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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Don't waste your money...
Comment: This over-priced, non-functional, piece of junk is absolutely worthless. Do not waste your money. Ours has never once worked properly since we purchased it over 2 years ago at the exorbitant price of $795. First, the battery never keeps a charge and we have had to contact the manufacturer, American Biophysics, on at least 3 separate occasions to request new batteries, and ultimately they determined the first unit that they shipped to us was defective and they replaced it with a new one that worked marginally better than the other, but still never properly. Once we were able to get it to actually run, it did not work as promised and we still had thousands of mosquitoes around. Now, the mosquitoes did hover around the vacuum intake, but very few (maybe 500 at the most) actually went into or were sucked into the unit.
Then, we learned that we had a different kind of mosquito than what the Magnet was originally designed for. We had Asian Tiger mosquitoes since we live in the southeast US. So, after spending money on the original attractant that did not work, we were forced to purchase a different and intially more expensive attractant, Octenol. When the Magnet actually ran (on rare occasion), this attractant was somewhat more effective than the other.
Then, this summer, the Magnet's battery-charge problems returned (or some other gremlin since I still had a spare battery and it appeared to be retaining its charge). By the end of July, my Magnet had ceased to work altogether and became an $800 ugly yard decoration. So, yet another call to the manufacturer. I was told that it was probably clogged with dirty propane or something like that, and I would need to spend additional money and purchase a "quick clear" cartridge which is essentially a CO2 capsule that blows out and "clears" whatever particles and gases may be trapped and clogging the system. I used high pressure air instead to clean out the system, and lo and behold, it still doesn't work and now sits in my basement as an $800 dust magnet. (Oh, and by the way, its top-heavy plastic casement fell over once while moving it to a different location in the yard causing the cheap plastic "neck" that goes into the metal sleeve and "balances" it snapped off and broke, thus rendering it even less functional).
Bottom line...do not waste your money, and do not buy this product or recommend it to anyone you know.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Comment: It starteds to eliminate the mosquito problem we had almost right away. I found it very easy and set up. Silent,orderless and effortless. It does a great job.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Run Away!!! This is a expensive mistake.
Comment: Like most people, my igniter quit working, and they want a bunch of money to fix it. That would just be good money after bad. It never caught anything and is very expensive to run each month because you have to buy the octenol and propane. Any other solution would work better and cost less. Forget about this item.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Most frustrating product I've ever had--skip this one!!
Comment: We started out in early '04 with the Pro Plus version of the MM (#1). It would run for 24 hours or so an then shut off. After a couple of frustrating tech support calls (long holds, no continuity, etc.) American Biophysics decided that maybe the fact that we are located at 5000 feet and the air is thinner, the Pro Plus wouldn't work very well. (Apparently, it's tuning is pretty critical) So, they sent us 2 Liberty Plus units (#2, #3) in exchange for the Pro Plus. This seemed OK because it gives us a little more coverage. Of course, that statement implies that they actually work!
The first LP that they sent actually seemed to be working after a week, so they went ahead and sent the second one. The second one never worked. Just wouldn't stay on. After several weeks, we got it exchanged for a new unit. (#4) It never started up. By now the season was over, and the first unit also didn't keep running. But after trying 3 LP and a PP, I'd had enough so we packed 'em up for the winter, even though neither was working.
This spring, we tried to get them going early. One unit just wouldn't start. (#4) Gas fault and then battery fault unless you recharge between each attempt to get them started. Sent that unit back to exchange the head. Remarkably, the second unit actually started up after several cartridges of CO2. And it ran long enough to finish one propane tank and then finish another--about 4-5 weeks. So I thought we were off and running. Wrong!!
After running pretty well for those 4-5 weeks, it stopped and would not re-start. Furthermore, the new one that was sent in exchange for the other one simply never started at all. Of course, I was also figuring that by now, we were out of warranty. Remarkably, since we had initially purchased the Pro Plus, which has a two year warranty, they are giving us a 2 year warranty on our two Liberty Plus units. So I sent them both back and have now received two more units (#5, #6) I fired one of them up on Monday and it's been running for 4 days. The other fired up on Wednesday (7/20) and has been running for 2 days. Are we making progress? Who knows?
More observations--Am Bio really focuses on the quality of the propane. We have tried 3 different suppliers. Generally, the results have been invariant, so I'm not at all sure we have a propane issue.
--Am Bio always starts their troubleshooting with suggesting that you blow 2 or 3 CO2 cartridges. I've started doing 2-3 cartridges whenever the thing doesn't start. It generally does not help. But, it eliminates having to call back when it doesn't work. The downside is that in the last 1.3 years, I've bought about 40 or 50 CO2 cartridges at a cost of at least $3 each.
--When these things are working, and there is a significant mosquito population, they seem to catch mosquitoes. Last summer, when the one unit was running for several weeks, the bag wound up with what seems like a pretty big population of dead guys. However, if they won't run, that doesn't matter.
--When they sent (#5,#6) they also had them running in the factory prior to shipment. I suppose this makes sure that there are no obvious defects. Maybe when you have to get your replacement unit, you should ask for one of those. I did note that one of the units was last year's model and the other was this year's model. (I'm sure both are refurbs, by the way.)
Anyway, unless you really need mosquito control, I'd suggest DEET, like some of the other folks. We live next to a swamp, and are in West Nile country, so we feel that mosquito control is pretty critical. However, this product is so frustrating, if I didn't need it, I would never buy it!! I guess the good news is that since we originally bought the Pro Plus, my warranty goes through April 2006. In that time, I shouldn't need more than 4 or 5 more units...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Consider the Deleto 2500 instead...here is why
Comment: After doing my research, I decided to give Coleman's Mosquito Deleto 2500 a try. I first considered the Mosquito Magnet Liberty Plus. But, after reading numerous reviews detailing all of the quality control issues and/or quirky problems people have getting that unit to start and stay lit, I decided that the street price for the Liberty Plus was just too high for a product that didn't seem very reliable or serviceable by the consumer. I also work with 4 people who own either the Liberty or the Liberty Plus and it turns out that 3 of the 4 people have gone through one or more of the well documented non-recoverable problems with these units. I also found a CBS News link that did an excellent test on both the Coleman 2500, the Liberty Plus, and third mosquito trap called the Skeeter Vac - and based on reading that article, I decided to get the Coleman unit.
The Coleman Mosquito Deleto 2500 unit I bought appears to be a re-engineered version of the Mosquito Magnet Liberty Plus, at half the cost, about $330. (Do not confuse the Coleman 2500 with the earlier Coleman mosquito trap which uses sticky paper to trap the bugs. Many reviews of that Coleman sticky trap unit show that it doesn't catch many bugs. - so I decided to stay away from that one also.)
After installing the unit in my back yard, I can tell you that it catches lots of mosquitoes and tiny no-see-ums, and it makes a big difference in getting bitten in my yard. I live adjacent to my town forest, so I placed the unit at the edge of the woods, thinking the bugs will get attracted to the unit before flying around my back yard and biting me and my family. I had a camp fire out back a couple of nights ago, and I was actually able to sit there in shorts without taking a DEET bath! The unit started up easily and I like the fact that Coleman used a simple battery pack which consists of 3-AA NiCad batteries which can be purchased cheaply virtually anywhere when they finally run out of juice. (Try replacing a dead "power module" on the Liberty Plus -HA!!! Good luck and empty your wallet!)
I do have to say that ALL of these propane driven mosquito traps have an inherent problem which potential buyers should be aware of. They use propane at an extremely SLOW rate. A 20 lb. bottle of gas is suppose to last about thee weeks - while running continuously. Because of this, the fuel nozzle opening is VERY tiny and is virtually guaranteed to eventually get clogged - don't be fooled, I believe that the majority of these type of mosquito traps will fail to work because of partial or total clogging of the fuel nozzle! In fact, my Deleto 2500 got clogged and stopped working after a while. What I like once again is Coleman's simple and practical solution to this problem. First of all - the gas nozzle is a $3 part and they give you an extra one. Secondly, it is easily removable by the use of a hand tool that is mounted on the trap so you don't loose the tool. Since you can remove the nozzle, unclogging it is accomplished by simply removing the tip from the nozzle - and cleaning it with a solvent like carburetor cleaner and blowing it out with compressed air. The solvent does an excellent job of clearing out a totally clogged tip and you don't have to shell out $$$ for CO2 cartridges every month to clear out the fuel system like the Liberty. Plus, CO2 alone doesn't clean out the tiny tip as effectively as a solvent - never can, never will!!! You will never be able to clean out the Liberty fuel tip with solvent because, guess what....it is NOT serviceable by the owner. What where they thinking when they designed this!!! Personally, I think this is why there are so many problems with the Liberty units during the second season of use. Coleman's approach to this problem is simple, practical, and cheep! I hope I continue to feel this way next year....only time will tell. Because of this, I think the Coleman Mosquito Deleto 2500 is the way to go, but don't forget, you will have to occasionally clean the tip out to keep it running(or replace it for $3 if you don't want to deal with cleaning it).
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