In other words, I have an unfortunate blood type that makes me extremely susceptible to mosquito bites. To give you an idea of how bad it is, I was attacked three times while installing the mosquito repellent system I’m reviewing here. I had a large, unpleasant red welt that lasted for days.
I usually take drastic measures to avoid mosquitoes. Also includes popular products such as OFF! A professional mosquito repellent company will come and spray citronella all over your backyard every three weeks. Sadly, none of these were very helpful. For most of the summer I look like some kind of pox patient zero.
This summer I decided I had had enough. Thermacell’s LIV is a stationary mosquito blocker system that scales to fit your deck or garden, regardless of shape or size.
invisible force field
LIV is not a mosquito-killing system, which would require a zapper or poison, but rather a repellent technology. It works based on a chemical called metofluthrin, which when heated releases a vapor that mosquitoes obviously don’t like. Metofluthrin is not specific to Thermacell. It is also an active ingredient of OFF! Products such as mosquito nets and wearable devices.
Photo: Christopher Null
LIV is a wired system consisting of two main components. One is a base station called a smart hub that calls the shots, and the other is as many satellite repellers as needed. A smart hub connects to wall power and communicates with your home network via Wi-Fi. Repellers are also daisy-chained to hubs one after the other via the included cables.
If you are imagining a low-voltage lighting system, you are on the right track. Only LIV isn’t as flexible. Since the repellers must be placed about 20 feet apart from each other, each cable is fixed at 24 feet long, but shorter 10 foot cables can also be purchased separately. This is because vaporized metofluthrin has a reach of only 10 feet. Placing a ring of repellers around the safety zone creates an invisible anti-mosquito force field as a boundary where each repeller’s coverage zone slightly overlaps.
Setup is not difficult, but it does take time and requires attention to detail. There is not much flexibility in where to install the smart hub, as it needs to be installed near an electrical outlet and within the router’s Wi-Fi range, and it also needs to be mounted on the wall. Most homes have few external power outlets, so finding the Goldilocks spot for a hub can be difficult.
Photo: Christopher Null
