Most Liked Negative Review

Good feature set, but didn't repel mosquitos.

Disclosure: Thermacell sent this product to me in return for an honest review. I paid for shipping. Otherwise, I received what looked to be a retail boxed product. The short: Overall, the new Patio Shield had a lot of thought put into the industrial design. Unfortunately, the mosquito repellenc...y did not work for me here in Austin, Texas. Ultimately, that's what matters for a mosquito repeller. The long: I own the MR150 portable repeller from Thermacell. I've tried using it during hunting, camping, and on the patio, but similar to the Patio Shield, I still had mosquitos literally fly over and past the heated allethrin pad and bite me. There's definitely possibility Central Texas mosquitos have developed an immunity to allethrin; I don't know. I know many people who swear by Thermacell, so it obviously has to work to some capacity, but it hasn't worked well for me. Ultimately, this is the reason for the low score I'm giving this product. Disregarding the effectiveness of the mosquito repellency, the physical product is well designed. The top cover (lid): One of the best features is the removable top cover. The problem with the blue allethrin pads are that they dry out when sitting out. The Patio Shield's cover helps to alleviate this. But the cover is not fully sealed, so the pad will still eventually dry out. When the Patio Shield is in use, you can lay this cover upside down and seat the Patio Shield upright inside the concave space. An etching around the Patio Shield's base will help to indicate when it has seated level inside the lid, but it does not securely clip in and so can still be easily knocked over. Repeller pad storage: Another great feature is a storage space beneath and inside the Patio Shield where you can store additional unopened alletrhin pads. There are four pairs of narrow plastic protrusions where a single unopened pad can be wedged in and held out of sight. The space is small, so if you'd need some smaller dextrous fingers to get them in there. Would be easier if the butane cartridge is not installed, but having all four pad holders filled may make screwing in the butane cartridge difficult. Butane ignition check portal: The clear window to check whether the butane is lit or not is located at the top edge of the Patio Shield's cylinder shape and is large enough to make checking for the pad heater being lit is easy. Butane flow and ignition switch: This is my least favorite part of the design. While the rotary switch at the bottom of the Patio Shield is aesthetically nice, it has the same smooth slippery plastic as the rest of the product. Even with the two finger divots molded into the rotary switch, gripping and twisting this switch can be tricky if using the design queues to only use your thumb and forefinger. You'll have better luck by laying the base of the Patio Shield fully into your palm and place as much of your hand's surface area and grip onto the rotary switch. If you have weak hand strength or suffer from arthritis, igniting the butane on the Patio Shield could prove difficult. Thermacell could add some grippy grooves or stippling in their next revision of the product to help with this. In summary, it's a well designed product. I just wish it repelled mosquitos here in Central Texas.