I did it. I broke down and bought one to combat the HORRID swarms of "post-flood", Texas mosquitoes.
Pro's.... Thing worked AWESOME and I prolly woulda lasted 20 min without it.
Con's.... I got busted by a buck, down wind, at 7:45 Saturday morning.

They say it's scent free, but I could smell it, and If I can, I know for a fact the deer can.

If he’s downwind he was probably going to bust you anyway....I’ll take no skeeters

I just broke down yesterday and ordered one myself. I've always assumed they were just a gimmick, but after reading a lot of endorsements here I decided to try it. That many THF'ers couldn't be wrong, could they?

Agreed 8point.

Grizz, I'll never hunt without it until we get those temps in the 50's. I was very impressed.

I used one for the first time this weekend. I was impressed. Used it Friday night and had no bugs. Went back to the camp and everyone was complaining about the sketers and nats. Sat morning I forgot to turn it on and was swarmed at day break. Turned it on and a few mins later I was bug free.

Also bought my first one last week. I hunted one spot where the blind is surrounded on 3 sides by standing water and it just could not keep up. I've hunted two other blinds since then and it has worked great though! I wouldn't have an issue with mosquitos with it and both times as soon as I got out of the blind I was swarmed. I also have had 5 deer within 15 yards that did not seem to notice it in the past week. Though the blinds I am hunting are open air, they are also elevated about 10 feet so that could play a factor. Regardless I see myself buying a lot of replacement pads and butane in the future!!

Yep, I too broke down and bought one at Walmart Friday on my way to camp. I forgot to get it out of the truck for the afternoon hunt and fought skeeters the entire time. Got it going before Sat. morning hunt and was very pleased with the results for both the AM and PM hunts. I went to a different stand Sun. morning but fired up the thermocell while in the truck heading out so it had time to warm up. When I got in the stand, it sounded like a bee hive swarming around me in the dark for the first 10-15 minutes, then they had enough. I am now a believer in using them. I saw deer during each sit and none appeared to have paid any attention to the newly introduced possible odor, almost circled the stand and none spooked.

Bobcat, I am not picking on you directly, but what you describe is what I commonly see with hunters wanting to attribute failures and success. Success and failure get attributed to things that nobody can test for. You don't know what the buck smelled that caused you to be busted by him. As indicated, you probably would have been busted anyway. The wind was wrong. Maybe the buck didn't like YOUR smell, the smell of your clothing, the smell of your gear, etc. Maybe he heard you. Maybe he didn't like the thermacell. Who is to say?

I do wholeheartedly agree with you that the deer can smell it if the scent gets to them. I can't say that I have ever had deer or hogs appear to be bothered by a thermacell, scent or noise.

I’m not a gimmick guy, but they work.

Oh I agree and I will never know what spooked him. I do take great pride in doing everything possible to illuminate as many factors as I can. Like, washing and airing out my camos for a few days and keeping them in a container with natural cedar. This has worked great for me over the years, but who’s to say I didn’t step in something on my way in or whatever. I ageee, but I could smell the thermacell pretty easily when the wind blew it across my face. I’m going to put the majority of the blame there LOL. Reguardless, I won’t leave home without it!

If you were breathing you are making sent. I'm sure they can smell it but it doesn't smell like a person.

After last weekend hog hunting the creek bottoms I was about drained of blood, stopped at Walmart and got one i hope to use next weekend.

I used to question their value but I guess I wasn't using mine right. Had one on each end of pit blind teal hunting a couple of weeks ago and the results were awesome. That trip from the truck out to the blind was miserable until I could get it fired up and running. I didn't even try it while riding out there in the Ranger...figured it wouldn't work. Anyone ever attempted to run one while moving in a UTV or boat? Slow speeds of course...

They don't work well if there is too much of a breeze, so I wouldn't figure they would work well if moving either.

My wife even says they work and she’s skeeter sweet meat.

I actually have two of them, and use them in the boat all the time. If there's a breeze, I set them upwind. If theres a wind, well, I still set them up, but dont know if its the wind or the thermacells keeping them away. Normally one on each side of the boat works well. Mama is a magnet for skeeters

Love mine. Couldn't sit in a stand without one right now.

In deer hunting all the scent free crap is just that. Crap.

Either the wind is right or the wind is wrong. Period end of story. I do believe a pop up blind helps contain scent if used properly.
I believe the scent free stuff helps lower the amount of scent. But it's impossible to be scent free.

+1 for ThermaCell being a gamechanger

The scary thing about using thermacell is being able to see the swarm of mosquitoes outside of your personal cloud of defense. You know they are just waiting for an opportunity, LOL.

There waiting for the butane to run out.

I bought my Thermacell years ago, and it's become a ritual with me just before the season starts I go down to Academy and buy the refil butane and fresh pads.
If I use my Thermacell and the pad still shows a lot of blue, I take along a gallon zip lock baggy and put the whole thing into the ziplock and squeeze out all the air before I rezip the baggy. I guess you could do the same using a small ziplock by just removing the pad.
Either way, I would rather get knocked off by a deer downwind then sit there suffering swatting the mosquitoes.
Chances are they would have smelled you Thermacell or not.

Absolutely. I leave it, along with plenty of refills in my pick up almost year round.

hunting in the bottoms, you may die from mosquitos without one. Ive used one for several years and will not sit without one. Just make sure to turn it off or youll run out the whole bottle of fuel

In a blind with screens or windows with skeeters inside, have the windows or screens open, turn it on for a bit and it will run them all out, then you can close everything up and be skeeter free.

My units are probably 6 years old and still working fine. While at Walmart a few days ago I saw they look different now. Guessing just a makeover but wonder if the new ones are more efficient or work better.

Also, I see there is an "Earth scent" thermacell pad now. Anyone have any experience with these actually being better for hunting than the original pads?

These things are awesome. Can’t believe it took me so long to figure this out. I would think if anything it might even help cover your scent.

Okay, you guys have talked me into going and buying one today. I'm tired of giving blood every time I get in the stand. So, I'm guessing that I would need one new pad for every sitting if most of my siting are 3-4 hours. Is that right?