As the summer bug season begins again, I thought it might be helpful or interesting to post the latest from Consumer Reports regarding the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of different repellants. I don't believe there is a link to the article (CR doesn't post its magazine content on its site), but overall Off Deep Woods for Sportsmen I was rated the most effective at 92%. 3M's Ultrathon was rated second, at 72%. OFF Skinstastic, which is a brand that you seem to see everywhere, was rated only 33% effective, and Cutter Advanced with 7% picaridin came in at 15%! BTW, the repellants were tested against mosquitoes and ticks.
The article noted that, in general, products containing at least 30% DEET worked the best, while most of the botanicals tested "were middling or worse." The Buzz-Off Flick Tee was also tested, with very poor results: "within 2 minutes, aedes mosquitoes had bitten the lab director at least 35 times through material washed once."
Jane in CT