Ultra Pro 900 | CO2 Mosquito Trap | Outdoor Mosquito Trap | Fly Trap for Gnats, Sand Flies & Black Flies | Mosquito Killer | Flying Insect Trap | Covers 1.5 Acres | Bug Zapper Alternative

I have a place on a river. We were getting bitten to death by mosquitoes and no-see-ums. They chased us out of our back yard. I wanted to avoid chemical sprays because of the river. The research pointed me to this product. I bought the 900 Ultra more than two years ago and it has done WONDERS. I initially ran it on full mode and used up a CO2 bottle in a little over a week AND we got our backyard back. I played with locations until I found the most effective one for the primary area we use. Now I run CO2 on level 4 twice a day for about 8 hours total. I use 3-4 bottles per year. This means I pay about $100 per year for CO2. For my area, this is the most effective consumable part to this system. I have a noticeable increase in mosquitoes when I run out of gas. Octenol strips seem to have less impact but I use about 3 per year as well. For me, this is a better investment than hiring a sprayer. For the liquid bath, I find Mexican Coke (with real sugar), water and a drop or two of Method soap works best for our varieties of mosquitoes. Have tried juices, sodas, simple syrup. I left the power supply out over the winter the first year and had to buy a new one. The unit stopped working about 3 weeks ago. I could not get it to respond or turn on. Good news! I thoroughly cleaned the system. It still did not work and I could not get the diagnostics mode to work. After about 10 minutes, I tried diagnostics again and it turned on (no diagnostics). Let it run for 10 minutes and turned it off. Tried diagnostics again. This time it started diagnostics, seemed to "burp" (a technical term ;-) and then it restarted its diagnostics again. This time it passed. Total time invested: about 30 minutes. Lesson: Clean the thing more often... Even though I did not need parts, I love the user serviceable design and modular parts; this was a key reason for buying.

Short summary: If I had it to do over again, I'd go with a local exterminator that uses the In2Care system of trapping mosquitoes. Long Review: I am using the Mega Catch to catch Asian tiger mosquitoes in central Texas. I do not want to kill beneficial insects, so I will only consider mosquito control systems that specifically target biting insects. I have used Mosquito Magnets in the past, but for the past couple years they keep breaking, so I was on the hunt for an alternative. I was attracted to the Mega Catch because, while it comes with a significantly heftier price tag, it is supposedly much easier to fix if it breaks down. My first major complaint is that without the "optional" CO2 tank, I noticed NO IMPROVEMENT after a couple weeks. I understand these traps need time to be fully effective, but I also know from experience that I should expect some results (reduction in number of bites and many mosquitoes in the trap) within a week or so. After a couple weeks with no improvement, I bought a 20 lb. CO2 tank at a cost of well over $200. With the CO2tank, the Mega Trap does reduce the mosquito population significantly. The number of mosquitoes trapped in a couple days went from "a few" to a little pile of uncountable carcasses. The tank has to be refilled every 40 days at an additional cost of about $25. Mega Catch should say that CO2 is required (like Mosquito Magnet does for propane), and give you a place to set the tank (instead of charging $145 for the CO2 trolley). I would be really ticked if I'd bought the lower-end Mega Catch that is not CO2 ready, and that requires a $200 retrofit kit to use CO2. Plus we bought a backup 10 lb. tank for $125, because the nearest place to swap or refill the CO2 tank is 30 minutes away and is only open M-F till 5:00--not convenient. So the five year cost of this unit, assuming it runs for 5 months out of the year in my area, is $1825, or $365/year. That doesn't count the added cost of a CO2 tank trolley holder if you don't like your tank just sitting on the ground (or aren't strong enough to lug the very heavy tank around), the cost of octenol attractants, the cost and inconvenience of driving an hour round trip every month to refill the CO2 tank, or the possible cost of any replacement parts. Compare this to two other options: Right after I bought this trap and the tanks, I read about a similar mosquito bait program (In2Care) that is offered by some pest control companies, at a cost of about $75/month, and you don't pay for the months you don't need it. So that would be about $375/year, with no big traps with CO2 tanks sitting in your yard, and no maintenance on your part--no CO2 tanks to refill, no traps to empty, and no hassle and expense of replacing broken parts. The pest control company comes out to service the traps once a month. I have never used this program and don't know anyone who has, so I can't speak to the efficacy. Another option is the Mosquito Magnet. Prior to purchasing this trap, we used Mosquito Magnets. The first one we bought years ago worked great for a few years, noticeably better than the Mega-Catch, but we got rid of it when we moved. In the last few years, we've had three more, and every single one broke after less than a season. What a shame, because they work GREAT when they do work. They require a propane tank, which also has to be swapped out every month, but is much cheaper and more convenient than CO2. Propane tank swaps are widely available at gas stations, grocery stores, home improvement stores, etc. We can swap out a propane tank less than 10 minutes away, 7 days a week, up to 10:00 at night. Also, we can use the propane tank from the grill if we run out unexpectedly, and vice versa. The problem is the reliability of the Mosquito Magnet. They are under a 1 year warranty, and the company is very responsive and easy to work with when you need a replacement. The hassle is you never know when the darn things are going to go out. So if you figure you need 3 Mosquito Magnets at $350 each for 5 years, plus $100 worth of propane a year, that's about $1550, or about $310 per year, not counting the cost of octenol attractants and the inconvenience of troubleshooting with customer service, sending the old unit back, and waiting for its replacement to arrive. Another thing in the Mosquito Magnet's favor is that the mesh trap only has to be emptied about once a month. Which brings me to another thing I don't like about the Mega Catch: the liquid trap. Now to be fair, the Mega Catch states that you can use the included mesh bag instead, but it stresses that the liquid catch is more effective. And since we've had the Mega Catch for a few months now and the mosquito population still isn't under control, I want the most effective system. That entails every 2-3 days emptying and refilling the bowl, which I dislike for several reasons. First, the cheap cover where the bowl goes came off the very first time I used it (cheap plastic hinge), and while it can be snapped back in place, that is not easy to do, and it has to be done every single time I open it. So it's just sitting on the ground next to the trap. A $1000 trap should have a sturdy, easy-to-open door. Second, the bowl is not that easy to seat inside the trap, requiring a bit of finesse to get it in right. You're supposed to turn the trap off anytime you take the bowl in and out, and the trap is hanging by a hook so it swings if you bump it, making replacing the bowl even more of a pain. Third, the trap does not only catch biting insects, like the Mosquito Magnet does. I find a fair amount of moths and other harmless insects in there too. And last, the sugary liquid attracts ROACHES. I hate roaches. You could even say I have a bit of a roach phobia. A few weeks after we got it, I emptied the bowl, walked further into the yard to dump out the insects and sugary water, and carried the bowl into the kitchen to refill it. I set the bowl down on the kitchen counter, and a ROACH scurried out from underneath. Luckily I killed it before it escaped into my kitchen, and luckily it did not run up my arm, or I may have had a heart attack. The next time I went to empty the trap, another roach scurried out. So now my husband has the duty of emptying the trap. Another bone of contention is the area that the Dyna Trap covers. I understand about trees and buildings blocking the effectiveness of the trap, and positioning it correctly downwind. We are on a little over an acre of land. We positioned the Mosquito Magnets we've had in the past about 30 feet from the front porch, and they kept most of the front yard mosquito free. I set up the Dyna Trap in the same spot. After a couple weeks when it didn't seem to be working, I moved it on to the porch, where we primarily need coverage. It did a better job there, literally just a few feet from where we like to sit, but once I had the roach experiences, I insisted that it be moved further from the house. Now it's about 10 feet off the porch, and it does a good (not perfect) job within about a 25-30 foot radius, but any further than that, and the mosquito control is insufficient. I still get numerous bites when working in the front yard further out. In summary, the Mega Trap WITH CO2 is a definite improvement. It allows us to enjoy the front porch, which we were not able to do before, but it is far from perfect, and considerably more expensive than its original price tag. If i had it to do over again, I'd definitely try In2Care first. Not only is it cheaper, but there is ZERO hassle, maintenance or repair cost, it's nearly invisible (pucks in the ground), and you only have to pay $75/month instead of having a cost of over $1000 up front (and an ongoing monthly cost for CO2 and attractants) with the Mega Catch.