The electric insect killer is the best way of clearing your immediate vicinity of insects, especially the flying ones such as mosquitoes. The electric insect killer vaporizes any insect from a mosquito to a gnat instantly on contact with a pleasingly loud, electrical ‘zap’!
However, this does not mean to say that the indoor insect zapper cannot be operated outdoors, so long as it is not too wet. It should be handled just like any other high voltage electrical equipment. Keep the indoor bug killer dry and please do not use it when you are standing in water!
Models do vary greatly, but there are basically only two kinds of hand held insect zapper: the battery operated bug killer and the rechargeable electric bug zapper. Both are equally effective at killing insects and work on the same principle.
The indoor bug zapper looks like a ‘kids’ tennis racquet, but with three layers of ’strings’, which are in fact wires. The innermost grid of wires becomes live at the touch of a button, while the other two grids, one on either side, are only earths.
When a bug is trapped between the wires of the indoor bug zapper, it creates a short, which vaporizes it instantly with a loud crack and a flash. The hand held bug killer will zap other bugs too, but they just fry instead of explode.
I have been using the rechargeable sort for five years and am extremely happy with the electric bug killer. In fact, the electric bug zapper has come a long way in the last few years. A fully charged indoor bug killer is powerful enough to last for several hundred swipes and will hold it’s charge, if unused, for weeks without any significant discharge.
The rechargeable battery pack will put up with intensive use for the best part of a year, although its ability to hold a charge for several weeks slowly reduces after six or seven months.
The most recent indoor insect zapper I’ve used has a main on/off switch, an LED that comes on when it is activated (the brightness of this light also gives an indication of the battery’s strength) and a light that comes on when it is plugged in for recharge.
The instructions say that the bug zapper should be (re)charged for about sixteen hours. However, I usually put mine on charge over night once or twice every week or two, although the indoor bug zapper shows a marked increase in performance with only a few hours recharging.
The latest model I’ve seen also comes with a powerful beam called a ‘headlamp’. I have found this very useful when out in the garden, but I’m not sure whether it’s meant to attract the flies in the dark so that you can zap them if you’re bored. You know, like an anglerfish.
I’ve used the headlamp on my hand held bug zapper for that reason as well, but the headlamp uses a lot of battery power. All in all, the indoor bug killer is a big asset at any outdoor event. The electric bug killer is useful for ‘clearing’ your bedroom before retiring; it’s unequalled for killing evening mosquitoes and it will eradicate wasps at a lunch table too.