The other evening my husband and I headed out our back door for a hike. Immediately we were swarmed by mosquitoes (the rainy weather we had in Colorado last month has done a number on our bug population). I turned around to grab the Clip-On Mosquito Repellent I’d received as part of a marketing campaign I’d opted into via BzzAgent.com. I figured it would be a great opportunity to see if the funny looking, battery-operated contraption works.

It doesn’t.

And it’s totally dorky, too.

Seriously, I wouldn’t be caught dead with the bright-blue, whirring fan attached to my body anywhere out in public. I wore it while walking trail around my house because it’s deserted. But if I wore it on a trafficked hiking trail, I might get in trouble for disturbing the peace. The “quiet fan that circulates the repellent” is not quiet.

The device’s premise is a good one — instead of spraying OFF on your body, you wear the Clip-On, and a fan distributes the repellent from a disc inside.  However (and I found this out after I went on my hike), while wearing the Clip-On, you can’t move! The marketing materials say that you might be able to use the odorless Clip-On while gardening, camping or lounging at the beach — but if you walk around, you have to wait a couple minutes for the area around your body to “rebuild its protection.” So, there was no way I would have been protected on my hour-long walk. And I wasn’t — I came home with at least three new bug bites.

So, I tested the Clip-On as it was meant to be used the following night, by placing the fan on my patio table while we ate dinner at dusk. Again, it didn’t work, even though I was sitting down-wind from the device. I got at least two new bug bites.

I know all parents would love to find a non-toxic, all-natural mosquito repellent that isn’t harmful to our kids. No one likes rubbing Cutter or Deep-Woods OFF on little bodies during a camping trip (but those products do work). However, the Clip-On is not the answer, that’s for sure. Even though the Clip-On repellent never comes in contact with skin, the box is still loaded with precautions: “Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Avoid breathing vapor. Wash thoroughly after handling….” In fact, the little spinning fan resembles a toy, so this product could be even more dangerous around children than a can of OFF or a container of mosquito-repelling wipes.

Thumbs down on the Clip-On, since it didn’t repel the mosquitoes around me and because it’s just goofy.

But if you want to sample it for yourself, buy the Clip-On at your local superstore for about $13; two refills (each of which last for 12 hours) retail for about $6. And don’t forget the AA batteries.