Consumer Reports: Top-performing insect repellents

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of insect-borne diseases is increasing. Wearing an effective insect repellent is an important step against mosquitoes and ticks that can spread diseases like West Nile and Lyme. Consumer Reports has ratings for 37 different repellents and can tell you which ones work best to ward off pests!

Consumer Reports tests repellents that contain deet or other active chemical ingredients, like picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus.

To see how effective each repellent is, Consumer Reports enlists panelists willing to stick their arms into cages filled with disease-free mosquitoes!

Earlier years of testing have shown that if a repellent does well against mosquitoes, it generally tends to do well against ticks as well.

So which repellents work best? Here's the good news. It's not about which brands performed better, but more about the concentration of the active ingredients.

We found that concentrations of deet at 25 to 30 percent are really the best to keep you protected.

Off Deep Woods Sportsmen Insect Repellent IV Dry with 25 percent Deet performed excellent against mosquitoes. Or this CR Best Buy, Ben's with 30 percent Deet. If you prefer wipes, CR recommends Repel Insect Repellent Mosquito Wipes with 30 percent Deet.

So a lot of folks are worried that deet might not be safe, but there's a lot of evidence to show that when you follow the directions on the label and you use it properly, deet is very effective and safe.

Consumer Reports also tested repellents that use natural ingredients like citronella, peppermint and soybean oil to keep pests away. Unfortunately those products performed poorly in CR's tests but you can learn more about DEET-free repellents CR says ARE effective from CRs video on our website along with information on how to apply any repellent, safely.