Customer Reviews

Mega-Catch Premier Mosquito Trap (MCP800)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This trap does not use CO2 --- a proven attractant -- to lure mosquitoes. It instead uses an ultra-violet bulb reflecting off a foil surface.

A very appealing idea, because you dispense with the expense and hassle of setting up gas canisters.

Alas, it is way too good to be true. Desparate for a solution and lacking a local source of propane, I was ready to believe the carefully crafted Internet marketing material that appears everywhere in connection with this trap. Don't make the same mistake.

Mosquitoes are *not* attracted to light (although a few species will look for a lighted surface to land on for the first day or two after the larval stage, when they are not biting anyway). After weeks of searching, the only source I could find claiming that light attracts adult female mosquitoes -- the ones that bite -- is the "independent" scientist Megacatch quotes on its site to sell these traps. That person has ignored by emails.

We carefully tested this trap over four weeks in a subtropical forest in Hong Kong, which has a climate and mosquito complement similar to that found in Florida or Alabama. We have at least seven distinct species in our yard, including varieties of Aedes and Bengalensus and Sinensis. There are probably a dozen more species I've yet to trap and analyze. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of mosquitoes swarm the property every evening, with Culex coming out during the day.

Without the octenol lure, the adult mosquito catch was ZERO (although the moth haul was huge). There was a marginal haul of five or six mosquitoes per day with the octenol lure, fewer than I can kill with my bare hands in just a minute or two. All the mosquitoes trapped so far have been Culex --- large striped, very aggressive day biters.

After a month, I am ready to face the obvious.

The company's politely worded response to my findings is that the trap has been "proven" effective, but our particular assortment of mosquitoes are resistant to it somehow.

Rubbish. The literature shows clearly that all mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide and a variety of biochemical scents given off by mammals, not circus lights.

An internet search on this trap will lead you to a couple of very well placed articles lauding its utility. Many of the reviews on the site also rave about how good it is. Wishful thinking? Outright marketing plants? A hiterto unknown species of mosquito? I can only guess.

But I can say without hesitation that the Megacatch Premier, placed in a subtropical setting with an enormous variety of mosquitoes at its disposal, failed absolutely. Perhaps the more expensive version, which uses CO2 gas directly, might be useful, but I am unwilling to reward this company with my further business.

Couldn't even go in my yard without putting repellant on - otherwise would be swarmed. 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. Bought the Mega-Catch on eBay because you can get it a lot cheaper there. Simple setup up and operation and no propane required. Nice timer for easy programming. Can catch in a mesh or a provided cup that you add water and some dish detergent. I use the cup and a teaspoon of sugar. The plastic door where the net or cup go is a bit tight and hard to close all the way so I just close it as much as I can and leave it since there is a skirt with a velcro strip that covers the door area anyway. There is a slot for octanol strips and other brands will fit there too. After the first night, caught hundreds of mosquitos. Since then, I have caught thousands. I can now be in my yard with no mosquitos bothering me.

There's a part of me who wants to believe that this is a con job, firmly anchored in the bad old snake oil tradition of selling you the proverbial bill of goods. There's the other part of me who balks at believing that the 13 out of 20 reviewers who gave it 5 stars should all be in the paid services of the manufacturer/distributor or seller. But my experience has been that during three summers this trap has proven to be utterly useless. I strictly followed all instructions, tried various locations around the deck, tried with and w/o the Octenol Fragrance Strip, tried all other user recommendations on and off websites. The results were zilch. Moths is just about the only insects it caught regularly. I caught more mosquitoes with my bare hands than I ever found in the catchpot. I live in a wooded area in NH. If for some reason the NH mosquito population should be immune to the Mega-Catch, then the trap ought to come with the appropriate manufacturer's warning.

Prospective buyers should be aware that what is being offered for sale is a 2003 model Mega-Catch Premier trap. It performs very well but has been superceded by the 2005 Mega-Catch MCP 400 Premier trap which is an improved model. For further details see www.megacatch.com

I bought two of these after owning an Ultra model for almost 2 years. They work well in my area (coastal AL). I would rate it a 5 except that we've had to make repairs on each of them (timer replacement). They are currently working well. Advice: In case of problems, if you go to the Megacatch web page and contact them directly via email (give details on which trap you have, how old it is and what the problem is), they will make it right. Apparently they've had problems with the timers and have replacements that are supposed to be more reliable. Also, make sure to view or download the maintenance information on their website. And don't assume you need Octenol. Try it without for a week then try it with and see if it helps or hurts.

I bought the MegaCatch Premier last year. I hate mosquitoes biting my little 2- and 5-yr-old daughters, not to mention myself. Placed the trap in a prime location where I get bit nonstop when working in the yard. Nothing. Nada. Nil. Attracts mosquitoes??? Yeah right!! What a piece of junk!! I wholeheartedly agree with the other negative reviewers. This machine is a big scam. I cannot believe that other people, using the same type of machine, have had such great results. I will believe it when I see it. Used for 1 month last summer, 2 weeks this summer. NOT ONE, NOT A SINGLE ONE mosquito caught!! Used the octenol lure, too. No improvement. But it did catch a slew of little white moths. Great. Just what I needed, a bunch of dessicated little white moths. What a rip. I am also going to complain to the BBB and whoever else will listen. These people, and other bogus mosquito trap vendors, need to be stopped. I am amazed that they are able to peddle this crap with apparently no consequences.

I tried two models of the Mosquito Magnet as well as the Mosquito Deleto by Coleman. I know people who've had great success with the Mosquito Magnet in other parts of the country, but here in Georgia, none of the above machines caught more than two or three mosquitos a day, despite the fact that I repositioned the units all over my property per their tech support, and ran through whole tanks of propane. The Mega Catch was my last hope.

I set the Mega-Catch up yesterday, and within about 30 hours, I had a decent number of mosquitos in the liquid catch container. I estimate that I caught 50-75 mosquitos without using the octenol lure (The Mosquito Magnet people say some mosquitos are actually repelled by octenol, so initially I'm trying the Mega Catch out without the octenol). I figure that's a decent catch rate for my first placement of the machine, and it being early in the mosquito season here.

There were some other bugs caught, and I may try the unit without the blacklight, which the package suggests you do if you're catching too many moths. The trap can also be programmed to turn on and off, so if the type of mosquitos in your area are day feeders, this might be a way to avoid clogging your machine with moths at night.

The unit comes with a stand to hang it from, but I hung mine from a tree branch, anticipating that the machine wouldn't work, and I'd have to disassemble the stand to ship back. The unit's pretty light, so I just used a piece of string.

I'm very happy that I have something that works. There are a lot of different kinds of mosquitos, and they all behave differently and respond to different kinds of lures. Where you live does seem to matter, and the Mega Catch is the only machine that seems to work here in the Atlanta area. It's also nice not to have to mess with the Mosquito Magnet's propane and the tricky cleaning process that machine requires (you have to use CO2 cartridges and it's easy to damage the cartridge seal on the machine if you don't do it just right.)

The one complaint I have about the Mega Catch is that the fan didn't work when I first plugged it in. That's because the connector to the fan was not plugged in. Fortunately, I had a pair of long needle-nose pliers and was able to fix it, but someone who is not handy might have had to send it back for repair.

Any review with more than 2 stars is a fake! Period. **I have personally owned this unit** along with a number of other brands, with and without the use of CO2 as an attractant. I have researched this subject thoroughly and completely and have followed all instructions to the "t."

THEY DO NOT WORK - every "professional" review on the internet is a fake from the company.

Here is an example: http://www.mosquitotraps.biz/ratings.php

Notice that ONLY the MEGA TRAPS are highly rated. But if you carefully notice the ratings, they are not even consistent with each other. The ALPHA model (smallest) has a higher operating cost than the ULTRA. And none of the other CO2 models scored anything, yet CO2 is the best attractant on the market - and the ALPHA / ULTRA models don't even use CO2!

DO NOT FALL for these scams and spend your hard earned money. I finally ended up buying a mosquito fogger at a local home improvement store and I can go two weeks without having ONE BITE with each treatment. Best option yet and very affordable!

New information:

Worth noting - I've been told by one of their dealers that:
If you can barely see any clearance between the edge of the fan blades
and the housing around it then you have the old fan. The new fan has more
than 1/8" clearance between the blade and the housing.

The number on the new fan is 4212 G and labeled "ebmpapst." The old fan says
"Papst" and TYP 4112 N on it.

I have an old fan in my brand new unit and have requested that megacatch send me a replacement fan - it's been 24 hours, still waiting to hear from new zealand - if this fixes it I will happily change this to 5 stars.

original review:
My Premier outcatches my mosquito magnets (don't buy them, they break every year and you end up paying MORE money to get them fixed.)

The problem is that the megacatch clogs every two days - I take it apart, clean the fan, then it works for two days with a great catch rate, and it clogs again.

So, if they fixed the clogging I'd give it 5 stars. As it is, too much trouble. Check out the mosquito deleto 2500.

It puzzles me that all other reviewers so far have reported this to be an effective mosquito trap. I've used it with the water bowl, mixed with soda and a bit of detergent as suggested in the manual to get the highest catch rate. Added octenol cartridges, placed it in the mosquito inferno outside my cabin, ran it 24/7. I'd check on it weekly to replace the water/soda mix, only to find that in seconds I would be swarmed by as many mosquitoes as the trap had caught in a week!

Perhaps one of the previous reviewers is right that it works better farther south. CO2 appears to be the big trigger to attract Alaskan mosquitoes. Run a car for a few seconds and it gets swarmed immediately. Previously I had a Mosquito Magnet Defender (it was stolen) which got totally swarmed and caught thousands of mosquitoes. But this CO2-less trap simply doesn't attract the mosquitoes and has been a complete waste of money and effort to me.