Katchy Automatic Indoor Insect Trap

7 days later update: flies are nearly gone in the house! We think we found the source in my son’s room so I’m sure that had a lot to do with it, but catching fewer every day and hardly any flying around. Been running on auto mode only last 3 days. The Duo came with 4 traps which I was changing daily until the last one I left until today. Their replacements said product size 4.3 inches on the listing so those the replacements I bought, but they are too big. IMO their replacement glue traps are too expensive - looks like they are actually 3.4”. I just cut down the larger ones since I already had one, and I also have the yellow butterfly shaped ones for houseplants I saw others use before I get more. I did try without soap in the bait cup and noticed specks of wine on the top of the bait cup - wondering if that’s from little fly feet dipping in and landing when it’s off so I went back to using soap. Does work slightly better putting the bait cup on after filling and then putting on the lid but it spins a little. You have to really press and twist to get it on but the sides are high enough that it seems hard to spill anyway. Overall still very happy with the purchase and glad we got in white to stay out in our kitchen. Original: Overall, I’m satisfied with this purchase. I was skeptical of some of the others I looked at - one was more expensive and had a ton of reviews that were all 5 stars so I was skeptical and skipped that one. Others didn’t have the bait cup, auto mode, and/or only came in black. I also wanted one with a more universal size and shape for the sticky traps so I wasn’t limited to more expensive replacements. We are dealing with fruit flies that probably came in with the garden vegetables over the summer and recently multiplied with kids leaving dishes and cans in their bedrooms. We started about 5 days ago putting bowls out with apple cider vinegar and some dawn dish soap. They were definitely attracted to them, but there was a disappointing number of fruit flies around the edges of the bowls and on the cabinets and lamps nearby instead of in the liquid. Dumping them out the next morning we got more than I expected, but seeing some around the edges creeped me out so I got this and it came the next day. I like that this one has the bait cup so you have more than just the light to attract them. Others I looked at said to put a capful of vinegar next to the device to attract them but I question how it would trap them if it’s on the counter at base level when the fan and suction are at the top. This arrived in the middle of the day so I immediately filled the bait cup with some old Christmas wine and dawn dish soap (not sure it has to be dawn, that’s just what we had). By 5pm there was a satisfying number of fruit flies on the sticky trap. We turned off the lights and put it in auto mode in the kitchen overnight - I don’t think we got many more than we had already. I changed the trap and by the afternoon it was about as full as the day prior. Not like I counted them so there may have been more, but makes me think that even though the trap wasn’t full, there’s a limit to either the effectiveness of the sticky trap or the bait. I refreshed both today. We’ve used this product for 2 nights now and the fruit flies are noticeably and significantly reduced. While I doubt that this device is solely responsible, I think it’s better than watching them on the edges of the bowls and not going in. It was satisfying to see one of the edge of the light I went to squish and when it tried to take off it got sucked into the fan. It’s not 100% perfect but still giving 5 stars because I feel it’s better than the comparable options I was looking at. Most are black and I wanted white for our kitchen - I have a garden and plants and we plan to leave this on auto mode to use nightly on a regular basis. I also chose it for the bait cup - seeing how crazy they went for the apple cider vinegar and wine we tried in the bowls we wanted to keep using that. It came with only a handful of traps and this brand’s replacements appear to be expensive. They say they last long but I’m changing daily right now while we are dealing with the problem. As there gets to be fewer caught, I can see going longer between but probably not months. I bought another brand’s 4.3 round traps - there are a lot of inexpensive options. I haven’t used yet but appear they will work. There was another device like the katchy I looked at that had a triangular base and I didn’t see as many options for replacements so I avoided that one. I wish the lip to pull out the sticky trap tray was a little taller - it’s low to the counter so you have to tip the device back a bit to get under it and pull it out - makes me worried I’ll spill the bait cup that sits on top but haven’t yet, just have to be careful not to tip too much. When pulling out the sticky trap, some fruit flies flew out of the base so they aren’t getting 100% driven into the trap and stuck. When I turn on the Kitchen lights in the morning, I am switching it to manual mode to keep the fan going while we deal with the problem. While I think it only catches a little bit more than the bowls we were using, we aren’t seeing the significant number of flies nearby hanging out. That could be just because the numbers are being reduced after several days of working at this, but it’s nice to see. The fan definitely sucks them down when they get close so there aren’t many nearby. I had read one review that the bait cup is a little difficult to open and close, and I agree. There are three little internal tabs. You have to press on the lid and sort of twist to get it to stay. The bait cup itself is small - it says to only put a tablespoon of liquid in there. What’s nice is that the lid has holes, so nothing is getting in the cup. The dish soap created a bubble on top when I took off the lid - my understanding, the dish soap is to break the surface tension on the liquid so the bugs can’t get out. Not sure what the point is of using the soap if the holes are so small the bugs can’t get in so I may stop using the soap. Yesterday I left the bait cup on the device and just removed the lid to top off the wine in and I spilled a couple drops on the fan. Didn’t seem to be a huge deal so I just left it but there’s always a worry about liquids and electronics. This morning I took the bait cup off to dump and rinse and then refilled on the counter. The best way to get the lid on and off is to pick it up and hold the cup in one hand and the lid and the other and twist together, but you don’t want to do that when it’s full. Because the bait cup is tapered and not very tall, and the edge of the lid is very short, it’s harder to get a grip to hold the cup still so you can put the required pressure on the lid to twist it. When we first got this, it seemed like you had to rock the bait cup to get it seated, but now it’s more of a firm press straight down. I think I’ll take it off to rinse and fill it, and then put the bait cup back on the device so it’s holding the cup in place while i put on the lid. The wine I’m using is red and it doesn’t appear to be staining the white plastic, even where I spilled it. Even if it does, it’s not seen from the outside. Auto mode works very well - comes on instantly with low light. I like that you can adjust both the fan and light levels. I don’t think this device will solve the problem by itself, but any pest probably you have to attack with multiple approaches. We made the kids deep clean their rooms, put sticky traps in the house plants (although they don’t seem to be around them), and we aren’t leaving fruit on the counter right now. Hasn’t been a week yet but the numbers are going down each day and hopefully the issue won’t be noticeable in a few more days. We will probably keep using this on auto mode in the kitchen nightly as preventive maintenance - it’s also supposed to work on mosquitos which we get in the kitchen as it’s right near our main entrance and has 2 other doors to outside we use in the summer.