The Executioner Pro Fly Killer Mosquito Swatter Racket Wasp Bug Zapper Indoor Outdoor Over 55cm Long

Well, this thing worked well until after it was out of warranty. It made it about 15 months… I live near the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida, and have mangroves nearby, so 2 problems we deal with are mosquitoes and gnats. This thing works very well on both of those pests. On normal houseflies, it’s about an 80% kill rate. Larger critters like the mud dauber wasps, etc., that infest the area are usually just stunned. But at least it gives you time to stomp them, or whatever.When the thing ultimately broke a couple of days ago (it has been working less than optimally for a while), I disassembled it (I’m a retired electronics engineer) to peek at the inside. What was physically broken was a tiny plastic tab that holds the back/bottom of the actuating switch from moving away from the pushbutton. This little plastic widget was broken–it is very small (less than an 1/8″ in diameter) and it takes the full pressure of the button being pushed each time the unit is used. I found a suitable sized machine screw and epoxied it to take the place of the little plastic tab, which worked. However, the high voltage generator circuit seems to have failed, as well. I never bothered testing the unit before it failed, so I have no idea how much voltage it is supposed to generate, but now after my tinkering, It seems to be putting out about 515 volts, DC, on the wires in the grids. It still kills mosquitoes, but the satisfying ‘CRACK!’ is gone, so my guess is that the high voltage generator is probably a bit sick after so much use. Leaky capacitor, whatever.With all of that said, I’m going to buy another one simply because it does work well on the majority of the critters that annoy me around here.Just a couple of tips: get a real dpst pushbutton switch as a replacement for that jury rig spst switch with the add-on contacts. Anchor the switch better. That little post is bound to fail before the rest of the unit, and that means that the 20 bucks you charge is basically for that one failure-prone component.**************Update**************Well, this second unit lasted about the same amount of time. It failed with exactly the same problem as the first one. The electronic engineering is very good until they get to the operator’s switch. At that point, it really and truly begins to draw a laboratory grade vacuum. They use a truly weird little flat piece of tin, which has a wire soldered to it, and that, is haphazardly mounted to what has to be the cheapest switch manufactured in the world. (A square hole punched to accommodate the square switch actuator.) When you push the button on the side you effectively close a dual pole single throw, spring loaded switch. The catch is that this switch is not attached to anything mechanically. So each time you push the button on the outside, you’re pushing the whole switch…which would be okay if the switch was mounted in a way that kept the switch locked in position. BUT… there is nothing but a tiny plastic post that goes up between the electrical poles on the switch and after some number of pushes, it breaks. The pushing the switch does absolutely nothing. The high voltage supply doesn’t get activated, and the switch just floats around. So I’m gonna order another one, because it does work… but I’m also going to try and come up with a small dpst switch from a reputable switch company and dremel tool the old mounting junk out of the way and put in a good switch.Bottom line: It works… but it has a lifespan, and that lifespan is measured by how often you use the thing. Each press of the actuator is a little bit of life gone.2nd Update today… as I got ready to buy another one of these, I noted that the price has almost doubled to $53.00. This is not worth $53.00. Not during this lifetime. It was a stretch at $29.00… There is, perhaps, 3 bucks worth of electronic components on one super-cheap circuit board, and maybe 2 or 3 bucks worth of plastic bits and pieces. If the switch had been completely reworked, and a good ‘Micro’ or ‘Switchcraft’ switch installed, it might be worth it, but… no. Just no. Not for something I know is going to fail. I’ll try one of the other brands and see how that goes.