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Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.

$16.00

(18)

Item # 768970

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This insect-killing repellent for your clothing is effective against ticks, chiggers, mites and mosquitoes for up to six weeks.

Nonaerosol pump bottle contains 24 fl. oz. of repellent, or enough to coat four full outfits; a full outfit consists of shirt, trousers and socks
One treatment will last up to six washings or six weeks before clothing has to be treated again
Effective against ticks that carry Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Repellent should be applied outdoors and before clothing is worn; hang clothing, spray and let dry two hours (four hours in humid conditions)
Avoid contact with skin and eyes

Active Ingredient: Permethrin (0.5%)

Made in USA.

Item 768970

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Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz. Customer Reviews

REVIEW SNAPSHOT®

by PowerReviews

Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.

4.4

(based on 18 reviews)

94%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

Pros

Effective (16)
Durable (12)
Long lasting (12)
Easy to apply (8)

Cons

Bad smell (4)
Messy (4)

Best Uses

Backcountry (14)
Day trip (7)
Travel (6)

- Reviewer Profile:
- Casual/ recreational (8), Avid adventurer (7)

Reviewed by 18 customers

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Displaying reviews 1-10

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Jan

2009

(33 of 34 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Plain ol' permethrin

By Dynamite!

from Durham, NC

About Me Casual Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Effective

Cons

Bad Smell
Messy
Poisonous to cats

Best Uses

Tropics

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

Enough to cover
4 men's t-shirts (L)
2 women's cotton tops (S)
1 men's shorts (M)
2 women's shorts (S)
5 pair women's socks
2 pair men's socks

Definitely wear gloves during application. The bottle can drip. The spray is wide and fine. If you lay the clothes flat, use plastic sheeting underneath to keep the clothes clean, and to avoid spraying permethrin all over the ground.
However, if you intend to use the last of the bottle, the clothes must be hanging upright, becuase it won't spray with the nozzle pointing down once the level is too low.
I did not have a clothesline, so I hung plastic sheeting over a railing, and hung the clothes over that. I read that in the military, the clothes are placed flat on the ground, sprayed, left to dry, then flipped over and sprayed again. I didn't wait for one side to dry before doing the other, but it probably would have dried better if I did one at a time.
Check the weather report before you leave your clothes out to dry. It rained a bit when I left the clothes out overnight.
The permethrin might not smell once dry, but it does smell when applying. If your clothes get darker when they're damp, it's easier to tell where you've already sprayed.
Note that permethrin is very toxic to cats.

May

2010

(21 of 22 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

A few points worth making

By dtjinnc

from Chapel Hill, NC

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Durable
Effective
Nontoxic

Cons

Bad Smell
Messy

Best Uses

Backcountry
Day Trips

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

A few points--in response to the previous reviews here.

First and foremost--the reason for putting this product on clothing and NOT on your skin is that it breaks down quickly when it comes into contact with your skin--15 minutes or less.

While I wouldn't recommend drinking the stuff--it isn't toxic to humans--but will do a cat in pretty quickly. Some people will say but gee--if it will kill a cat it must be toxic--some people aren't toxicologists. Chocolate will do in many dogs--that doesn't mean it's toxic to humans.

The chap who said the EPA rates this product as a carcinogen is mistaken--the monograph is available on line.

I think this product is great--military-grade stuff.

Smells less than special going on--but it really doesn't have a lingering odor--unlike--say a spray product that rhymes with scoff--which stinks going on and continues to until you wash it off.

I live in Tick City--a.k.a. the Piedmont region of North Carolina--where the ticks are close to inescapable--this stuff is the bomb for keeping them off of you.

Aug

2008

(20 of 20 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Clothing Insect Repellent: USEFUL !

By DayHiker2008

from SF Bay Area, CA

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Apply
Long Lasting

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry
Day Trips
Travel

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

This product is for external clothing ONLY and not for use directly on skin. Can be purchased in spray-on or soak applications. Either way, application should be done the day before clothing scheduled to be used. Once dry, no odor at all but application odor is strong. Their claim its good for "six weeks and six washings" sounds great, but I re-apply every 4 weeks and wash the treated clothes in delicate mode to avoid diluting the anti-tick and anti-mosquito effectiveness. I also use a skin cream called Ultrathon from the knees down to my ankles which is effective for 12 hours. I haven't found any ticks on my body nor bites on my legs since I began using this on my weekly back trail outings. Ticks & mosquitos carry disease so the expense of these two products makes them worth the dollars.

Jul

2008

(15 of 16 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

I'm a believer

By seacoast

from Southport,NC

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Durable
Effective

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

After a bug infested backpacking trip to Banff I got serious prior to a trip to Yosemite and treated my clothes and my tent with Sawyers. This is great stuff. The mosquitoes just stayed away. During the Banff trip the mosquitoes would come into the tent in clouds every time we zipped down a flap. At Yosemite, they stayed away. The other tent in our group wasn't treated and it stayed covered with mosquitoes. If you are going to be in serious mosquito country you need to get serious with Sawyers permithrin clothing treatment.

Apr

2008

(15 of 15 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Great stuff!

By all adventure

from Denver, CO

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Durable
Effective

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry
Beaches

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

I used Sawyer Permethrin on my tops and bottoms before spending a week in a swamp in Florida during the 3rd week of March. Mosquitos fairly thick at dusk, but I didn't get a single bite through my clothes, even wearing my tops for 2 days and bottoms for 3 days, heavily sweating each day. This stuff really works. I am told that if you iron your clothes after applying Permethrin, it lasts longer. I didn't know about that until later. Not sure if the manufacturer agrees or condones this. Apply with latex gloves because the sprayer does leak onto your hands when you apply it. Would give it 5 stars if the sprayer didn't drip so much when applying it.

May

2008

(14 of 14 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

No ticks!

By Dave_K

from Central North Carolina

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Durable
Effective

Cons

Application

Best Uses

Backcountry

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

I am an avid birder and nature photographer and so I am in the woods quite a bit. This has been a bad season for all varieties of ticks and I have been bitten several times. That is until I treated my clothing with this product. Since that time, no tick bites. I watched as one tick crawled onto the leg of my treated trousers, wandered around a bit, and then just fell off. The only negative is that the directions seem to indicate that contact with the liquid is very dangerous so use gloves when applying and avoid overspray.

Jul

2009

(11 of 13 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

very effective, lots of chemicals

By PB

from Colorado

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Durable
Easy To Apply
Effective
Long Lasting

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

I just hung my stuff up on some hangers, sprayed them down, and let them dry in the sun hanging off my gutters for a couple of hours. Pretty easy. The smell is bad. I did not use gloves but did wash my hands shortly thereafter.

Sprayed: 2 long pants, 3 long sleeved shirts, 1 lightweight hoodie, 2 sleeveless tops, 4 pairs of socks, 2 sports bras - still had some left over.

Don't kid yourself. The chemicals that make this work so well are horrible for you. The EPA says that permethrin is weakly carcinogenic. That said - I still spray all of my gear for my treks into the Amazon and the Darien. And I get no bites from all of the creepy crawlies (some of whom carry malaria, dengue, yellow fever, etc.) So to me, I'd rather cover myself in a mild carcinogen for a few weeks every year than dramatically increase my odds of getting dengue via mosquito bites. If I'm just hiking here in Colorado for the weekend - I will not spray my stuff so as to avoid the chemicals.

If you spary your clothes, you will not get bitten by mosquitos, ticks, chiggers, etc. And that's great. But you should be aware of downside, too.

One more thing - I originally found out about permethrin spray from my doctor who actually advised me to use it on my trip into the Amazon, even though it is so toxic. Just weigh your risks!

May

2010

(10 of 10 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Permethrin Sets the Standard

By Paranurse

from Tampa Bay, Florida

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Durable
Effective
Long Lasting

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry
Camping
Day Trips
Hiking

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

Permethrin is the standard stuff for keeping little 6 and 8 legged dudes off of us 2 legged and 4 legged dudes. It works very well. Use it mainly to keep disease carrying ticks off of you and your clothing. Everyone knows that much, so enough said. I just don't have anything else to add on that.

However, it has been mentioned by other reviewers that permethrin is a dangerous chemical, or it is carcinogenic. That isn't really true unless you are an insect, an arachnid, an arthropod, or a cat. It is highly toxic to all of those. I'm not saying that you should mix it with your morning coffee, but it is the same stuff that is used in shampoo or lotion form, under various brand names, that is applied directly to the skin and kills head lice in children, and scabies (body lice) infestations, as well as other types of lice infestations, such as crabs. It is also sold as flea dip for dogs (not cats).

Just follow the directions and apply this product to your clothing and it should last at least a couple of weeks or a couple of washings. Just to be safe I reapply before each outing. Don't spray it on your skin because it isn't effective. Our skin deactivates it rapidly.

Just sayin' :)

Jan

2010

(7 of 7 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Works like a charm!

By natus

from Ohio

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Did not have a bad smell
Durable
Easy To Apply
Effective
Long Lasting

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

Put it on as directed, let clothes fully dry. I let my clothes dry for 3 days prior to use. No problems with ticks, mosquitoes, or black flies in the bwca in June and July. I did also use a headnet at times and DEET for my hands, neck, and ears.

Apr

2010

(4 of 4 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Great Stuff but Cruddy Pump

By Pondbagger

from Springfield, Vermont

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Effective
Long Lasting

Cons

Hard to use
Messy

Best Uses

Backcountry
Day Trips
Travel

Comments about Sawyer Permethrin Pump Spray - 24 oz.:

My experience is that the product works well, but the pump dribbles and spits, especially as the level in the bottle drops. When the bottle is more than half gone it is essentially impossible to spray fabric unless it is hung vertically, so that the bottle can be held perfectly upright. Use rubber gloves to apply the spray; otherwise the permethrin will drip on your hands.