Customer Reviews
Black Widows Are Now "None More Black" 
2008-06-12
In the summer time, the place I live is infested with black widows everywhere. They balloon into the house, build webs around the bulkhead, doors, etc. We're talking infestation folks. Last thing I need is a guest to sit too close to a widow tending a missed eggsack and deliver a bite.
I grew frustrated using my stove lighter, rubber bands, and Formula 409 was totally useless Against widows. One fully grown widow seemed to even chuckle and - dare I say - give me her version of the bird as she crawled OUT OF A FROTHING POOL OF 409. Inconceivable!
Then my girlfriend's mom gave me this zapper for my b-day, ironically, because she knows I love insects (???).
Anyway, I offensively left it in the corner to dust-over until I realized this would be perfect for widows (even though I'm strongly against killing non-poisonous spiders).
Well, the light bulb went off and, by the Power of Grayskull, I launched a full assault on the young and old widows around the house. I simply turned the Zapper on and first blocked their escape back into their hidey-hole then slowly moved zapper towards the middle of the web where they were. Eventually, they run out of web and the Zapper's Fury crumples them into a smoldering ball at my feet. A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
A-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Highly recommended.
Cool Zapper...but handle can break 
2008-05-15
this product is ok. went through two of them already. Cuz the handle is flimzy...handle can break. You have to sqeeze two buttons fo rit to work but i can understand the safety issue
Ghoulishly fun - but also effective 
2008-05-15
I hate to think of myself as having fun at some other creature's expense but - BWAHAHAHA, bite THIS, you bloodsucking fiends!!
I first saw this being used on a vacation to St. John. The employees in the cantina each had one, and were waving them around slowly in front of their faces, almost in a hypnotic way. Apparently that is the best way to get mosquitoes, according to these folks (who should be VERY familiar with mosquitoes and their ways!) If you try to swat at them too fast you will just blow them away, but if you move the paddle around slowly they will just fly right into it and go sizzle sizzle sizzle ...! ;^)
Heed what everyone says though: don't hit yourself with it while the buttons are pressed, and don't let kids "play" with it. It can give you a nasty burn.
Say your prayers, pesky moths! 2008-04-17
Spring is here, and I'm finally being given a chance to put this racket to good use. I live on a couple acres in the woods, complete with creek. My intended targets include gnats, mosquitoes, flies, moths, spiders, and perhaps the occasional wasp or hornet (I can't tell the difference between the two). Last week, in the early evening, I went outside to see what this baby could do, and I'm quite satisfied with the product. Gnats were vaporized, moths gave a gratifying spark and perhaps a wisp of smoke when they hit the racket, and dead mosquitoes were stuck to the racket but were easily shaken off.
A few nights ago, a big housefly got inside our home, and I grabbed the racket to take care of him. He flew into the racket as I held it over him near the window, and zapped him easily. This morning, I accidently let in a huge moth that promptly headed for the nearest lamp. I carefully stuck the racket under the lampshade, and the moth flew right into it, and stuck to it until I knocked it off right into the toilet with a flush. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been otherwise to get rid of that fly and moth without the racket! (In the future, for the sake of saving water with toilet flushes, I'll probably just dispose of my racket victims outside.)
I love this racket for taking care of spiders too!
The only negative I've noticed is that when I'm wildly swinging this zapper around to see how many gnats I can kill, the battery cover slides a little. Not a big deal to me. If I'm not swinging it wildly, the battery cover doesn't budge.
I picked this bug zapper over the other oh-so-similar racket zappers available because this one only has horizontal zapper wires in the racket area..... no protective mesh that might interfere with eliminating pesky bugs.
Another bonus: I ordered this item through Amazon's 4-for-3 program, so I received another item in my order free.
Edited to add: I really do love this zapper racket, did I tell you that already? This weekend when we had some hot weather, I had two big bees or yellowjackets in my master bathroom, angrily bopping against the mirror and never staying still for one second. No way was I going to be able to catch them, and I could forget about shooing them out of the bathroom, out of the bedroom, and out a living room door to get them out of the house, that simply wasn't going to happen. Zapper to the rescue! I trapped them against the mirror with the zapper, and that killed them so I was able to dispose of them. Mind you, this is on the original set of cheapo AA batteries that came with the zapper, so the batteries have really done well to be able to still kill those two bees. I've been using this zapper for 3 months now, and am very pleased. My mom asked me to buy her one so she could take care of the flies that invade her home in the summer.
Perfect for Fly Haters 2007-12-31
For those of you that are true Fly Haters (Like us) this is a must have. It is pretty brutal (cruel) to the fly but gives us joy when we see sparks coming from the fly stuck on the zapper. I know that sounds terrible but we get A LOT of flies in the summertime. It is the worst when we BBQ in the back yard. Swarms of flies ruin our day when having guests over. This little bit of instant gratification puts a smile of our face. Sick but true. Buy several and give them as gifts. Everybody loves them. Just hover it over the fly and let the fly come to the racket face. No effort like a normal fly swatter.
Amazing Bug Zapper 2008-07-06
Great product that arrived right on time for Father's Day. Hillarious gift & actually quite useful.
Best zapper I've found 2008-07-03
I've used several hand-held bug zappers, and this one is the best. The open design nails big and small bugs, unlike the multi-layer models that large bugs can't fit into.
For instance, this thing will knock a large wasp right out of the sky (although it may need to be stepped on to make sure it's gone). With one of the other multilayer zappers, they often just bounce off -- not a problem with the Charcoal Companion. Plus, the open design of this model stays clean, whereas some of the others get clogged up with little bug bodies.
I didn't give it 5 stars, because I wish it were a bit more sturdy. However, the price is reasonable, and overall it's a good buy.
It works! 2008-06-24
Immediate "touch and die" unless the insect is too big for the mesh...like wood borer bees. It is a little flimsy(what do you expect for this price). It does "sting" you if you touch it while pushing the "on" buttons, so it's not recommended for husbands like mine that must try it out. We've purchased these several times; they make great gifts.
Bye Bye Bees 2008-06-13
We use this product to kill huge bees that drill holes into the wood siding of our house. The bees are very destructive, and extremely hard to kill with a typical fly swatter. With the bug zapper they are quickly eliminated in one hit!
Amazing Bug Zapper 2008-06-13
Everyone needs to have this in their home! No messes to clean up from a squished bug. I have one in every room also one for outside. Fantastic product. Easy to use and does the job.
