apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sounds promising, but how do pets fit into the equation?

i've never used the riddex version, but i used a similar plug-in that promised to keep mice away...
unfortunately it didn't work. and it didn't even have a night light, so it was pretty much useless.

my landlord gave me one of these-- it did nothing, and then the exterminator he finally hired assured me that they are a scam. Google them and you will see that they have been legally barred from making claims that they actually do anything.

a quick search on amazon showed that people that have bought and tried it found similar results, it was useless.

Mine was a dust collector

ours worked, we put one each in the small rooms in the barn...its a barn and it had zero bugs and mice..anecdotal of course

also there are natural bug sprays that work well, we used one with camellia extract i believe, some sort of flower

I used them more than a decade ago, but found them useless.

useless.

Yup, useless.

no good, they don't do anything.

One more vote for 'useless' -- the mouse-repeller did nothing at all to stop the happy frolicking in our cupboards.

We finally borrowed the neighbor's large, aggressive cat. After a night of dreadful carnage, the remaining mice fled in terror. Don't think this will work with bugs.

I don't think that would work at all; personally, I'd rather have mice than bugs. If I had to choose [which I'd rather not].

Useless. Ols news. These have been around at least a decade. Your friends must have been doing something else to achieve that "reasonable success.". Every study out there has found these to be a scam. But I'm sure the night light works.

Yes, Virginia. There *is* one born everyday.... ~:o)

I have a couple of them in my place, left from the previous tenant... They certainly didn't stop this guy.

Doesn't work

There are ways of looking up the information:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/07/global.shtm

The FTC’s complaint alleges that the respondents made unsubstantiated claims that:

* their electromagnetic pest control products repel, drive away, or eliminate mice, rats, and cockroaches from homes and other buildings in two to four weeks, and drive them away by sending a pulsating signal throughout or altering the field around the electrical wiring inside homes and other buildings; and that they act as an effective alternative to, or eliminate the need for, chemicals, pesticides, insecticides, exterminators, and pest control services;
* their combination electromagnetic/ultrasonic pest control devices effectively repel, control, or eliminate mice, rats, cockroaches, rodents, insects, spiders, silverfish, and bats from homes and other buildings, and upset nesting sites of mice, rats, and cockroaches within walls, ceilings, and floors by using the products’ pulse or electromagnetic technology through the household wiring;
* their ultrasonic pest control devices effectively repel, drive away, or eliminate mice, rats, bats, crickets, spiders, and other insects from homes, and eliminate the need for toxic chemicals, poisons, or traps; and
* their pest control products are effective within an area ranging from up to 800 square feet or up to 2,000 feet, depending on the model.

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It's all bogus. Quackery:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/08/lentek.shtm

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USE the FTC site. http://www.ftc.gov
It's super easy. Enter a search term. Like "Riddex" and you'll get the responses that you need to make an educated decision.

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Reading online reviews can sometimes help:
http://www.amazon.com/Global-Instruments-2100-Electric-Cator/dp/B000BX1IQG

"I would never spend the money one of these things costs, but I was lucky to come across one for free, and was curious as to how it worked. Because when you plug it in, it doesn't make any noise, vibration, or anything. All it does is flash a red LED on and off, that's it.

So I decided to open it up and see what is on the inside. Having a strong background in electronics, I had to laugh when all that was inside was basically a small coil and a circuit to make the LED flash on and off."

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This is another good site:
http://www.quackwatch.com/

It's more for health. But still is useful. Because it contains common sense things like this:
http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/BookContents/quackdevice.html

Here's one tip on the Quack Devices:
"You can't find one at a regular doctor's office."

That could apply to this scenario. Call up the local exterminator and ask if they carry those things. You will be laughed at.

Don't you think if it was that easy to rid ourselves of pests, and that these things can be found battery-operated, that there would be no problems with pests at all...anywhere?

Crops would not need to be sprayed. With anything. There wouldn't be problems like this:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/chinas_rats.php

And of course, the morons did something even worse:
"To kill the rats, people have resorted to poison, some of it illegal, which has led to the widespread deaths of cats and stoked official fears about soil pollution and the development of a "super rat," immune to pesticides."

Or the number shown in a few pictures here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1987072/posts?q=1&;page=1

Hmm. Has anyone tried using these recently. Has the riddex product been improved somehow within the last few years? These are still around now.. so they have to be semi-effective.. right?