If there’s a mosquito anywhere in the vicinity, it will find me and bite me. (Often multiple times, just for spite.)
And in some sort of twist of fate, it also turns out that I am very sensitive to mosquito bites. 😣
It’s not just that they itch and swell, but often the first sign I get that I even have a bite is a rush of anxiety, which I assume is some kind of adrenal response. The whole thing is much more like a bee sting, and if I’m going to be somewhere with mosquitoes, it’s best that I wear protective gear (e.g. my Mosquito shirt), put on bug spray, maybe turn on a fan, but also bring along one of these magical little devices to handle any bites I might get.
This is honestly the first thing that goes in my bag if I’m going on a trip—it works wonders.
All it does is apply a few seconds of heat to the site of the bite, but it takes away the itch and the rising panic almost immediately (and it’s just as effective the next day if the bite starts bothering me again).
It’s the kind of thing that I lend to everyone who travels with me, so I’ve seen a lot of different people test it out.
Pro tip: if you think it’s not helping, try again a couple minutes later. If that doesn’t work, try increasing the temperature (from sensitive to regular on the tiny model I recommend, or maybe pressing a little harder on your skin for the analogue version) and/or try leaving it on your skin a little longer—e.g. 6 seconds instead of 3.
I've read conflicting reports on why it works: maybe it helps to deactivate whatever was in the mosquito's spit that’s causing the allergic reaction, or maybe it confuses the nerves at the site by sending a different kind of pain signal (it gets quite hot), but whatever the mechanism, it does seem to make a big difference for me.
I got my first rather crude star-trek looking device over 10 years ago and it's still going strong (on the same 9V battery that basically overheats a tiny lightbulb at the tip) but that model isn’t readily available anymore in either amazon posting, and this is the kind of miracle product that I wish I could gift to everyone I know, so I’ve tested two sleek modern inventions and can happily recommend both.
This one is my new favorite: it connects to the power port of your cellphone and is much smaller since it doesn’t need its own battery. (⚠️ Be sure you’re getting the correct one for your phone model.)
It’s so small that it fits on my key ring, and the app is super simple:
Quick download, no registration, it just prompts me to open the app when I insert the device into the charging port, or prompts me to plug the thing in when I open the app—so I don’t even have to remember what it’s called.
Very easy to set different temperatures and times for getting used to it, or using it on kids, or on more sensitive parts of your body; has easy-to-bypass (but useful) reminders about taking a 2min pause between treatments, etc.
It’s basically like what the screen or buttons would look like if there were room on the device itself.
It doesn’t have many reviews on the American Amazon page [update: the masses have now found it and love it], but it’s a German company and the German Amazon page has zillions of very positive reviews.
It’s a little less convenient to pass around at a BBQ (if you don’t want to send your phone around), and less immediately useful to stash in the first aid bin (or Advice: Car bin for longer trips) for communal use, but anyone with your type of phone connector can just download the app and plug it right in.
But if you haven’t already convinced them that it’s magic, that could be a real barrier, which brings us to the runner-up (also made by a German company — which seems odd because it’s not a very mosquito-heavy place 🤔).
This product is very similar to my original analogue device, though the white version lacks a light to help you aim and it has a preset timing dose and temp (the original just powered a light bulb that got warm and you placed the light/heat on your bite and took it off once it started to burn 🤷♀️).
A friend of mine took this one with him up to summer camp in upstate New York and converted a campfire worth of folks within a few days.
This one is cute and small compared to my original one, though obviously larger than the dongle one. There’s no app and also no temperature adjustments (seems like they went full strength, so might be hot for some people or some parts of your skin—I think I might have slightly burned the underside of my wrist, which is a notoriously temperature-sensitive body part), but you can click once for a 3 second dose or double click for a 6 second dose.
After a summer of testing, I’m pretty confident that both work great. If you’re buying for yourself or for someone where you know what model phone they have (so that you choose the correct power connector) I would vote for the dongle for two reasons:
- It’s so small that you really can bring it with you everywhere without needing to put it on a packing list (whether it’s a BBQ or a backpacking trip or a visit to your grandparents in Florida).
- It’s so easily adjustable that I’m able to keep it on the “sensitive” setting by default to protect my (admittedly quite sensitive) skin. It’s just a few degrees cooler, but enough to make the difference.
But if I didn’t know what phone connector someone had, I would still happily gift the manual one and just caution the recipient to pay attention when treating a bite wherever they have delicate skin. You should be able to feel the heat and either hold it there for two seconds instead of three, or even just press a little more lightly.
(I would probably pay a premium for the new one that comes with a light—it’s the black model.)
And that one has the advantage of being ready to go without a phone nearby, just flip the side switch on and you’re in business. So I also think this is a great one for first aid bins, again maybe with a sticky note of caution.