Which products do the best job of repelling mosquitoes?

As the weather turns warmer, the bane of bay area existence evidences itself again,as myriad mosquitoes make their seasonal show:

"We have 73 species in the state of Florida, and we're talking about numbers of mosquitoes in... the bazillions?  At least billions and billions of mosquitoes," Ulrich Bernier said. He would know. He's a research chemist with the US Department of Agriculture.

He's been studying the pesky pests for the better part of two decades and has concentrated on how to keep them away from us for about half that time. "To get rid of mosquitoes is definitely a tall order."

And he agreed to help us see which products did the best job for us at keeping the bugs at bay.

One of the most popular and well known is DEET. "DEET is a pretty good repellent," said Bernier. "It can withstand this kind of assay where we used a lot of mosquitoes and they really don't like to land on the surface and stay there."

Natural remedies were also tested. "Citronella is one of the botanicals that we have and it has shown some efficacy keeping mosquitoes from biting you."

ABC Action News reporter Bill Logan tried the Bug Band, which did not seem to deter the critters.  "Oh, they are enjoying a meal," said Logan.

Bernier's colleague, Greg, tested Homs Bite Blocker. "Now the thing to keep in mind with this BioUD, it is actually a tick repellent more so than it is a mosquito repellent," he said.

But it did show effectiveness for us. As did the Lemon Eucalyptus.

Tester Nate was next with Natrapel. "This is a compound that's been around since the mid 80s," he said. "It was used a lot in Europe for the last few decades and now it's made its way over here to the United States." Mosquitoes stayed away.

Then there was the Coleman "Skin Smart" with active ingredient IR3535. While it was a little sticky going on, it did a pretty good job... but not perfect.  One our two mosquitoes landed on the arm.

Which brings us to the most anticipated item in our test, the OFF! Clip-On with a fan-driven dose of metofluthrin, which worked inside the closed cage,  but was actually made to be used in the environment.

Most people use screen rooms to keep the bugs out, but in Gainesville, researchers use them to keep mosquitoes in.

The clip was turned on as nearly 500 mosquitoes were released.  Although no mosquitoes appeared near the clip, they were buzzing all about Logan's head, face, and neck, and "not as effective as we hoped."

So how do the products rank in our test? The stuff with the highest percentage of DEET worked best.

Products with Picaridin, IR3535, and Lemon Eucalyptus Oil round out the rest in order of effectiveness. These items are deemed "reasonable long-lasting protection" from the CDC.

The Clip-On, with its Metofluthrin worked, just not as well as we'd hoped, which leaves Ulrich Bernier with hope for a long career. "I think they'll always be around as a nuisance... and if they weren't around I probably wouldn't have a job."

When contacted, the president of the company that makes the bug band said that university studies have shown the product can help repel mosquitoes.