Flowtron PV-440 Galaxie Power-Vac Mosquito Control Unit (One Acre Coverage)

I live in mid to upper Wisconsin and the mosquitos were horrible this year. So horrible that you would have 20+ swarming you at a time. I put this out 3 days ago in the yard right behind the garage and so far it has caught tons of insects including mosquitos. Most of the bugs are currently dead, including dead mosquitos when I take a look, but there are also mosquitos flying around in the plastic catch bucket so I know it is taking them out. I am still getting bit, but I realistically know that it will take weeks to really knock down the population up here. I am actually going to order another one. Bought the first one for $135 on Amazon last week. It is easy to setup, you just put together 4 pieces plus the bulb (which wasn't packaged very well and I almost broke since I didn't see it right away, they should really package that better), add the attractant and plug it in. I think it works much better at night than during the day, especially for anything attracted by the lights. Most bugs are in the basket, but the June bugs tend to just like to die before they even go through the fan. Seems like a semi-cheap and effective unit overall after researching for something that would KILL and not just repel mosquitos and something that has a heavy amount of good reviews (Thank you Amazon for the review system). It also seems very easy to fix if anything goes wrong (I'm an electrical engineer) as the unit is very simple in the electronics department. I'm not sure how this compares to the mosquito magnet or the Mega Catch (this seems to be the #1 Mosquito killer), but the price on this was much better and running it in the long run will be much cheaper as it will only require electricity, and the Octenol attractants to keep it going (instead of CO2 or Propane) and maybe a bulb once in a while. The only main flaw I see is that the wind would be able to knock it over, but I put a concrete brick on the base to prevent that.

This unit only worked for a month then it stopped working. It would not power on. I had to send it back to the company to have it repaired and paid for shipping myself. It's been now 2 weeks since it's been repaired but this time the fan stopped working. I've contacted the company again and waiting for a response from them. Other than the hassle of returning the product and paying out of pocket each time for shipping, this is a great product. It really works to reduce your mosquito population! ***Update*** 6/27/11 - it's been 3 weeks since the fan to the Powervac stopped working. I've contacted the company over 2 weeks and reported the problem. Finally after 3 emails, someone responded stating to clean the fan. Cleaned the fan as stated in the manual and still no success. Still waiting on a response for next step to getting this product fixed. Not sure if this will happen.

I bought this unit... It seemed to be ok working about 10 days to 2 weeks I started catching all these nasty bugs... Just a couple days over the 30 day return period, the unit died... Might be good to wrap the end of the cord around the pole to prevent hanging tension on the plug which might progress issues with the power supply. EDIT: Updating my review... i'm about a month and some days in. the power supply was defective and i'm having a new one shipped out from FlowTron. I will update more down the line as time progresses... so far so good though! Really impressed with the customer service!!!

The item doesn't catch mosquitoes, even though hundreds are within feet of it. It only catches moths, which an electric bug zapper can do for less. I have been operating the unit for 3 months, during the hours of dusk to dawn and during the summer in the Tucson AZ climate. The unit is protected from the elements, under a shade tree. After only 3 months, the black light already burned out and the fan that creates the vacuum to get the bugs in the unit has burned out too. Contacting manufacture for warranty replacement parts. The unit is obviously not built to last and does nothing with mosquitoes. I now own a very expensive moth catcher, that doesn't even work at this point.

I was a little hesitant to purchase this item after reading some of the reviews... but thought about the money I spend on sprays, foggers, candles, tikis, etc. and figured I'd give it a shot. I am glad I did! I live in Middle Tennessee on a little over an acre surrounded by woods, streams and standing water. This year has been really rainy and the yard has been unbearable with the mosquitoes. I have a stinger nosquito inside the house that works on moths and flies, etc. and this item is similar (florescent light and then fan trapping the bugs) so I figured this flowtron would work well and it has not disappointed! It took a few days to find the perfect spot in the yard for it but after reading the information that is included I had a pretty good idea- but you do have to play around with the placement for the best effectiveness. It's about 15 feet away from the patio near some large trees. I was a little worried about it raining on the item but it's rained quite a few times and everything seems great! After the second day of running the trap was almost full! I can now walk outside on my patio and not worry about being bitten. There are still a few mosquitoes but nothing near like what it was. It also works very well on catching moths and other bugs. I've owned this unit about three weeks now and if it were to break tomorrow I would gladly buy another one. My neighbor even asked what it was and if I've noticed there have been fewer mosquitoes lately. After explaining it to him he thanked me profusely for being able to enjoy his yard again. One of the cooler unexpected things about this unit is the LED lights. They rotate between a pink/blue/green/maybe purple along with the florescent light so it looks like a cool mosquito disco. Everyone that comes over at night asks about it and always notices they don't have to cover themselves with spray to sit on my patio anymore. Thanks Flowtron!

So far I'm sooo unimpressed with this. I live in Alaska and we have tons of mosquitos. This year is worse than most. History: I used to have a Mosquito Magnet some years back when they were new on the market. It was amazing. I'd have to empty the bag every three days - thousands of mosquitos - and after a few weeks the catch would decline as we also noticed less and less mosquitos flying around us. The fan - powered by the heat of the propane burning - eventually jammed and I got rid of the device as it would go through a fair amount of expensive propane every three weeks and in addition to the cost I wondered about the CO2 emissions plus the high cost (>$400-500.) In general though, I'm not inexperienced with these devices. I jumped at the chance, with our heavier than normal mosquito numbers this year to try this one with a reasonable cost and no propane to buy. After running over five days however I have less than 100 mosquitos total. This is a pittance and there are still tons flying around. I've tried a few locations but not much difference. I am thinking, for one thing, the UV light may not be as effective due to our long daylight hours but I'm not sure how UV visibility varies in the daytime since I can't see UV!! I don't notice a bigger increase at night when it's dusky versus the middle of the day Perhaps mosquitos in different areas are attracted to different things and I would imagine, without propane, this device doesn't give off much if any heay and of course no CO2. Maybe that's what our mosquitos are attracted to because the attractant sure isn't doing enough to justify the cost and running of this device. Some others here seem to happier - like the person from Africa. With others, maybe catching 50 mosquitos is a lot but it's not for me and I KNOW what these kinds of devices can be capable ofl

We used a mosquito magnet executive model for 3 years, it was a very fussy piece of equipment and used a lot of propane and attractant. It did work albeit very expensive to buy and run. We bought the flowtron as the mosquito magnet has finally given up and I have been UNABLE TO REACH CUSTOMER SERVICE TO FIND OUT IF PARTS ARE AVAILABLE. The flowtron arrived, assembled easily, switched on and has been killing tons of mosquitos and bugs since. It survived tropical storm bill and has been so far an excellent purchase. I'm just bought a second unit and am considering a third. We live on an acreage and I think I need that many units to do the job properly in Texas. Considering a replacement unit from mosquito magnet is $750 I can buy 5 of these things for the cost of one replacement. Killing bugs should be relatively inexpensive and I think flowtron may have hit the jackpot here. Even if I throw it away after 12 months it will be more cost effective than mosquito magnet.

Item came missing a manual of operations, which I found on-line, and also seemed to be missing the attractant cartridge. I have some of those on order, but I was disappointed that they were not included in the original packaging as indicated. Otherwise, the control unit was simple to assemble and plug in. Time will tell (I will amend this review) as to what it does on mosquitoes. So far, barely any, but without the attractant it probably won't do much. Hopefully the manufacturer will make good and I will modify this review. UPDATE: I ordered some of the attractant and installed it. The machine does attract and kill mosquitos and also some of the smaller moths and other bugs attracted to light, or a place to hide. It is not what I envisioned when purchasing the product nor has it really helped with my mosquito problem, but I cannot say that it does not work. I have to empty the trap about once per week, and it generally has about 1/2" of dead insects in it, including an underwhelming amount of actual mosquitos. It is in an area of my yard that is loaded with them, so it is not a lack of mosquitos that is the problem. I'll stick with 3 stars and suggest that the unit is rather over-priced for what it is and what it does.

To review this product, it's important to understand its function and purpose. These wonderful machines are designed to reduce the population of mosquitoes in the area over time, and that's exactly what they do. If you put it outside and expect mosquitoes to go to the machine instead of you while you enjoy the deck, they will prefer you. When there's no real mammals, they find it perfectly attractive. I've been using this and similar products at my property which backs on protected green space and wetland in Milton, Ontario for about eight years now and the mosquitoes have gone from thousands dive bombing people to a small few. I like to sit out on my deck at dusk with a beer and my mosquito racquet (I call it "mosquito hunting") and last summer I would get to zap, after waiting a while, about three or four - and one time I went out hunting and there were zero. For scent refills, you can save money by using a smelly sweat sock instead, mosquitoes love feet. For best results, put your 'skeeto trap out early in April. If you catch, say, the first 10 mosquitoes of spring, in two weeks they would have 90 babies each (900 'skeeos) then two weeks later those 900 have 90 babies each, and so on - so in August you are enjoying a yard where thousands of mosquitoes have never been born. But if you're new and just getting started, you won't just catch the first 10, it will be hundreds. For comparison, when we walk four houses down to spend time in the neighbour's yard, everyone gets eaten alive. In the first summer I put another model of Flowtron out back, I must have caught 10,000 or so, I was dumping the basket every few days. As for reliability of this particular product, I bought two of these Flowtron PV-440 two springs ago. One konked out last fall (I got two seasons out of it and just bought another one and set it up today), and the other I left running at the back of my yard all this past winter. It made it through and is still running right now. If any 'skeetos woke up on an exceptionally warm day in February, I bet I caught 'em. The white florescent bulb needs to be replaced about once a year, but the unit continues running and the red and blue LED's still keep going. I right now have one in the back of my yard, and one on my front veranda. This product also catches other insects that are attracted to light, I also have almost no moths or other little bugs that would be all over the porch light.

I bought this product in March but as I live in canada didn’t start using till April it lasted till the end of June and the fan inside quit the black light bulb gave up around the same time

Amazing!! We are able to sit outside at night without being bugged by bugs!!

WELL TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH ,,HAD IT RUNNING FOR THREE WEEKS AND HAVEN'T EMPTIED IT YET..NOT IMPRESSED..TO ME ITS JUST A BUNCH OF PRETTY LIGHTS AND NOISE WASTE OF MONEY ,,,WISH I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE PROPANE ONE NOW...