On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:02:52 -0700 (PDT), digitaldougb
wrote:

I'm looking for recommendations for a bug spray that's:
1) odorless as possible
2) not gooey or sticky
3) preferably doesn't have Deet (which eats my watch crystal)
4) lasts for a couple hours at least
5) and keeps as many types of bugs away as possible.

Hope that isn't asking too much?????
Thanks in advance...
Doug

If your only issue with DEET is your watch, my advice would be use the DEET and
don't wear that watch (or get one with a mineral crystal). There are dozens of
other "potions" out there that will keep a few pesky insects away for a limited
time - everything from "Skin So Soft" (or however it's spelled - an Avon lotion)
to citronella-based stuff to flower-based (it's some type of chrysanthemum,
which general group is also the basis for some insecticides - do a Google search
for products based on it), but in my considerable experience (I spend most of my
time in areas that are full of various "flying biting critters"), DEET is the
most readily available and effective.

A little trick - keep a small bottle (1-2 oz/25-50ml) of household ammonia VERY
handy for gnat bites - if you get into a patch of them, simply rub some of the
ammonia on the area with the bites...that "bite stick" stuff, at $5-6USD a
"tube" is nothing but ammonia...and for God's sake, don't carry it in a Gatorade
bottle, a sippy box, Drambuie airliner, baby bottle, or anything that a child
(or child-like adult) might remotely mistake for a container that once held
consumable liquid, lest a child (or Louie) find it and guzzle it...or worse, it
might get Dave, Bill, and Goatgang embroiled in a 413 post thread about
religion, responsibility, and pseudochemistry....

Good luck,
R