One of the things I was concerned about when camping in Scotland was being bitten by midges. Then you make the mistake of looking online for advice and hear a million horror stories.
What I did notice via social media, is that there are so many people that have said they will never go to Scotland because of the Midges – This only compounds your concerns, but that’s where we are going (for 10 nights). It’s all booked and paid for, so what do you do?
Well, I decided t take the opportunity to approach a number of manufacturers of midge repellents, take them all on holiday and get our group of 6 to give them a test.
We got our hands on some products from Smidge, Pyramid TREK, Lifesystems as well as some Avon Skin So Soft we had knocking about the house.
When we camp, we like to photograph, hike, climb, and canoe to different areas. We don’t just sit about, so we will be out and about and don’t want our activities to be ruined by midge attacks. We were spending 5 nights at Milarrochy Bay on Loch Lomond and then another 5 at Glen Coe.
When we arrived in Scotland we asked a few people, such as the campsite wardens and the fellow at the local Drymen Butchers about how they had been so far this year. They reported that because the weather had been so hot they weren’t too bad. One Scottish lady behind us said that she swore by Avon Original Skin So Soft, and in Balmaha village shop it was actually for sale on the counter.
Right, so lets dive in.
So as soon as I arrived in Milarrochy Bay I tried one of these products and have subsequently been bitten to hell. They love me, I’m covered in bites and they are rather itchy. Now I won’t blame the product just yet, because nobody else has been bitten. Some of our group have the same product on as me, but they aren’t on the midge menu. They haven’t been bitten at all, not once – It works for them and not for me, so it is unfair at this stage to say that PRODUCT X is RUBBISH.
I must be an extreme case as (as I have already stated) nobody else in my party has been bitten anywhere near as badly as me. Apparently, if you are particularly appetising and sensitive to midges then some of the bites will come up into rather large blisters, so guess what I have all over my ankles? Yes, lovely liquid filled blisters, just sitting under the skin which I obviously popped and made a mess with (as I am a man), leaving me with some unattractive scabs around my ankles.
So for the purposes of testing, unfortunately I am the perfect test case for these little critters and the repellents we have bought along with us.
I tried a different product the next day, and the results were the same. I got bitten, and nobody else did – maybe because they were all concentrating on me (haha).
I personally think I need to re-apply whatever stuff I test much more often than the manufacturers recommendations. Some of the stuff says it will last for 8/12 hours, but because I appear to be some kind of gourmet banquet the normal rules don’t apply to me (brilliant) – We shall find out.
What next?
Our schedule was hectic, with lots of time spent hiking, climbing or canoeing (to the pub) and general site seeing. The midges for me were at worst a mild irritation, we didn’t come across any black swarms of midges and believe this to be down to the hot dry weather.
On the second leg of our Scotland trip (when I remembered) I applied the repellents much more often to see how that went. As I said, others in our party were using the products as directed and getting bitten nowhere near as much as me, if at all.
I don’t know what it was about me that they particularly enjoyed, but I again tested different repellents on different days (applying more often) and can happily report that this did the trick. Significantly less bites for me, and still zero bites for the others in our group.
Avon Skin So Soft
Lets get this one out of the way first. This is one of those topics where there are so many different stories and the more you look the more you find. It’s been used by the Marines, mosquitos hate it, you have to get the one in the see-through bottle because they changed the recipe, it goes on and on and on. All I can say is that we took some with us (not in the clear bottle), my daughter used it, reported no bites, it was being sold in the local shop (clear bottle) and the Scottish lady in the butchers swears by it. However, if I’m going away and want protection from midges I only want to rely on factual evidence and not Chinese whispers. Does it work, maybe for some and not for others. Is that what it was designed for, no – but you will smell nice and have really soft skin for the little blighters to ‘possibly’ sink their teeth into.
Smidge
The Smidge website is very informative and quite quirky. It’s deet-free and uses the active ingredient Saltidin to throw the midges of your scent. All lasting up to 8 hours and said to be water repellent too.
The Smidge spray comes in a metal spray bottle, you can also get Smidge in a handy pocket sized flat plastic bottle and also in a pack of wipes that make it quick and easy to reaply whilst on the move or onto young children.
They also sell a midge-proof hair net, but we didn’t see enough midges to require using it – sexy though it is.
Overall our group found the smidge to work well and do exactly what it said it would. Our middle daughter regularly used Smidge and Avon Skin-So-Soft whilst in Scotland and didn’t suffer any bites. She also commented on how they smelt similar and rather nice.
Pyramid Trek.
I met the Pyramid guys at an outdoor trade show where we explained that we were off to Scotland and wanted to test some different stuff against midges. They were really helpful and passionate about their products, a family owned business that wanted to provide the best possible products and give informative advice to it’s users. Mrs TentLife got bitten by something (not in Scotland), and whilst at the show she was given one of their bite relief products to try. She got great relief from using the handy roll-on pen, and now always keeps it with her so thanks guys.
Again, this product (Trek Midge and Tick) uses the active ingredient Saltidin to deter the midges and claim a 12 hour life as it has a slow release process.
Having rooted around the Pyramid website, you will find a huge range of products related to stopping you getting bitten by Midges, Ticks, Mosquitos etc. Their mosquito nets would be worth considering as I got bitten quite a lot inside the tent and whilst I was sleeping.
The extent of their product range shows just how much knowledge and experience they have in this field. They sell more sensitive repellents as well as those stronger ones that do contain deet.
I mentioned the mosquito sleeping net, but you should also check out their midge jacket. Rather strange looking, but HEY IF IT WORKS IT WORKS (I could have done with one).
I found myself favouring the Trek Midge and Tick as personally for me it didn’t wear off as quickly. It claims 12 hours of working against the 8 hours stated by the Smidge spray, so when you are as forgetful as I am you get longer to remember (haha).
LifeSystems
They sent us the Expedition Plus insect repellent, the only product we tested that had deet in it. It contains 50% deet, but is it fair to compare it to the other products that didn’t contain deet? Probably not, but it was VERY effective and as I said earlier, Mrs TentLife mainly used this one and the buggers did not like it at all. However, there are plenty of people that don’t want to use deet for plenty of reasons. We did use it, nobody died and nobody’s skin fell off – however it did leak into one of our dry bags and lets just say it no longer keeps stuff dry (haha). The decision is yours.
What’s best then?
Is Smidge better than TREK, is LifeSystems better than Smidge – NO, they all worked. I had to use them differently to the manufacturers instructions, but they worked exactly as stated for the other 5 members of our group.
So which one do you choose? This is where the only definitive answer is, any of them because they all worked. Only the LifeSystems had any amount of Deet in it and when Mrs TentLife tried it she said that a midge did land on her arm and immediately left as quickly as it arrived. However, lots of people don’t want to use a deet based product because of the stigma attached to it (you will have to google that one yourself and make that decision).
The Smidge and the Pyramid Trek were both deet free and worked very well for the entire group.
The midges weren’t anywhere near as bad as I was anticipating, we didn’t need to use the midge nets that had been sent to us by both Smidge and Pyramid. I will say that we did try them on and they would certainly have done the trick if there had been more midges.
So if I am here trying to tell you where to spend you money, what can I say to help you decide what to use? Well all the products worked at repelling the midges, so what about how the products are packaged then? The Smidge wipes and the pocket sized bottle were very convenient for carrying around and applying quickly. The Pyramid Trek Midge and Tick came in a smaller sized bottle than the Smidge so it took up less room and had a spray which gave good coverage. Pyramid also have a ECOGUARD fabric spray for repelling insects, ideal for backpacks and apparently tents.
I’ve had a look on Amazon at the cost per 100ml. For the Pyramid Trek Midge and Tick you were looking around £7.50. The Smidge and the LifeSystems Expedition sprays comes in a few quid more. So it looks at though the Trek Midge is better value, especially when you factor in that on an normal human, it should last for up to 12 hours.
We hope that this article has been of some value, now please please please go and visit Scotland. It is such an amazing place, we are going back soon for the TentLife adventures into wild camping – should be interesting (haha).
Anyway, as I said earlier I found myself favouring the Pyramid Trek Midge and Tick as personally for me it didn’t wear off as quickly. I shall be taking it with me again when we return to Scotland in October - hopefully I won't need it but better safe than sorry.
ARTICLE UPDATE - The guys at Pyramid read our article and have given all you readers a 20% discount code that works across everything in their online store until the end of September. So have a nosey around their shop and enter the code TENTLIFE at the checkout - Cheers guys >> https://www.pyramidtravelshop.co.uk/
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