Sawyer 20% Picardin Insect Repellant
I love the outdoors, but sometimes the outdoors doesn’t love me back. When I’m lying in bed and thinking about all the progress I made on my outdoor projects, I want to think about how much my family and I enjoy our trails and our woods, not how many bug bites I received.
DEET-based insect repellents don’t work particularly well on me. Mosquitoes will still land (but won’t bite) when I apply OFF! or something similar, even within the first several minutes of applying it. Repellents containing picaridin discourage them from landing in the first place and seem to remain effective far longer. I’m not saying that Sawyer repellent smells great, but in my opinion it’s far less noxious than an off-putting dousing of DEET.
I wish I had known about Sawyer repellent during my time in the service. I grew up using OFF!, so I just assumed that it was the best thing out there, but I still got my share of bites during training and when we went to the field. I definitely would have had my friends and family send me cans of this during my deployment had I known about it. The mosquitoes that hung out in the palm groves and along the Euphrates River were malicious once the sun went down.
Sawyer is extremely effective against mosquitoes, ticks, and gnats, but only about 80% so against deer flies during their peak activity. With that being said, it still does better than other formulations that I have tried – and trust me, I have searched long and hard for a product that will keep these persistent buggers away.
The company also makes this formulation in a lotion, which purportedly lasts longer, although I haven’t noticed much of a difference. I prefer the spray because it’s more convenient to reapply it on the move and it’s less messy, especially if there is nowhere to wash your hands.
You already know that I talk extensively about the importance of preparedness on my podcast. There are certain things that I always keep in each of my vehicles (fire extinguisher, first aid kit, etc.) and bug spray happens to be one of them even though it’s not something we keep for emergencies. I’ve saved the day on several occasions by being the only guy at the picnic or the hike who brought bug spray and had enough for everyone to keep from being miserable.
