The best electric fly swatters

The problem it actually solves

There is one mosquito in your bedroom at two in the morning. You can hear it. It is not going to be solved by a trap, a yard spray, a larvicide or a repellent zone, and none of those things is designed to work on a two-minute timescale.

An electric racket solves it. That is the whole pitch and it is a good one: aimed, instant, no refills, no power outlet, and you can go back to sleep.

It also handles:

• A fly that got in when the door opened
• Wasps around a patio table, at a safe distance
• The last few flies after a bigger fly problem is otherwise dealt with
• Anything on a screen or a window you do not want to touch

It does nothing about a population. That is not a criticism — it is a different product category.

The specification that matters: mesh layers

Most rackets are a single electrified mesh with a plastic frame. A finger, or a child's finger, can reach the live surface from either side. The shock is unpleasant rather than dangerous for a healthy adult — but it is genuinely unpleasant, and it happens.

A triple-layer racket has two unelectrified outer grids sandwiching the live center. Insects pass through the outer layers; a finger does not reach the charge. That is the difference worth paying for, particularly in a house with children.

Other things to look at:

• A rigid frame. Cheap rackets flex and the mesh distorts after a season.
• A safety switch that requires deliberate pressure rather than a slide switch that stays on in a drawer.
• AA batteries rather than a sealed rechargeable, if you want it to still work in three years.
• An indicator light so you know it is live.

Using one safely

• Do not use it near flammable vapor. Gasoline, aerosol propellant, solvent fumes in a garage. It generates a spark.
• Do not touch the mesh after a swing. Some models hold a charge on the grid briefly.
• Store it switched off, and out of reach of children.
• Do not use it in the rain or with wet hands.
• Do not hand it to a child as a toy, however much they want it.

Technique

• Swing through the insect, not at it. A mosquito displaced by the air you push ahead of the racket is the most common miss.
• Approach from below. Most flying insects escape upward.
• Wait for it to land on a wall, then move slowly and touch the racket to the surface.
• In a dark room, turn on a lamp and wait. Mosquitoes come to the light and to you; stand still for thirty seconds and you will usually get a shot.

What it does not replace

If you are using the racket every night, the problem is upstream and the racket is a symptom-management tool.

• Mosquitoes coming indoors is a screen or door-sweep problem. Indoor mosquito traps starts with that check.
• A yard full of mosquitoes is a standing-water problem. The yard guide.
• A house full of flies means something outside is breeding them. House flies.

Keep the racket for the last one that got in anyway. That is what it is genuinely excellent at, and it is a job every one of the other products on this site is bad at.