Fishing Frenzy

If you aren't already familiar with the electric insect zapper, you are really going to love it and if you have used one before, I'm sure you'll welcome it back like an old pal! The electric bug zapper does just what it says: it zaps bugs. But it does it really, very well.

Any bug that comes into contact with the hand held bug zapper is fried. Smaller bugs like gnats and mosquitoes are vaporized with a very satisfying flash and a crack. Larger insect, like house flies and wasps die, but don't explode like the smaller ones.

Just how many times have these flying insects taken the edge off an otherwise enjoyable evening in the garden? Or how many times have you not been able to get a decent night's sleep, because you know there's at least one mosquito in the bedroom. It has happened to me dozens and dozens of times, I know! It is very satisfying to get one's own back with the electronic bug killer.

I don't relish killing things without cause - I'm married to a Buddhist- but mosquitoes? I'm sorry, they can die. And the electronic bug killer does it without any more ado. No waiting and hoping they'll fly into the ultraviolet light and then into the mesh. No, one sweep of the handheld bug zapper and the mosie's gone and you can hear whether you got her or not. (I say her, because the sucking mosquitoes always are females - honest, I wasn't being sexist).

Basically, there are two kinds of electronic insect zapper. There is the battery operated bug zapper and the rechargeable electric bug zapper. Both operate on the same principle, but I prefer the rechargeable type, although I guess you could use rechargeable batteries too. However, I think that they would be more expensive that the bug zapper in the first place. Anyway, I have had a electronic insect zapper of the rechargeable sort for five years and I am very happy with them.

Nowadays, I spend a lot of time in Thailand with my wife, so you can bet your bottom dollar that I give my hand held bug killer a good work-out practically every evening. We usually eat in the garden in the evening and all socializing is done outside by tradition, especially in the rural areas, where we live. So it comes in real handy. I also use my hand held bug zapper to 'sweep' the bedroom for bugs before we retire at night. Just like an FBI agent.

The hand held insect killer just seems to improve every time I buy one, which makes it hard to give you definite specifications. The electric bug zappers I had four or five years ago, often failed within six to nine months of purchase, although their ability to store a charge reduced a lot after four or five months.

However, the new electric insect zapper will last 9-12 months and still be very pokey after nine months. My latest model even has a powerful light called a headlamp built into it. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be for, but if you feel that vengeance is sweet, you can attract mosquitoes with it and then zap them with your electronic bug killer.