Mosquitoes adore me. I could be standing with a dozen other people, and the pesky biters zero in on me every time. My two kids seem to have inherited whatever essence makes me irresistible to mosquitoes and also get eaten alive in the summer. My husband goes largely unnoticed. This is why I hate being outside near foliage or any place where there might be hidden pools of standing water. This includes my own backyard.
I’ve tried everything. I’ve sprinkled the back patio with Mosquito Bits and put Dunks in our storm drains, but I still got bitten within minutes of being outside. I’ve created a protective perimeter using these incense sticks, but they’re hard to light and also once burned my son. These bracelets are garbage. I hate the feeling of bug spray on my skin and would rather wear pants and long sleeves in the dead of summer, but even then, mosquitoes have bitten me through jeans.
I rely on the Bug Bite Thing as a post-bite remedy, but I needed a preemptive solution. The only thing that has ever worked are these personal rechargeable repellents from Thermacell. The units use a proprietary, heat-activated formula containing synthetic allethrin or metofluthrin, versions of naturally occurring repellents that are odorless and EPA-reviewed for safety. I bought one four years ago and would bring it with me to read on the patio, and it was surprisingly excellent at keeping the mosquitoes at bay.
Then, Thermacell launched its outdoor system LIV a couple of years after that, and it completely changed my family’s relationship to our backyard. Available in a set of three or five stakes, the LIV is an oversize version of the personal repellents that you put around your outdoor space to create a mosquito-free zone. The three-stake system is more than sufficient for our smaller, New York City–size backyard and covers about 945 square feet, but if you live in the suburbs, the five-pack covers up to 1,575 square feet. All it requires is access to an outlet, where you plug in the “smart hub,” which controls the repellers through low-voltage energy. Turn it on 15 minutes before you go outside with the app or by pressing the physical button, and you’ll be mosquito-free for as long as it’s on.
The Thermacell LIV system is not cheap. It starts at $799 for the three-repeller kit and costs $999 for the five-piece set, but it is absolutely worth it because it actually lets me enjoy my backyard. I don’t have to stress about making sure every inch of my body is covered or hover around my poor children swatting the mosquitos away. This is our third summer using the system, and it’s still going strong. The stakes can stay in the ground all year long, but we take them out before winter; it’s incredibly easy to install and uninstall. And you have to swap out the refills, which are admittedly expensive — six for $250 — but each one lasts about a season, depending on how frequently you’re outside. You’ll know when the refills are running low by checking the app — or because you’ll start to see mosquitos again.
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