Customer Reviews

Havahart 5265 Spray Away Motion Detector Sprinkler Animal Repellent

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have three motion detecting sprinklers, two made by Contech (ScareCrow) and one by Havahart. Both of them are excellent for repelling deer (two years of experience with high deer pressure) but the Contech ScareCrow is more dependable. Although the Scarecrow sprinkler is more expensive, it is worth the price. The Havahart does not come with a guarantee other than a 30 day return policy whereas the Contech ScareCrow sprinkler has a two year warranty and they stand behind it. I had one fail after 22 months of use and they replaced it promptly. Also the motion detecting range, sensitivity, and adjustment is more stable and dependable in the Contech ScareCrow. The only time I've not had the ScareCrow work was during a period of very high humidity during some rainy weather when it failed to go off during a period of less than a day. On the other hand the Havahart motion sprinker is much more erratic in its performance and sometimes fails to work for brief periods.

I bought this item as a way to keep rabbits out of rose bushes. I was skeptical when I bought it, but thought I would try it.

Took us a while to fine tune the motion sensor and the sprayer. We have it by our front porch, and didn't want to spray ourselves as we walked to the front door!

We've had it set up for over a month, and as far as I can tell, the rabbits haven't gotten close to the roses!

Word of caution: If the spray range is set too narrow, the sprinker tends to get stuck and doesn't move back and forth. Setting the spray range wider seems to correct the problem.

I laid sod down in my yard this summer only to wake up mornings and find peices of it lifted up and strewn across the yard. I was mystified but soon found out that we have roving raccoons in the neighborhood.

I tried staying up nights in hopes of catching them and scaring them off, but the raccoons are smarter than me and can concentrate their mischief elsewhere until I go to sleep and them return with a vengeance. Having met them in my yard they are unafraid of people because there is no way I am as fast as they are, and I really don't want to hurt them, or to get bit by them either. The raccoons will climb the fence just out of the range of the hose until you are gone and then come right back.

The answer was the Havahart Spray Away. This thing was expensive, but after several sleepless weeks and a lawn that wouldn't take root, I plunked down the cash and bought one.

No more lawn problems, I have not even seen a raccoon lately. I hear the thing going off occassionally, and it scared the neighbors, and sprays me at times ... but it is a nice, automated, fast and permanent solution to my raccoon problem. My only other solution would have been to buy a high powered pellet-gun.

I am sold on this product, in fact I had to get two since they started to come around the back yard after the got scared of the front yard.

The big question to me was whether this thing would work or be a big disappointing waste of money - but it definitely works. I have to thank the makers because staying up all night like a maniac in hopes of scaring a racoon off personally once or twice will drive you crazy with lack of sleep!

I had a new neighbor in our typical residential neighborhood- houses 20 feet away from each other- who decided his 2 large dogs should be able to roam free----- and they decided my pristine yard was a great place to leave 3 or 4 lb piles of feces on....daily. I now have this set up and it works perfectly- the neighborhood kids think its a hoot too-
Five big stars- works perfecly for my needs-

Finally I have a way to keep the pesky squirrels out of our fruit trees and vegetable garden. Easy setup and very sensitive. Random spray drives them away. Also very humane, no traps, no poisons, no mess. Even keeping most birds away!

When I eventually got it working to "defend against cats" it worked Well ...however the top adjustments are too delicate and one of the units broke almost imediately ...(as I live in new Zealand it's too much mucking around to send it back to the USA)
But the one remaining unit is great...

It goes through batteries fast, but it does work. I like the fact the sensitivity can be set in varying degrees. We put ours on a hose to try it out, and to find which spot it works most efficiently before hooking it up directly to our water supply. I think the company may find that making this product a bit more sturdier would be a good thing, even if we had to pay $5 or so extra.

Deer around my home continually ate the leaves down to nothing on my two small hibiscus trees. With this water spray, it is noisy enough and sensitive enough to really work. But after a few months of use, the sensitivity became poor. It hardly worked when you walked close by the product. In fact, it seemed to work better on long distances better than close ones. Not very happy at all on how short a time the sensor quit working up close. Would not buy this brand again.

I have had mine for a year now. I decided to review after seeing all of the negative reviews here since mine works very well. Once you get the sensitivity and spray pattern set there were no issues at all. The cats stay out of my garden and the racoons away from the pond. Battery life is about 4 months if it's used a lot. The only negative is that on windy days swaying branches set it off.

Bought the motion sprinkler to keep deer and rabbits out of my vegetable garden. So far, so good. Has chased out our dog and cat as well. Had to play with the sensitivity knob to keep it from continually going off. Needed to soften the ground to insert the plastic spike. Good area coverage. Kids find it fascinating!