Sawyer Products Ultra 30% DEET Insect Repellent Lotion

While others I was traveling with were bit by dozens of mosquitoes, I managed to avoid that itchy fate. I would rub this on my exposed arms and neck before heading out in the morning and that would be it for the day. The place where I was staying had quite a bit of stagnant water in an unused pool, so there were a bunch of mosquitoes out at night. As an extra measure, I would use some DEET spray on my clothing.For the record, I hate lotions in general but considering the necessity of it, this wasn't too bad. I used minimal amounts and it felt like ordinary lotion. I also didn't wear any sunscreen since I don't burn easily though I will probably age prematurely.The only thing that really sucked was washing all of it off at the end of the night since there was only very cold water available to shower.Be sure to package it separately in a plastic bag or use tape or whatever to ensure it's tightly sealed if you're traveling on a plane as my bottle wound up spilling and making a mess in my carry-on liquid bag. Oddly enough, it erased some of the print on my metal bug spray canister. Still, despite the minor loss, this lasted me 10 days with quite a bit left over.

This is the holy grail for mosquito-magnets like me -- serious protection without the smelly, oily residue! It looks and applies like sunscreen, and dries in seconds, leaving very little odor or greasiness compared to other DEET repellents.The disadvantage is that one little bottle doesn't last long, if you need seamless coverage on a lot of skin.I've got thin, extra-warm skin and no fat (thanks, Mom), and have often watched mosquitos fly through a crowd of people to hover along MY skin, searching for the tiniest gap in my protection. 20% picaridin only reduces bites for me, and "natural" repellents are useless. The best repellent I'd found (other than 75-99% DEET, which irritates my skin after several hours) was Repel "10 hour" 30% DEET wipes, which work well for about 3 hours and reduce bites for another 1-2 hours. This Sawyer lotion is just as effective, but lasts almost twice as long.20% Picardin, and 10-15% DEET products, only reduce the number of bites (and not for long), and natural repellents are useless.

I will not mince words and say this is a VERY good product. I slathered this stuff on me before going out fishing in upper Wisconsin. A fun fact is that upper Wisconsin are some big, nasty, aggressive bugs. Musketos, biting flys, nats, ticks, etc. I have seen them ignore other bugsprays and do the backstroke in a puddle of others, before shaking off and flying away.Now before I slathered this stuff on, my whole body was being attacked by dozens upon dozens of these things. Once I was done applying the lotion, threw on a shirt and hat, and magically no more bugs. The nats dissapeared, and the musketos were hanging back a few feet. I could see them probing for missed spots in the application, and when they found on, I just put on a little more, and boom, I was completely protected. We went out fishing for I would say 4 some hours. After heavy sun, some sweating, wiping, and we were still protected. Got back to the camper, and did some cleanup, tree cutting and the like, and was still good. I knocked off 1 star, for while it it appears the stuff is sweat resistant, it is neither water resistant or proof. I had to jump off the boat to drag it into shore. When we got to the camper and I sat for a moment. I was swarmed by the blood sucking monsters from where my legs were in the water. I had to reapply in that area to be protected again.The smell while noticable, was 80% or less of what bug spray smells like. It goes on oily, but after a few min, it absorbs and does not leave anything resembling a greasy feeling.Before you ask, hell yes I am going to buy more for fishing, or arround the yard work, or hiking. Just dont get the stuff wet.I recommendation to the manufacturer, if you can figure out a way to make it water resistant without any negative effects, this would be an amazing product.

Just returned from our trip to Bali in December (rainy season) and was so glad to have brought this repellant. Mosquitos love me so much it is a common joke that I will attract them enough to act as a repellant for anyone in a wide radius nearby. Really wish I had known of this product when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar getting eaten alive daily....It was a struggle. Anyways, this product not only moisturizes the skin like a lotion, but had barely a hint of that god awful mosquito repellent smell, AND kept my skin free of bites. I was actually able to enjoy my trip. It was a miracle. Downside is that the bottle does leak...I put ours in a plastic baggy to capture the leakage/prevent mess. It's also not the cheapest product on the market, but I would say it's well worth it unless a competitor comes in with better pricing.

I recently purchased this product for a trip to the Brazilian Amazon and it definitely works. I am allergic to mosquitos and typically get eaten alive and the bites blow up very big and sometimes end up infected. I put this product on as a base layer when I got out of the shower (just like you would with any other lotion) as another reviewer recommended. It has no scent (I was so impressed I made my boyfriend smell it too). I then put on another standard deep woods bug spray from a well-known brand (25% DEET) as I normally would and then put on my clothes. I got a 1oz 98% DEET spray for some extra protection and ended up with minimal mosquito bites on my 5 day trip, whereas my boyfriend was the mosquito snack this time! I will definitely be buying this again - great product.