Customer Reviews

Mega Catch Ultra Mosquito Control Trap

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

 

 

I live in central NC. I currently have a mosquito magnet liberty plus in my 1 acre yard. I have had the magnet for 3-4 years. The magnet is very, very problematic. I was looking for something that was a lot cheaper to run and was easily self repairable vs the magnet. I wound up purchasing the Ultra with CO2 bottle from the manufactures web site.

I have only had the Ultra for 1-week. In two days, it had captured at least 5 times more mosquitoes/biting insects than my magnet has all month. I am using the magnet with Lurex, and the Ultra with co2, octenol and light. I'm using the wet-capture system. From past experience, I don't think using Octenol vs Lurex in my magnet would have improved the catch results. After the lurex runs out, I'll swap with octenol to give it a better magnet vs ultra comparison. However, I suspect the Ultra will just simply destroy the magnet in my tests. My magnet NEVER has seen this amount of biting insects captured, ever.

Only time will tell how well the Ultra performs, so I will update this review after a few months

Last season mosquitoes and midges were so severe the backyard was placed "off limits". I'd seen Megacatch traps advertised in SkyMall and liked the fact that they don't burn propane 24/7 like other mosquito traps, something I find really scarey with young children running around. We decided to go all out and buy 2 Alphas and an Ultra. After reading the instructions carefully on where best to place them (this is key!) within 2 weeks our problem was largely gone and the backyard was ours again. They're so easy to use and look after. Its so simple to change out lures and empty the catch containers (can't say the same about my printer ribbon tho!!) Can't thank you enough Megacatch. We'll be setting up and buying lures early this season for sure.

I have had two of the Mega-Catch Ultra traps for five years and I have nothing but praise for them. Not only do they catch mosquitoes but also those black flies that look like house flies but bite like crazy. And the customer service is the best I have ever received on any item I've purchased on the net. Take a look at the testimonials at www.megacatch.com, I don't doubt for a minute that they're all authentic. The bad review here about this product sounds like a competitor to me!

My wife and I got this for the summer nights near our spa. Its designed for those living near swamps. Well, we don't have any swamps in our neck of the woods. But I will say it does do the job. We live in the hills near a creek run off. The nights we spend in the spa would be like playing dunk a mole to avoid bites in the spa. Well, we have had this for two summers and it really works.

Pro: Add CO2 and Octocosnal strip. We did and it knocks out everything for 30-50 yards. The system is silent and deadly. At night it turns on with a bit of rinky-dink timer. But the timer works and kill those dusk divers.

Cons: There are few cons but this systems isn't cheap and you have no idea when your CO2 is dead other than checking the tube to hear gas escape. For the $$ should have better system. Or spend the money at your CO2 gas distributor for a dial.

I've only had the Mega-Catch Ultra for about a week, but so far I am very impressed with both the product and the customer service. Before I purchased the product, I sent a few questions to the email address on the Mega-Catch website. The answers came back within a few minutes and addressed all of my concerns. Feeling comfortable that these guys would stand behind their product if there was a problem, I ordered it from the Mega-Catch website.

A few days later the trap arrived. Unfortunately, when I was putting everything together, I discovered that the heads of the plastic screws that hold the C02 solenoid onto the inside the trap had broken off. This issue had been reported by another reviewer, so I was not really that concerned. Probably got dropped hard during shipping. When I contacted Mega-Catch support, they said they would send me some new stainless steel screws to replace the plastic ones, and for my troubles they threw in an extra timer module just in case the other ever broke. Nice people. Regardless, they should get rid of those plastic screws on future models.

I decided not to wait for the screws to arrive. Instead, I took the solenoid assembly into a local hardware store and bought some screws there. About a $1.50 for all four. Taking the trap apart and working on it made me appreciate the design. There's not a lot to this trap. Easy to open, troubleshoot, and replace parts. I have owned two propane traps, and those are anything but easy to deal with. After getting the Ultra put back together, I started the trap without any problems.

A few additional points:

1. CO2 is much easier to deal with than propane. I bought a new 20lb C02 Ccylinder, but there are used ones for sale on Ebay if you don't want to pay for new. You can exchange the empty tank for a full one at places like Airgas. Since I had a new tank, I decided to get it filled at a local fire extinguisher company. It costs $20 to fill, and one tank is supposed to last the entire mosquito season. The propane traps, on the other hand, require you to refill/exchange every 21 days or so. Exchanging/filling propane cylinders every few weeks is a major hassle, not to mention a season's worth of propane in Louisiana runs me over $250--more than ten times as much! Using CO2 will save me a huge amount of money every year compared to a propane trap. Plus the combustion involved with the propane accounts for most of the reliability problems in the propane traps. With the Mega-Catch Ultra, there is no combustion, just slow release of C02.

2. This trap uses very little power and runs off of either 12VDC or 120VAC. This was important to me as I needed to run the trap in areas where there is no AC power. I have it set up to run off of a deep-cycle 12V battery. The battery is recharged daily by a solar panel. The trap, as I have it configured, uses only 32 watts (36 if the UV light is used). But the best thing is you can program the trap to only run for certain hours during the day. If I see that my battery/PV system can't keep up, I can schedule the trap to run for a few less hours a day. Currently it is running 24/7 with no problems. A few of the propane traps allow cordless operation, but even considering the extra cost of battery and solar panels, the Mega-Catch will cost less to run over the years.

3. I'm using the "wet catch" bowl. At first I was skeptical that this would perform well, but it is working great so far. This trap with the wet catch method is catching more mosquitoes per day than my newly refurbished Mosquito Magnet Liberty. But the great thing is there are no nets to buy with the Mega-Catch. With the propane traps, you have to purchase replacement nets because they eventually dry out (because of the heat from the combustion) and become brittle. Not having to buy nets at $10-$15 per net saves a lot of money down the road.

4. The attractant strips for the Mega-Catch are more expensive than those for the propane traps. But the Mega-Catch strips are twice as large. Still, I think both companies recommend replacing the cartridges monthly. This is really the only downside I can see with the Mega-Catch. A small thing, especially considering that you can use third-party Octenol strips instead of using the Mega-Catch brand.

I bought my machine from the MegaCatch website and I also had the upgrade with the C02. The Mega Catch Ultra 900 series was well worth the investment. I've been running it regularly for about a week and it's taking care of our areas mosquito problem with no doubt. After 4 days I emptied the wet trap and there was about an inch thick of dead mosquitos and my wife and I are able to enjoy the back yard again. Not only is the machine working but Mike Bremner, my sales contact followed through on all of his promises by hooking us up with the Alpha even after the free offer had expired. It's not easy these days to get that type of service. Thanks again to the engineers and the service personal. A+ Dustin Mudrak, Wisconsin. Go Brewers!

To qualify this review, I cannot yet comment on the effectiveness of this product in catching mosquitos. This is because I was not delivered a working unit, but I will review the workmanship and customer service. First, I received my Mega-Catch Ultra 900 via UPS. The stand was easy to assemble, and other than popping the door open to insert the wet catch bucket and slipping the skirt over the bottom, the Mega-Catch went together seamlessly. The next step was inserting the CO2 line to the unit and applying power. This is where the trouble started.

The CO2 line did not insert according to the instructions, and upon applying power, the fan did not operate. I scrolled through the LCD screen to see if a setting was errant, but all seemed to be in place. Customer Service stated that there could be a loose fan connection and to ensure the connector was secured. The only way to get at the connector was to disassemble the housing (remove the skirt and turning about 14 screws). What I saw when I opened the housing shocked me. In the housing are two (2) slide in plates. The top plate holds the LCD and UV mechanisms. The bottom plate holds the fan housing. Sitting on the top plate was the CO2 solenoid and helical copper tubing completely unsecured. As it turns out, the solenoid is secured to the housing by four (4) plastic screws all of which had their heads sheared off. As for the fan, I have yet to ascertain why it is inoperable but the connector was secure.

**Update**, Mega-Catch has redeemed their deficiencies with a very reasonable solution and outstanding customer service. After sending a request via their website, Brian contacted me via phone and email to provide stainless steel screws and a new unit. This was done over a holiday weekend. As I buy many items over Amazon, not once have I had a company go out of their way to rectify an issue. I am altering my rating to 4 stars as I believe a measure of a great company is how they stand behind their product and resolve customer situations.

I am hopeful the Mega-Catch performs as I have read the reviews and will update this post when I can comment on the performance.

We've had this up and running for a week and we just checked the liquid catch and there are tons of insects in it. It's hard to see how many of them are mosquitos as a large number of them are moths and other flying insects. The device advertises only attracting biting insects, but they advise turning of the LED feature if you find too many non-biting insects in it- which we may end up doing.

There does seem to be less mosquitoes assaulting us every time we step outside so far, but I think we'll see the true effectiveness in the next month or so.

I was under the impression that this came with the CO2 attractant feature, but that is purchased separately. Our mistake, just be aware!

So far, so good though. I think I will be very happy with our purchase ultimately!

This device catches everthing but mosquitos, even with the attractant it is useless. Unless you have money to burn don't bother with this junk.