Flowtron Outdoor Bug Zapper, 2 Acre, 120W UV Light, 5600V Grid, UL Listed

I've had other bug zappers, and I can tell you, they are a waste of money after owning this beast. This thing is incredible. Durable. Bug destroyer. I live in Southeast Texas, and certain times of the year, the mosquitoes and bugs are out of control. I hated being outside before this thing. Now I love just sitting and hearing the bugs DIE. It is VERY effective. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that it kills tens of thousands of bugs per night. It made being outside on the 4th of July enjoyable. This thing is *massive* and fairly heavy. Unless you are stronger than the average man, you might want help attaching it, if it is going above your head. They sell replacement parts for cheap too! (The starter will burn out once in a while, very easy to replace. I keep a couple in my toolbox). Pro tip: save yourself a lot of trouble and buy a plug that will turn off your zapper in rainy weather. Easy to clean with a leaf blower, can of air, or equivalent.

Update May 2018-I added a metal screen from a home improvement atore tightly secured around the outside the device to prevent moths and bigger insects from dying and it seems to help about 95% of the time, a few moths and flying ants still get through. I was killing so many random insects that I wanted to make sure I found a way not to do so, I want this to kill mosquitoes and flies, I don’t want to exterminate all bugs in my yard and this really attracts so many bugs that it became too much, the cleanup was also ridiculous with so many bugs. For instance, I want to keep larger insects that don’t bother me so that bats can eat them and then kill the mice and so forth. Also, one of the lightbulbs (it has three) stopped working during first summer, trying to find replacement at this time.—-Original review 2018—Absolutely amazing!!! I thought about it for days and did a ton of online research and product comparisons, I’m so glad I bought this! I leave it on all the time, and use a mosquito and fly attractant that I attach to it. It’s like a bug apocalypse in my backyard, not kidding!!! I’ve seen all kinds of flying bugs including flies, mosquitoes, moths, ladybugs, etc. A couple of nights I thought it was malfunctioning because it sounded like constant zapping like a lightning storm and when I got closer it was because there were so many mosquitoes around it they all wanted to get close to it and they were dying dozens and dozens at the same time! I cleaned it after a week and the tray was half full, the protective cage was very full, but I was amazed that only within 24 hours the protective cage was ready to be cleaned again today! There was still lots of room at the bottom tray. We had a really hot and humid day so I don’t know if that affected the insects but anyway I’m including a video of the grid saturation wih bugs, you will have to clean this often depending on the bug population in your area. I have 6 acres, a pond and running streams in a wooded area, all my neighbors have similar yards, just to give you an idea of my setting and the volume of mosquitoes/ bugs and maintenance needed if you get this device. Highly recommended!! I’ve only had it for a couple weekes but I am hoping that at the killing rate it seems to have it will help me significantly decrease the mosquitoe and fly population in my area.

We live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, deep in the woods on a lake, with a large swamp on the other side of our home. Michigan. Summers are a bug breeding ground, and we have plenty of water to support their cycle. I’m 66 and have purchased dozens of bug killing devices, so called “zappers” to help alleviate the menace. This year, I stumbled across this large Flowtron and was impressed with the reviews. Decided to spend the $300 and put it into service earlier this summer. There is no comparison to anything I’ve tried before, this thing is everything I’ve ever dreamed of in a bug zapper. That name itself does not do justice, this thing is nasty, mean, powerful, a U.S. military secret weapon. I have a small log sauna 50’ from my house with power and a covered porch. We put it there. It faces the lake on one side and the swamp on the other. When you stand near it at night, the bugs are clearly coming in from all directions. I would estimate 15-20 kills a second. Incredible. Forget the bug catching tray on the bottom. Plugs up, not because its faulty, because it kills so damned many insects, it fills in 10 minutes. I took it off and let the demons fall below onto the composite deck there. In the morning, after my coffee, I fire up my gas powered leaf blower and clean away a pile typically 2-3” high under the Flowtron, about 3’ in diameter. The other advantage now is it draws all the black carpenter ants from the area for food, making them an easy concentrated target for ant killer. Two-fer. No more ants near my home. I took the top off to mount the hanger, and was impressed with the size of the 3 large transformers and igniter switches. The electrical grid is heavy. It is soooo fun to watch it vaporize the larger bugs. Its loud. Thats good, Its not whimsy. Bright. My electricity bill has increased. Thats great, it really has the power to turn them into vapor. Think of Tom Cruise, War of the Worlds death ray, vaporizing people into thin air. Yup, thats it. I purchased the $15 photo sensitive high voltage power adaptor, so it turns on and off automatically night/day. Works perfectly. Highly highly recommended. Don’t mess with anything else. Waste of your money. Next year i’m getting another. Giving away all my old ones.

I have had this unit for about a month now. I have learned a few things. First off this thing is a killing machine! WOW, Does a fantastic job! It even takes out big stuff, like those huge horse flies, Locust! Moth, Beetles, EVERYTHING! BUT.. Getting the locust out of the cage once they are dead is a trick. Need a screw driver to help pry them out. Also the unit functions great and resists the rain but it sure does ZAP a lot in heavy downpours. We have installed a plug lower down on our mast so we can unplug it during storms. Also drill a couple of small holes in the black tray at the bottom where the bugs collect. This way it does not collect water. Also the black tray at the bottom of the unit seems to go on one way better than the other so get a silver marker and mark the way it works best. O AND CLEAN IT OUT OFTEN! This thing works so well that the tray gets FULL and it stinks So be prepared to clean it our often depending on your location. We are in Florida and on a lake so weekly is recommended. This is a great unit. I admit it is pricy but so far I have been very pleased at the job it does. 6 Month Review! This is still a killing machine. I have a bulb burnt out in the attached video and it is still drawing bugs and zapping them faster than you can count them. Yes you still need holes for water to drain out when it rains and you should go out and empty the tray once a week or so. BUT Still very happy with my purchase and I can not imagine how many bugs this thing has zapped for me. I would buy it again. 2 YEAR review. Yes I would still purchase this again! Still working great. Yes you have to replace a ballast now and then and some times a bulb (and they are expensive) but STILL very happy with the job it does. Yes I have to take it down and clean it here and there. Yes I had to drill some drain holes in the trap at the bottom to let rain water out. But, Still working great and still happy. If you have a need to kill any pests on your property this is still the best.

(UPDATED Aug 3rd after original review) The product is great - if it works. For ONE DAY it killed tons of bugs. Then it shorted out. I bought this unit on April 13, for a total of $305. Received it on about April 26-27. I've been back and forth with Flowtron customer service since April 29, and it's now July 21, and it's still not resolved. Their communication has been terrible. Their phone system has a recording (since early in the CV pandemic) saying to email them. Initially they responded to emails within a couple of days. But lately, they don't respond for a week, or even two weeks at a time. When they do respond, they promise to "look into this" and then fail to respond again for more than a week. I send at least weekly reminders... and I'm getting nowhere. I finally got them to coordinate a return for repairs. They received it and had it in hand for over a month, never provided me with any acknowledgement that they received it, nor any update at all. I asked over and over, but they would never respond (except once they replied "We'll look into this, thank you." Then nothing. I finally gave up, and asked for a refund. I asked THREE TIMES. They never responded to that, either, except one "We'll look into this." Then, again, nothing. I started tracking email "read" notifications, and some of them were read, while others were never opened. Then, a couple of days ago, unannounced, I received my original unit back in the mail (UPS, whatever). It now works normally. I hope it lasts. I have not received any followup from Flowtron -- no "hope you're happy now", no "how's it going", no "thank you for your patience"... nothing. Zip. I would not recommend doing any kind of business with them, for any product, until they acknowledge and resolve this customer service problem. Without that, their warranty is meaningless.

Our suburban house borders 200+ acres of woods with a slow running stream and several ponds. The mosquitoes are so bad we cannot sit out on our patio without being eaten alive. Our 4 & 2 year old children were coming in with red swollen welts from the mosquitoes. Great....cases of West Nile Virus in our county being reported on the night news....awesome....In addition to the mosquitoes, the Japanese beetles were eating the leaves off my sunflowers, roses and molesting just about everything in my garden. I bought a STINGER zapper, it didn't make much of a difference. It was a piece of junk. The light was not so bright and it seemed to attract mayflies and moths. Sold that POS on CraigsList. After thorough research, I found THE DIPLOMAT. After convincing my wife that it's 'for the children' she signed my purchase order request. After ordering and receiving (from AMAZON-three day delivery!!!)the declaration of war was signed. I set THE DIPLOMAT about 40 yards from my patio, connected to a photocell timer (set to dusk to dawn)and an outdoor extension cord from Lowes. My first impression was WHOLLY COW this thing will electrocute a midget!!! The lights are very bright. So much that I don't need an outdoor light to take out the trash. I could not believe how powerful it is. Within minutes of turning it on blue arcs of electricity were converting insects into crispy crumbs of nothing. So many beetles, mosquitoes, moths and mayflies rode the lightning that the catch pan was half full by morning. I dumped the crispy critter crumbs out for the birds, who tore them up like Billy Bob on a fresh batch of pork rinds at the Perry County Country Fair. After a few days of emptying the catch pan I decided to leave it off and let the little morsels of well done insect nuggets fall directly to the ground. Now every morning the catbirds, house finches, doves and various sparrows take turns cleaning up. After a week of DUSK TO DAWN, I dialed it back to ON FOR 6 hrs, the next week I dialed back the timer to 4 hrs, the next week I dialed it back to 2 hrs where it has remained. I didn't really see much of an increase in my electric bill but then again the hot & humid weather kept the AC running almost 24/7. Within a month the mosquito population all but vanished. We can now sit out on our patio without fear of donating blood. This is confirmed by my next door neighbors who were also being eaten alive but now sit out without fear. Worth every cent!

And here is what I can tell you. It works really well on moths, june bugs and other unknown larger flying bugs. It seems to help on house fly's. You can't hear or see them when they fry but I have noticed a reduction. Now as far as mosquito's it has helped significantly. If you are hedging a bet against West Nile Virus (WNV) this is money well spent. It will not completely eliminate them within 150 ft. of the unit, but I think it get's close 90% of them. My parents and brother both bought one of these after I did. Now for the unit, here is our combined experience. 2 of the 3 units had bulbs burn out within weeks of receipt. Called customer service. You get a voice mail. They will eventually call you back. They will send you a free replacement bulb and starter (ask for both) since you can't be 100% sure which of the 2 is bad until you test it. The 3rd unit had a bulb go out after 3 months and they provided a replacement. On my unit I had a different light go out after 14 months. They are bulbs and bulbs do go out, so I'm not bent out of shape about it. I would say that replacing a bulb might be out of the realm of possibility if you are not good with your hand, tools, or generally fixing things. It took me 1.5 hours on my first bulb change. 40 minutes on my second one. Since this part is designed to be replaced it is hard not to fault Flowtron on this deign. Flowtron should revise this design because of this (Flowtron I would be happy to provide consulting on this re-design). The screw that holds the light in is hard to remove. You have to remove the bug killing grid around the light to get to them, not real difficult to do, but getting the plastic tabs that suspend the grid re-installed correctly it tedious, time consuming and frustrating. It helps if you have an extra set of hands available to help. The starter replacement on the other hand would be super easy as only the top cover has to be removed and they are right on top. Summary: It's not perfect, but It works really well. You will have to work on it (a little at least). No noted increase in electric bill keeping it on 24/7. Overall, after 16 months, I still think I got the best mosquito protection for my money of all the options available . We Also Noted: Keep the dead bug tray cleaned out or ants will find their way to the unit and feast on all those dead bugs. If you leave it running all the time (as recommended) the bulbs last longer (probably the starters too). So we all do, only turning it off a the end off fall to bring the unit inside and store it in the garage.

first a few things about bug zappers, they all make noise that just the nature of the thing , they need to be cleaned and maintained, they need to be left on at night or 24hr a day for at least a week or two to be effective this gives the zapper time to kill the bugs and disrupt the reproductive life cycle of local bugs in your yard area or it will not work. if you want to kill mosquitos YOU MUST USE OCTENOL BAIT! note not all mosquitoes are attracted to octenol but a lot are! as well as biting files. house and barn flies will need a bait also! it will kill bees and wasps as well so i turn mine off on a timer during the day. after a week of continual use you will notice little to no bugs bothering you. if you put it too close to were your sitting you will have a bug invasion trying to get to the zapper light, put it at least 25 or more feet away from you. bug zapper does have fluorescent bulbs and starters that will need to be serviced and bug zapper does need to be cleaned frequently i use a battery operated leaf blower small one to do just this and empty pan every day. it can be messy so if your expecting a plug it in and leave it maintenance free never have to work on it or service or clean it device this light may not be for you. but if you want a bug killing machine that delivers and willing to maintain it this is the bug light for you! i love mine it works exactly as described and has controlled mosquitos and knat's etc. in my yard well. i live in south Louisiana and the octenal seems to work well on our mosquitos here. Hope this helps.