Memorial Day Weekend is next week and
for a lot of folks, that means the start of the grilling and BBQ
season. With all of the great things that come with cook outs and
firing up that grill, one annoyance that comes with it is flies.
I have found something that turns that
annoyance into entertainment. It is the Bug-A-Salt salt gun and it wins the coveted Nibble Me This
Best Grilling Accessory Award of 2013*.
It is an ingenious
non-toxic solution that uses a pinch of common table salt and air to
take out flying or crawling pests.
When you light up your
grill or start prepping food outside, it is like a dinner bell for
flies and draws in every flying maggot for miles and miles, right?
I've tried the pennies in a ziptop bag of water and it doesn't keep
them away (Mythbusters busted that myth). Swatting a fly with a fly
swatter just splatters it all over your cooking or eating area, yuck.
The Bug-A-Salt kills the fly with about 1/8th tsp of
table salt but leaves the fly whole for easy, safe clean up.
I found the Bug-A-Salt
when they were doing a kickstarter type campaign last year or so. I
checked back recently and found they are in full production now so I
bought one for review.
Product: Bug-A-Salt
fly gun
Cost: $34.95
for one
Availability: online
at http://www.bugasalt.com
Key Features
- Kills flies, mosquitoes, roaches and other pests with a range of 3 feet
- non-toxic
- pump action - No battery required
- bug remains whole for easy clean up
- excellent for flying insects indoors near windows, corners, and ceilings
Testing
We
have cycled through two hoppers of salt for 100+ shots. This thing
works exactly as advertised. As shown in the video, we found it to
be accurate even at 3 feet away from the tiny target. Accuracy on
still targets is close to 100%. Trying to hit an erratic flying
target is harder but definitely doable. So far it has taken out
flies, meal moths, invasive brown stink bugs, and ants.
To see a video of the accuracy test in action, go to the 2:47 mark in this video that I made.
It
is a quality build and feels sturdy, like it will last. We did have
a couple of misfires at first. We quickly found that those were
caused by cocking the gun while tilted AND the salt supply was low,
so it just didn't get a full load of salt. Since then it has
performed flawlessly. If you do run into problems, they have a
hotline for customer service...I'm pretty sure it's the owner's
actual mobile or office phone. I love working with smaller companies
like that!
Summary
Expensive
for a “fly swatter”? Absolutely. But the x-factor is the
entertainment aspect. Without exception, EVERYONE that I have shown
the Bug-A-Salt has wanted to hold it and shoot it several times.
This would be fun to have at BBQ competitions, picnics, campgrounds
and such. It also works GREAT when a fly or gallon nipper gets INTO
your house.
I'm
glad I finally bought one and I would recommend it.
Note:
This should only be used on nuisance pests. Most insects are
beneficial and are important parts of our ecosystem. But flies,
mosquitoes, and roaches? Take 'em out!
Memorial Day Grilling Giveaway
After
buying my Bug-A-Salt, I reached out to them and they are willing to
sponsor my Memorial Day Grilling Giveaway. One lucky winner will
receive their very own Bug-A-Salt just in time for those outdoor
Summer Activities.
- To enter leave a comment below and tell me where you would use your Bug-A-Salt if you win it. (Be sure to leave a way for me to reach you if you use the Anonymous comment option. Leave an email or forum name)
- You can get a bonus entry by tweeting a link to this blog post and using the hash tag #bugasalt
- Entries will be accepted until Noon Eastern time on Memorial Day 2013.
- Winner will be selected and notified via email and a post update on Memorial Day.
- Winner has one week from notice to provide shipping information or a runner up will be selected at random.
Winner is Stephanie Phelps. Stephanie I will contact you via your email address for your shipping info. Congrats!
*Yeah, I normally don't give out awards on this blog, I just made that award up. Bloggers are good at
just making awards up like that, it sounds “important”. Actual
cash value of this award plus a dollar will get you a cup of coffee
at McDonalds. But in all seriousness, this is my favorite grilling
gadget I have gotten this year.**
**This just in. The
above footnote has been awarded the Nibble Me This Best Footnote of
2013. I would like to thank my readers, my supporters, and
especially my dad, who told me when I was 7, that if I applied myself
and worked hard, I could one day win the Nibble Me This Best Footnote
Award.
