Customer Reviews

Flowtron MT-150 Mosquito PowerTrap

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I own both the Mosquito PowerTrap and the now the Mosquito Magnet Liberty (MML). I have owned the Powertrap for about nine months and did not get very good results, I put it in numerous positions in my yard resulting in very few captured mosquitoes regardless of location (maybe 10 a week). In one 24 hour period from the time I installed the Mosquito Magnet (in exactly the same place and position), it trapped more mosquitoes (probably 75 to 100) than the Powertrap captured during the prior nine months. The difference is already noticeably with fewer mosquitoes buzzing the yard.

Although these two products claim to do essentially the same thing using very similar processes, the Powertrap failed miserably to perform. Although the MML is considerably more expensive than the Powertrap, buying the Powertrap, in my opinion, is a waste of money. You would be better off buying ... bug spray.

Now this is obviously an expensive way to test/compare these two products, but living in Florida we hoped to be able to reclaim our yard with the Powertrap and we were very disappointed. Now we hope that our children will be able to play in the yard without being eaten alive.

I hope our experience can help some of you avoid making the mistake we made.

As an update to my review. I recently discovered that the manufacturers of the MML will provide a ...credit towards the purchase of the MML, for anyone who has purchased a competing model (including the Powertrap). All you have to do is visit their web site, print a form and send your competing product to them to receive the discount on an MML, which must be purchased through the manufacturer. Hope this helps.

I bought the MT-150 and set it up in my yard. I live in Minnesota and mosquitos are everywhere. The first unit would run for a while and I would have to reset it by unplugging it. The reset on the panel would only work once in awhile. I didn't catch very many at all. I had it for about 2 weeks and caught very few. I called Flowtron and they said to return it. The second unit the resetting problem went away but the fan would quit every once in awhile like it was on a cycle. The problem is that when the fan quits, the bugs can find their way back out of the unit. I also found out if the wind blows above 15 mph or more the unit would shut down and give the out of propane indication.

I then ordered the Mosquito Magnet Liberty. While assembling the unit in my garage I fired it up to make sure it worked and it captured 3 mosquitos in the first 5 minutes. I knew it was going to do a better job. I moved the Mosquito Magnet within 10 feet of the Powertrap to see which would capture more. The wind was still blowing and it blew out the powertrap over and over. The Mosquito Magent just stayed running. The next night the wind was calm but cool out. I emptied the net on the magent and the catch tray on the Powertrap and began my side-by-side test. The next morning the Powertrap had 2 mosuitos and the Mosquito Magnet had 24. No comparison!

I did like the catch tray and the ability to set a program on the Powertrap but it simply didn't work. The Mosquito Magnet Liberty runs 24hrs and will empty the gas and Octnal in 18 days or so but I really don't care now, I am catching a ton more of the bitting bugs! The mosquitos are flying and swarming the Mosquito Magnet all the time. Again there is no comparison in performance, buy the Magnet! It was worth the extra [money[ for the Mosquito Magnet.

I purchased one of these with high hopes. I
was very much looking forward to being able to
use my front yard without having to slather
myself with OFF. However, I've been very
disappointed.

I purchased a unit via mail order in February.
Once the weather warmed up, I set it up and
started it running. Right up front, the
photocell didn't work, and so the machine
would not start up at dawn or dusk. But I could
get the unit to run OK if I just left it in
manual mode...that is, for the first day.
After that, the Power Trap would stop
working and flash three LEDs, indicating
that the propane wasn't connected
properly or was empty. Since I had a full
20lb tank of propane, I re-seated the hose.
The unit started up, ran a couple hours,
then stopped, again indicating that I was
out of propane.

I Figured I had a bad unit, so I purchased another
one locally. This one worked fine with the
photocell, but as with the one from mail-order,
it stopped working after about two days. I swapped
propane tanks, and tried everything else I could
think of (disconnecting power, re-seating the
propane hose/plug, trying different operating
modes, etc), but all to no avail.

I don't know if this unit would actually work
to capture a lot of mosquitos, because I could
never get it to operate long enough to tell. But I
wasted a lot of life energy on this beast. I
figure the technology isn't here yet, or perhaps
I need to take a look at the competition's
model (i.e., Mosquito Magnet).

First of all, I bought this as a less expensive alternative to the similar "Mosquito Magnet" from American Biophysics. I had high hopes, since I and my kids are 'mosquito magnets', too. Ultimately, I was disappointed.

Anyway, the first unit only worked for about 10 minutes at a time. It then flashed lights like it was out of propane. After several calls to Flowtron, they sent me replacement. The replacement worked, but after about two weeks, its 'take' was only two mosquitos and a moth (by accident, I presume).

The most infuriating thing, however, (besides the frustration with the broken first unit) was having Asian Tiger Mosquitos flying around me and biting me while the unit was supposedly working. This is no exaggeration. I'd go out to check the catch bin for mosquitos and I'd get all bitten up in the few minutes it took to peer in through the plastic.

There are reports that octenol should not be used for Asian Tigers... For the Flowtron trap, it didn't matter. I tried it without first, then with. No difference, no asian tigers.

I sent the whole business back for a full refund after at least $20 in propane... and much frustration.

If your problem is Asian Tigers (bite all day long and have white bands around their legs) then don't bother with this. Maybe don't even bother with the "Mosquito Magnet".

What does work? Well, "Off" Brand Mosquito Lamps seem to work pretty well, and don't cost anything in comparison to these C02 traps. Cheapest, most effective (and a little embarassingly) the best thing I've found was to just get up on a ladder and make sure the gutters are cleaned out !!!

I live on the James River in Virginia, in an area that is still
more rural than urban. Which is good, but the mosquitoes and other
biting critters are so numerous that being outside is often
insufferable.

I had been tempted to buy a Mosquito Magnet (MM), but they were only
available on the Internet. I bought one last summer. In two weeks the little bag was full of
mosquitoes, gnats, no-seeums, biting flies, etc. I think the manual for

the MM says that this is approximately, 300,000 insects. I don't know
about that, but it is definitely too many to count.

so when I saw the flowtron model I
thought hmm let's give that a whirl. After a couple of weeks I saw a few
mosquitoes in there. Even if I did not have the MM I would have know
that this was no good, because 3 mosquitoes amounts to taking teaspoon
from the Atlantic. So I tried moving the Flowtron to a different
location even though there were definitely biting critters in the area
it was located. After a week I had a, yes a mosquito, and a June bug. I
have never seen a June bug in the MM.

Then I tried putting the Flowtron in the MM's location, and moved the MM
to the Flowtron location. You guessed it, the MM was catching bugs like
nobody's business and the Flowtron was burning Propane and coming up
with squat.

After trying all these different things I was well beyond the 30 day
trial, so now I'm stuck this thing.

I am very disappointed with this product and dismayed to see it still
being sold in .... I bought this product because I had faith that
the .... buyers had done their homework on this product and knew it to
be effective. Clearly this is not the case.

Calls to Flowtron have confirmed that the unit is "working." The fan is running, it is making the clicking noise as it burns off propane. Their only suggest is to try moving it to a different location. When I tell them I have done four times already and explain that I have a MM that is catching mosquitos in every location the Powertap is not, they have no answer. Again they respond try moving it to a new location.

I think it may be an issue with wind. Since I am right on the river I think wind may disrupt the functioning of the Powertrap.

All of you folks who have written positive reviews of your Powertaps I'd be happy to sell you this one. Name your price.

I thought I was making the smart move to buy this product. Friends of mine own a similar product called MosquitoMagnet which costs 3 times as much and sounded like it was identical. Boy was I wrong.

The Flowtron product was just not reliable. The fan (which is supposed to [pull] insects into the disposal container) would shut off and despite my best efforts would not come on for more than a day at a time. I made 4 calls to the manufacturer and they were very generous with suggestions. Unplug the power, press the reset button 3 times, turn off and disconnect the propane, try a different propane tank, etc. I tried every suggestion at least twice and still experienced problems.

I've returned this product and sprung for the other product I mentioned. Save your cash on this Flowtron hunk of junk.

Well, at least Flowtron has responsive customer service....
My two month adventure with the Flowtron unit mirrors that of many other reviewers here. The first unit failed completely, it stopped dead. But one call and it was replaced by Flowtron at no charge.

The next unit worked for several weeks but I didn't catch many mosquitos, even after trying several locations in my yard. Even on days with many biting mosquitos surrounding my family, me and the machine ---- none of the bugs ended up in the trap. I caught about 5 mosquitos.

I don't think the design is effective. The bugs simply aren't sucked into the machine, even if they do get close.

I have been using the power trap for about 6 months now, and I can attest to it having reclaimed our yard from the blood sucking bugs in Washington DC.

The trap works well, I love the fact that you can have it on a timer (although I run it all day long during the summer).

There are some issues that other owners might want to think about.

There is clearly an issue with the unit being "tempremental" on start-up. I think the hose gets full of liquid propane (not the gas) if you suddenly crack open the valve when you have changed cylinders. There are multiple posts on this page that talk about the symptoms of this. I think the cure is to VERY gently open the valve, and to be prepared to re-start the unit several times, once it is going it seems to work well.

I have had to "flick" the fan to get it started on a couple of occasions...I have no clue why, but a bent coat-hanger helps.

The other problem I had was a Racoon chewed through the hose, (put a metal spring around the rubber hose to protect it).

Overall I would recommend it to others...I have not done the comparison to a MM, but I do know that if ours stops the family is bitten to hell, and when it runs we can be outside all night with no problems.

After 3 days of use, in two locations, not one mosquito in the trap. While installing it the first time, mosquitos ate me up. Today I moved the trap and while I was doing it, I got at least 12 bites on my legs. When I read the fine print sent with the machine, it says that tiger mosquitos are not attracted to the trap. Well, looks like my mosquitos must be tigers.

If you want something that works only occasionally and provides hours of frustration, this is the machine for you. It constantly shuts itself off despite following instructions to re-set it. When calling the company to return it under the one-year warrranty, we never got a human being, and left multiple messages explaining the problem. To date no one has returned our calls. Looks like they got us......