Picaridin?

[Kate Anthony]

Has anyone used Picaridin based mosquito repellents and how does the protection compare to Deet? First impression confirms that it is indeed "odorless and non-greasy". I haven't tested on plastic or synthetic to see if dissolves/softens them like Deet. I have no qualms about using small quantities of Deet or Picaridin (I'm a chemist by training and trust the data), I just hate the smell and the greasy feel of Deet.

[Bob Gross]

My opinion is that full-strength DEET is the best for driving away flying bugs of most kinds, and it works best if you keep it off your skin. Instead, put it on areas of clothing (like shirt collars) where body heat will cause it to vaporize. It is the DEET vapor that bugs hate. DEET is powerful, but it can also eat the paint finish on a car.

Picaridin also works. It doesn't seem to be as powerful, but it probably has fewer side effects for humans. So far, it has not attacked my car paint.

Permetrin also works, but it must be applied to clothing. It seems the least powerful.

–B.G.–

[Ian]

Short answer, depends.

Long answer,

To the best extent possible, I wear long pants and long sleeves as my primary defense against mosquitoes and only use picardin as a last resort. When they're bad, I wear a headnet and find it's easy enough to keep them off of me when I'm moving, put my hands in my pockets when I'm not, and use picardin when moving or keeping my hands in my pockets isn't practical which isn't all that often. I haven't used deet in years but did use it quite a bit in the military, including places like Panama.

how does the protection compare to Deet?

See above for comparison purposes but it is effective. With that being said, there are hundreds of mosquito species and I find how well mosquito repellent will work and how I react to bites varies, even within Washington. For example, I don't itch from their bites around Rainier but I do in N. Cascades NP. I've found with both deet and picardin that it'll run some mosquitos away and have found bug juice of any type is completely ineffective in other areas.

I just hate the smell and the greasy feel of Deet.
I think picardin is better in this regard, but again, I try to avoid using for those reasons.

[Kate Anthony]

I will use long sleeves, bug net etc. when I'm out hiking. However, I'm also a trail runner and the mosquitoes are really bad this year around the Sacramento/Auburn area. When I'm running, long pants/sleeves aren't always practical. They aren't bad when I'm moving but if I stop to eat, drink, or cool down, I'm their buffet. I have six big welts from my run yesterday and I'm tired of being their meal ticket :-)

[Matt V]

I'm a fan of Picaridin. I usually use Off Clean Feel, which is 5% Picaridin. It's not greasy, sticky, or smelly at all, and it doesn't dissolve plastics and ruin things. It kind of smells like Fritos chips when it's wet, but I don't notice any smell once it's dry. It's been effective everywhere I've used it so far, though it might not last as long as Deet. It doesn't repel mosquitos very far, so they still swarm around but they don't bite. It's definitely worth a try to see if it works for you.

I have a bottle of Sawyer 20% Picaridin that I'll try out this summer. It might be a good option if you need something stronger.

Another alternative is 3M Ultrathon lotion (Deet based). It's really greasy, but it's powerful, waterproof, and supposed to last 12 hours. I don't like the feel of it, but it's a bit different than Deet spray because it's a lotion. Since it's not a spray, dissolving stuff is less of an issue.

I used to live near Tahoe, and there were hyper aggressive mosquitos in some places. They would bite through clothing and swarm around you, and they would find any tiny spot you missed covering with repellent, like the tip of your nose. For those mosquitos a layered defense is best. Put repellent on your skin, (the stronger the better) treat your clothing with Permethrin and/or wear clothing thick enough that they can't bite through, and consider using a vaporizer type repellent. If you have these kind of mosquitos, picaridin alone might not be strong enough.

If you want a cloud of protection you could try an Off Clip On vaporizer. I wouldn't count on it for protection alone (it doesn't work very well), but it helps reduce the number of mosquitos swarming around you. The downside is that the active ingredient (Metofluthrin?) is dangerous, so you have to decide if it's worth some risk.

I treated a pair of pants with Permethrin once to protect against ticks, but I didn't notice much benefit against mosquitos. Note that wet permethrin is toxic to cats (it's OK once it's dry), and residue may be harmful if it gets into aquatic environments (either from washing off your clothes while outside, or maybe from laundry waste water). Buying clothes pre-treated with it reduces both of those risks, plus it lasts longer than home treatment.

[Ken Thompson]

It's light, and non greasy on your skin. About as effective as Deet, but applications do not last as long. My experience only. Some of the earlier sprays sold were a little light on the Picardin percentage, but seem fine now. I like it. No ill effects on anything that it has had contact with, unlike Deet. I pick up the little atomizers bottles of it at Walgreens. No issues with those leaking either. Last ones I purchased were Off brand.

So Matt's experience with it mirrors mine.

[Matt V]

One of my friends has some kind of "natural" insect repellent that's not deet based. I think it's Cutter Natural, but I'm not sure. http://www.cutterinsectrepellents.com/products-and-solutions/natural/pump.aspx One of the ingredients is vanillin (artificial vanilla), so it has an overwhelming smell that's kind of like vanilla, but not purely vanilla. Surprisingly enough it's worked the couple times I've used it, and if I use it in the evening before camping I can still smell it when I wake up the next morning. Not recommended for bear country.

Of course, there are countless other alternative insect repellents, but I'm just writing about the ones I've tried.

[Dan H.]

Here in Europe, It's supposed to be the most efficient against ticks.
I don't really care about moskitos here, use long clothes etc. and don't worry too much about them, but for the ticks I always apply an Icaridin based spray to my lower legs and it seems to be working…

[Michael Gunderloy]

I'm with Ian that it depends a whole lot on your local insect population. Here in southern Indiana, DEET is *for me* more effective than any picardin product I've tried. On the other hand, DEET has also been very effective in destroying an expensive camera. I would have suffered a lot of bites instead, if I'd been given the choice.

If I reapply every 2-3 hours, I can get results as good from Picardin as I can from DEET. But the DEET works a whole lot longer.

Permethrin has proven very effective for me against ticks, not so much against skeeters. I've found the pretreated clothing more effective in that regard that ones I've done myself using Sawyer or equivalent sprays.

IR3535 and Citronella have been pretty worthless for me.

Lots of "natural" products out there. I put "natural" in quotes because their concentration of essential oils are way higher than anything you'll actually find in nature. The one I've found to work best personally is lemon eucalyptus oil (active ingredient in Repel Natural). It performs about as well as DEET.

Last summer at Scout camp I did a day each with DEET, Picardin, IR3535, and Lemon Eucalyptus; my reporting above is based on the actual number of bites I got with each.

[Jerry Adams]

I tried Cedar Oil (Cedarcide) – very ineffective. I would think that might be similar to Eucalyptus

I've had DEET melt plastic – wind/temperature sensor

Mostly I use long pants/sleeves/head net. Occasionally DEET, like on hands or maybe ears/forehead/neck

I think effectiveness depends on type of mosquitoe or other bug and other things. Maybe their life-cycle?

Black flies are much worse than mosquitoes. There'll be 10 on me at any moment. DEET not effective. But they're only around for short period.

[Ken Thompson]

Sounds like picardin would work just fine for Kate's runs.

[Andy F]

I only use picaridin or natural repellents. Picaridin is as effective as DEET, but I have to apply it more often. Lemon-eucalyptus repellents are more effective against flies than picaridin.

For ticks, the only thing which seems to work well is permethrin-treated clothing.

[Ian]

This won't help you much for your trail running endeavors but you can have Insect Shield professionally treat your clothing.

https://www.insectshield.com/PDF/IS%20Your%20Own%20Clothes%20-%20U.S.%20form.pdf

[Jonathan Chin]

I've seen picardin work wonders against unholy hoards of mosquitoes in the BWCA. There was a clearly delineated forcefield the little vampires would not cross – like having a fishbowl coated with bugs on my head. It also worked on great on the black flies that were undeterred by DEET.

However, as others have mentioned, the amazing powers of picardin are quite short lived, as we were reapplying at least every hour. So, not the best weight wise on long trips, but otherwise works great for me. For long trips where I don't want to carry several ounces of picardin, I use the 3M Ultrathon.

[Kate Anthony]

Thanks everyone! I'll try it this evening on my run and tomorrow on a hike in the AR canyon and let you know how it works. I carry the 0.5 oz bottle so I can reapply if necessary.

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