Can anyone recommend their experience with commercially available, personal mosquito repellants? The store bought ones I've tried always seemed to be about the same as a placebo.

Liquid Net works for me.
And no DEET in it, so no worries.

Liquid Net

You do have to apply it after a few hours.
And the critters still fly 'around' you, but don't land or bite.
And it doesn't smell bad or harm your clothing.
As far as I can tell anyway.....we all use it here, I live in the forest.
It works.

I work outdoors in this neighbourhood and I use Deep Woods Off.

Thanks for the rec, I'll have a look at those.

Used that too on my first trip to Canada, works well.

when it ran out just after I got back to Niagara Falls I got eaten alive and had to seek medical assistance.

A few years later I discovered black flies in Nova Scotia,... I'm not going back!

If you want blackflies, I mean biblical epic chew-you-to-the-bones blackflies, a plague of trillions, you have to come to Quebec and Ontario in the spring.

Nova Scotia will seem like a dream to you then.

That's what it's like up in Jackman, ME. Of course, that place is less than 20 miles from PQ, and bugs can't read maps anyway. I can handle mosquitoes no problem, they barely itch when biting and I don't even get bumps from them, but black flies are a completely different story. And deer flies! I'd almost rather be stung by bees.

There's a solution to those little ******** when you have to work outdoors. It's in the pic below.

Deerflies know that the back of your head is much safer for them to feed off than the front, so that's where they like to hang out. And if you cover the back of your head and neck and don't swat them away, they'll hang out there all day and leave your face almost alone. I rip up an old t-shirt and wear it like that under my helmet and it works wonders.

Best mosquito repellant that I know of:

Just curious, is there some bad deal with DEET ? We have always used Aerogard over here, if you are going camping and don't pack the Aerogard you might as well go home Other one is Bushman, both use DEET.

Maybe putting fake eyes on the back of the helmet will work better than it did for Amber:

Well Ajay....they say using too much Deet is very bad for you.
Especially if you use sun screen at the same time.
Or, if you use it too often, or in sensitive locations...face wrists..etc.

Note the can will tell you to wash it off with soap and water, 'immediately' after returning indoors, also wash it off your cloths, immediately.
And it will even damage the finish on a bow or rifle.

And living in the forest, you need something ALL the time.
I used to use Deet, (Deep Woods Off had the most)...it worked, but my Doctor advised against it, after I had a couple skin cancer spots removed from the back of my hands. He seemed to think Deet was bad for the skin.

Then I read the can.

So I found this other stuff, 'Liquid Net', and 'it works' just as good, you simply have to apply it more often, every few hours or so. And, it smells better, good actually, and doesn't cause skin cancer, no irritation on sensitive areas, no need to wash it off immediately, and it doesn't take the finish off my weapons.
So, why not?

We have some nasty black flies in northern Michigan. Some places, some times, clouds of them. Maybe not the 'Canadian' ones, or that volume, but some real biters. I got rid of them on my property, 'birds'....lots of birds. Hundreds of birds, 35 feeders and 5 different feeding locations. I feed them all year long. Nut Hatches land on my shoulders sometimes when I go outside. We've been feeding them for 20 years. Been paid back in spades. But it does cost a lot of money, and it's work.
In the spring, when the bugs hatch, it takes about 2-3 weeks for the birds to get all of them in my area, so I use the repellent then. Or if I leave the property, canoeing the AuSable River, etc.....

And I don't get bit, when I use Liquid Net. So?........why put that deet on if you don't have to?

They both work IMHO.


NOTE;
"Is DEET likely to contribute to the development of cancer?

Researchers have not found any evidence that DEET causes cancer in animals or humans. DEET has been classified by the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) as "not classifiable as a human carcinogen", which means that there is not enough evidence to say that it does or does not cause cancer.

Neurotoxicity: Yes
Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes
Sensitizer/Irritant: Yes
Birth/Developmental Defects: Yes
Detected in Groundwater: Yes
Potential Leacher: Yes

Then there is the problem with sun screen and 'deet';

Some sunscreen preparations lose efficacy when used with DEET (N,Ndiethyl-meta-toluamide, the most effective and most common bug repellent). In some studies, the combination has led to a reduction of more than 30 percent in SPF. (SPF, or sun protection factor, measures a sunscreen�s ability to screen out ultraviolet B, or UVB, rays.) What�s more, sunscreens enhance absorption of DEET into the skin, potentially increasing toxicity.



I think the combination of sun screen and deet, is where I ran into the problems.
You can't really combine the two safely.
So I don't.

That is no joke. Bugs run from smoke. Even if I was to quit smoking I'd consider using them (mouth inhale) for bugs sometimes. Incense could be another option. Insects do not like smoke.

Cheers Murph, was totally unaware of the whole DEET thing

Fun fact-

... it took the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia in 1963 for the repellant (Aerogard) to become a household name. Although the Queen was meant to be sprayed with the repellent at a garden party held at Government House in Canberra, the aide responsible lost his nerve and the Queen was left madly swatting flies.

The next day was a different story, when Government House staff made sure the Queen was liberally sprayed before heading off for a game of golf. Journalists following the Queen noted the absence of flies around the official party, and word about CSIRO's new fly-repellent spread.

It can be an irritant amongst other things and in some rare cases can cause death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET

Also a solvent, so guys don't let it near your nail polish