powerful enough to last for a few hundred swipes and will hold it’s charge, if unused, for weeks without any significant discharge.
The battery recharge pack will take intensive use for the best part of a year, although its ability to hold a charge for several weeks gradually diminishes after six or seven months.
The most recent indoor bug killer I’ve used has a main on/off switch, an LED that comes on when it is activated (the brightness of this light also gives an indication of the battery’s strength) and an LED that comes on when it is plugged in for recharge.
The instructions on the wrapper suggest that it should be (re)charged for about sixteen hours. I usually put mine on charge over night once or twice every week or two, although the hand held insect killer shows a marked increase in performance with only a couple of hours recharging.
The latest version I’ve seen also comes with a strong beam called a ‘headlamp’. I have found this very useful when out in the garden, but I’m not sure whether it’s meant to attract the mosquitoes in the dark so that you can kill them if you’re feeling bored or just vindictive. You know, a bit like an Anglerfish.
I’ve used the headlamp on my indoor insect killer for that reason too, but the headlamp uses a lot of battery power. All in all, the hand held bug killer is a big asset to any outdoor event. The electric bug zapper is useful for ‘clearing’ your bedroom before retiring; it’s unbeatable for killing evening mosquitoes and it will eradicate wasps at a lunch table as well.
