DynaTrap Mosquito and Insect Trap Review

I love to spend my summer days sitting outside, listening to crickets, and reading a good book. Unfortunately, that scenario usually also includes the whine of mosquitos, the irritation of itchy bites, not to mention the risk of mosquito-borne diseases. Enter the DynaTrap Insect Trap (available at Amazon for $89.99) . This small insect trap has hundreds of positive reviews on Amazon, so I decided to see how it fared in my yearly battle against the bugs.

My backyard looks onto a water overflow lake owned by the county, which gets shallow during the summer and becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other flying insects. If you walk back there without any protection during the worst of mosquito season, say in July, there's a good chance your legs will quickly become covered in mosquitoes and bug bites.

My battle is against mosquitoes, but according to DynaTrap, it also works for biting flies, house flies, moths, no-see-ums, June beetles, wasps, yellow jackets, stink bugs, gnats, and biting midges. It should not, however, catch beneficial bugs like honeybees.

How does the DynaTrap Mosquito and Insect Trap work?

The DynaTrap Insect Trap claims to work by emitting a warm UV light and a small amount of C02 to mimic a person’s breath, the combination of which should attract different types of bugs.

Once the bug is near, a small fan sucks it into a screened base, where it is trapped and dies of dehydration, usually within 24 hours.

It must be 20 to 40 feet away from people and claims to cover a half-acre radius.

While the trap was designed to work for multiple types of bugs, most of the Amazon reviewers seemed to have the same goal: trap and kill mosquitoes. Traps using C02 emissions primarily attract female mosquitoes, mainly focused on seeking blood sources during the breeding season.

However, given the species' different feeding behaviors and breeding patterns, tests of this method of mosquito control have shown varying levels of success.

The reviews for the DynaTrap reflect this. While many people rave about the drastic changes they’ve seen in their backyard, other reviewers saw little to no reduction.

What we like

The DynaTrap insect and mosquito trap is easy to use

Setting the DynaTrap mosquito trap up was simple. It comes all in one piece, so unboxing and getting it ready to use is a breeze. To set it up, you find a place to put it, plug it in, turn it on, and leave it alone so it can do its thing.

I did struggle a little to turn it on, which required twisting the fan cover and getting the cage off to empty out the dead bugs. This was mostly because I was fending off a thorny rosebush near the best place I had to hang it, but as long as you hang it in a more accessible place, you should be fine.

The design is attractive

The product’s design mimics elegant garden lamps and looks like a standard outdoor decoration rather than a bug catcher. It comes in a few different metal finishes, so you should be able to find one that works for your backyard décor.

It also glows blue at night to attract bugs drawn to light, which might bother some people. I found the UV light mostly hidden, and when I noticed it, it was appealing.

The small light just added confidence that the trap was, in fact, on and working, and I love anything blue or purple.

For the light to draw in bugs, though, the trap needs to be in a space away from other light sources, so if random blue glowing lights bother you, you may get annoyed.

It makes little to no noise

The only time I heard any noise from the trap was when I was only a couple of feet away, and even then, it was just a whisper-quiet whir. When I was sitting in my hammock, about 10 feet away, I couldn’t hear a thing.

What we don't like

I still got mosquito bites

I wanted the DynaTrap insect and mosquito trap to be the magic bullet, allowing me to hang out in my backyard without a ton of bug spray, but that was not the case. I left the mosquito trap on for 14 days and went out several days to see how long I could stay out before getting bitten. It never took more than five minutes for me to start seeing multiple mosquitos show up on my leg.

When I emptied the basket, it was full of many different kinds of insects, and while I saw fewer mosquitos, I didn’t see as many dead bugs as I expected.

Some reviewers mentioned seeing hundreds of bugs in a couple of days. While my backyard is pretty infested, my catch rate was nowhere near that.

I should note, though, that while the product instructions did not include time frames, several online reviewers mentioned that they continued to see reductions in the number of mosquitos the longer they left it out, with several referencing five weeks as the timeframe to see optimal results.

It is possible that my results will improve over time, but given the lower-than-expected dead bug count, I have to question whether the trap is attracting all of the specific species of mosquitoes that hang out in my backyard.

Finding a place to hang the trap was difficult

DynaTrap recommends placing the trap between 20 and 40 feet from where people are, which poses two problems for me. First, my backyard isn’t all that big, and the best I could do was about 10 feet.

The second is that since the bug trap needs to be plugged in and since my outdoor outlet is on the house, I had to leave a bright orange outdoor extension cord draped across my patio.

Another thing to note is that since the trap is somewhat heavy—about three pounds—you’ll need a tree or a sturdy holder.

This version also doesn’t come with a hook, so I jury-rigged a system with a bungee cord for testing, which gave me a little more flexibility in securing it to the tree.

Stand-alone versions are available, so consider those if you want to use them in an area without trees or other structures. If you have a flat surface available in the right spot, you can also place it on it.

Cleaning out the dead bugs from the DynaTrap Insect Trap is gross

This seems minor, but dumping a bunch of bugs out of a basket isn’t appealing, and not doing it is a fire hazard. It would help if you did this basic level of cleaning once a week.

For major cleaning, you need to take the trap apart, remove the fan housing, and use a brush to clean dirt and bug debris from the housing. The brush is supposed to be included with the trap, but it wasn’t with mine.

The whole thing gave me intense flashbacks to my much-hated bug collection in high school. Also, since dehydration kills the bugs and isn’t instantaneous, several were still alive when I opened the cage.

Should you buy the DynaTrap Mosquito and Insect Trap?

No, this does not effectively reduce outdoor pests.

Given my experience and the product's price point, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone in a similar situation. Seeing a slight decrease in the number of mosquitos landing on my legs and arms after a few minutes is not enough to change.

Since I still have to use several other means to protect myself, I’d instead focus on cheaper items I’ve seen success with, like bug repellent clothing, mosquito wipes, or simply sitting inside a netted space. We also like the Thermacell LIV Smart Mosquito Repellent System for keeping mosquitos at bay in large backyards and patios.

However, if you have a large enough backyard with the right outlet configuration to hang the trap well away from people, the DynaTrap Mosquito and Insect Trap may be worth it. Additionally, several reviews mentioned pairing the trap with other mitigation strategies, like getting rid of any standing water where mosquitoes and other insects like to breed can help it work.

If you can combine strategies or live in a place where standing pools are few and far between, the DynaTrap could give you that additional layer of protection that would allow you to go outside without spraying up.

Suppose you, like me, can’t get rid of shallow standing water and don’t have a large backyard for optimal placement. The trap may help, but you’ll still need that bug repellent to avoid bites.