OneShot Home Plug in Bug Zapper

Pros: Compact, visually striking and it works!
Cons: Drawer and retractable plug can be hard to open.
I like to fry an insect as much as the next guy, and living out in the country North of Houston we see a lot of annoying bugs and flying insects we would not normally see in the city. Especially mosquitos and flies!
We were looking for a small indoor bug zapper that we could plug in near our living room and/or our computer room that wouldn’t take up much space or have a cord to trip over, because we were getting eaten alive by mosquitos and bombarded by stupid gnats. While browsing WalMart several weeks ago we came across this nifty OneShot Home Plug in Bug Zapper. Being under $10 we decided to purchase one to try it out. We found them later on Amazon.com also.

They are a small device with a two-point plug that plugs into any standard power point. It consists of a plastic casing with a metal grid plate screwed inside that conducts the 900 volt jolt to end the life of any annoying insect. It’s kind of an odd shape but contains no sharp corners. It’s 4” long and stands out 2¾” from the socket. Basically it’s the size of a bar of Dove soap, only thicker.
It is illuminated with a brilliant deep blue light to attract insects near and far, although why they chose blue instead of any other color I don’t know. I guess blue seems pretty standard on bug zappers these days.

It does throw out a hell of a lot of light, although it makes for a dim night light because it isn’t very harsh on the eyes. It still throws out a beam of blue light for several feet across the floor, but we have ours plugged in at floor level; you can plug it anywhere you wish. Kitchens and living rooms would be great or even bedrooms. Basically wherever you see annoying insects is a good spot to use it.
It only has two features – a fold-up prong that retracts neatly into the device, and a tiny pull-out drawer in the back that is supposed to catch the insects when they are zapped. Both features don’t need to be there and seem to be for novelty purposes only.

Once retracted (which is how it comes out of the box) I found the plug prong difficult to pull out again. You really need strong fingernails to do this, which I don’t. It’s not stiff to move; I mean it’s just hard to get it started. A knife will also do the trick. I did like the pull-out drawer at the back; I thought it was nifty, but it too was hard to get my nails in there to pull it out.
To tell the truth, it didn’t really catch many mosquitos in the drawer. Oh the device killed a few alright. I didn’t hear it zap but I found several dead mozzies inside. Upon opening the drawer they would mostly fall out the back of the tray and back into the device. No problem though, as a quick shake got them to fall out of the drawer cavity.
For heavy infestations you will need to clean it out every day or two. For only a few insects here and there like we are experiencing you can go a few weeks without cleaning it out. Cleaning it is as easy as shaking it out, or use a tiny brush if the insects are stuck to the metal grid. So far, ours have fallen off easily enough with a shake of the device. Of course it goes without saying; unplug it before cleaning lest you want to turn your fingers into French fries!
My overall impression is positive. The zapper does work nicely; the blue light will attract mosquitos. It is quiet, doesn’t use much power, zero harmful chemicals and throws out a pleasing light. It’s for small insects only from mosquitos, gnats and flies. Anything larger than that might have a little trouble fitting through the openings on the plastic cover. As to replacing the bulbs behind the grid if it stops working, I don’t know. Amazon describes it as “Never replace bulbs”. I guess they are designed to never fail or perhaps they mean that it is cheaper to buy a replacement zapper than replace the bulbs!
Overall, the OneShot Home Plug in Bug Zapper is a good buy for under ten bucks and I hope to get a lot more use out of it